Social Work - Research Publications
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 10 of 14
-
ItemSeeking Safety: Aboriginal Child Protection Diversion Trials Evaluation Final Report(University of Melbourne, 2022-12-16)Victorian Aboriginal children are currently 17 times more likely to be in out-of-home care compared to non-Aboriginal children. This is because Aboriginal children are more likely than non-Aboriginal children to be reported to Child Protection, and because Child Protection cases involving Aboriginal children are more likely to progress to Court and out of-home care after a decision has been made that a child needs protection. Aboriginal families and communities are disproportionally affected by traumatic experiences and their associated negative consequences, including unemployment, educational disadvantage, poverty, homelessness, and intergenerational trauma. This puts Aboriginal children at greater risk of adverse childhood experiences and for being reported to Child Protection. Visibility to mandatory reporters and implicit bias in the decisions of mandatory reporters may also contribute to differences in Child Protection reports. Aboriginal people also under utilise mainstream prevention and early intervention services, and avoid working with social service professionals, due to fear of child protection intervention or because mainstream services do not meet their cultural needs.
-
ItemRising Together: Lifting the lid on the experiences of family/carer lived experience workers(Rising Together Action Group (University of Melbourne and the Centre for Mental Health Learning), 2023-02-27)The Rising Together study was a co-produced study funded by the Centre for Mental Health Learning (CMHL) and led by the University of Melbourne. The study sought to investigate the experiences of family/carer lived experience (LE) workers within the Victorian mental health system, with the aim of better understanding what is needed to ensure the safe and sustainable development of this workforce. People with a lived experience of being a family member or carer of a person using mental health services have been employed in lived experience roles within the Victorian mental health sector since 1999. Family/carer LE workers have played several roles within the service system including enabling family/carer perspectives to be represented in service planning, delivery, and evaluation; assisting in improving the responsiveness to family/carer needs; and using their lived experience to connect to and support families and carers (Department of Health, 2013). While research in other lived experience roles indicates a high level of those workers feeling unsafe in the workplace (Edan et al., 2021), at this time, there has been very little research or evaluation of family/carer lived experience roles. With growing investment in family/carer lived experience roles there is a need to better understand the experiences of family/carer LE workers. The Rising Together study was co-produced with a team of family/carer LE workers and university academics, including a consumer academic. They formed the Rising Together Action Group (RTAG), which was responsible for deciding on the research questions, designing the study and research tools, implementing the research, analysing the findings, developing recommendations, and writing this report. The RTAG designed and implemented the following: Survey: Family/carer LE workers were invited to complete an online survey. Participants were asked about their perceptions of support, inclusion, workload, and training related to their work as well as their perceptions of how families and carers were included in mental health service delivery. A total of 62 participants completed this survey. Photovoice: Family/carer LE workers were also invited to participate in a photovoice process which involved participants selecting up to three images that represented their experiences as family/carer LE workers. Participants could choose to create these images themselves or select copyright free images from stock image sites. They were then invited to share and discuss these images in a three-hour Share and Reflect workshop (“S&R workshop”). Two workshops were run with a total of 10 participants. The workshops were audio recorded and transcribed, and the transcriptions were analysed using a co-produced approach to thematic analysis. Recommendations Focus Group: Participants were presented with a summary of the findings of the first two stages of this study. They were asked to brainstorm solutions to issues identified in the findings. This was used to inform the recommendations for this study. A total of 16 participants engaged with this stage of the study.
-
ItemNo Preview AvailableThriving After Disaster: A new way to think about support programs for kids(Natural Hazards Center, 2019)Commissioned report based on our our team's program of work in disaster recovery research. This report draws together work from several projects.
-
ItemNo Preview AvailableInterventions for women who use force in a family context: an Australian Practice Framework( 2021)This Practice Framework isdesigned as a brief guide for practitioners and program designers to the principles and intervention style deemed essential for working with this population. It is best read in the context of a program curriculum such as the Positive Shift Curriculum or the University of Melbourne research reports on this topic. The framework is based on a research program about women who use force in a family context, which has included academic researchers from the University of Melbourne and Curtin University and service providers and users (Baptcare and Berry Street).
-
Item
-
ItemWomen who use force: Final Report. Volume 1 – Executive Summary, Positive Shift Program, Evaluation of Positive Shift, and Practice Framework.(University of Melbourne and Curtin University, 2020)This is the final report (3 volumes) of a research program that has developed the Australian knowledge base about women who use force in a family context, and appropriate service responses. The research was funded by the Department of Social Services. Volume 1 contains a practice framework for intervening with this population, a description and evaluation of +SHIFT (a group work and case management program for women who use force) and the executive summary.
-
ItemMore questions than answers: a focus on reunification for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care, in The Family Matters Report 2020(SNAICC, 2020-11-16)The disproportionate rate of entry into out-of-home care (OOHC) is well documented for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and youth throughout Australia (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2020a; Lewis et al 2019). However, less is known about children and youth who exit out-of-home care by returning to the care of their parents or former carers. This special report reviews the literature, and the publicly available data for 2018-19, about reunification for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and non-Indigenous children in out-of-home care systems. It was found that in 2018-19, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were less likely to have case plans that included reunification as a possibility compared to non-Indigenous children, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were also less likely to be reunified with family compared to non-Indigenous children. Reunification rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were highest in Victoria, however, entry to care rates were also highest in Victoria compared to other states and territories. Except for the Australian Capital Territory and South Australia, once reunified, there was no marked difference between rates of re-entry to care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children compared to non-Indigenous children. Examination of differences in reunification patterns across states and territories were also limited by the low numbers of children reunified in some states and territories (such as the Northern Territory), as well as absent data from New South Wales and Queensland. Ultimately, questions concerning reunification casework practices across the nation remain, while reunification data from 2018-19 has generated more questions than answers.
-
ItemNo Preview Available
-
ItemNo Preview Available
-
ItemNo Preview Available