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Judgements of social care professionals on elder abuse referrals: a factorial survey
- Authors:
- KILLICK Campbell, TAYLOR Brian J.
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Social Work, 42(5), 2012, pp.814-832.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
Compared to the fields of child protection and domestic violence, adult protection is relatively new. Definitions and concepts about the basic concepts of abuse and vulnerability remain ambiguous and policies are open to interpretation. This study sought to assist in the development of a more sophisticated understanding of vulnerability and abuse. Specifically, the study investigated factors in professional decision making in relation to identifying and reporting abuse of older people. A systematic review and a panel of expert practitioners were used to identify factors that might influence professional recognition and reporting of elder abuse. These factors were incorporated into a questionnaire that included randomised factorial survey vignettes and additional questions on decision making. Sets of unique vignettes were completed by 190 social workers, nurses and other professional care managers across Northern Ireland in 2008, giving 2,261 randomised vignettes used as the units of analysis. The findings showed that recognition and reporting of abuse were influenced by case factors specific to the abuse event (type and frequency of abuse), while contextual factors (age, gender, health conditions) did not significantly influence recognition or referring of abuse. While there was some consistency in recognition and referring in extreme cases, there was disparity in the more ambiguous vignettes.
Developing an integrated assessment tool for the health and social care of older people
- Author:
- TAYLOR Brian J.
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Social Work, 42(7), 2012, pp.1293-1314.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
Assessment tools have a key function in relation to co-ordinating care, communication between professionals and gathering data for monitoring and service improvement. There are challenges facing co-ordinated assessment processes in health and social care of older people because of the wide variety of care pathways in primary, acute, ‘intermediate’ and community care settings. This paper outlines the development of the Northern Ireland Single Assessment Tool (NISAT) for the health and social care of older people. The purpose of the tool is to facilitate access to appropriate health and social care interventions ranging from non-complex to complex co-ordinated care and to be suitable for use in primary, acute and community health and social care including intermediate care. The development involved stakeholders from a wide range of professions, older people and carers. The process included a survey of existing care management assessment tools, various working groups and testing reliability using vignettes and trained actors. Older people were engaged in a music, dance and visual arts project on the theme of assessment to inform the tool development. The components of the tool and their development are reviewed, including considering the role of social work in contributing to specialist assessment as distinct from the role of co-ordinating a holistic assessment process.