Anglia Ruskin University Factors That Are Key Influences to Effective Interprofessional Collaborative Child Protection Decision
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ANGLIA RUSKIN UNIVERSITY FACTORS THAT ARE KEY INFLUENCES TO EFFECTIVE INTERPROFESSIONAL COLLABORATIVE CHILD PROTECTION DECISION MAKING AND PRACTICE: SOCIAL WORKERS’ PERCEPTIONS NHLANGANISO NYATHI A thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Anglia Ruskin University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Submitted: September 2016 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to extend immeasurable appreciation and deepest gratitude to the following people who in one way or another contributed to making this study possible: Dr Jane Akister – for the enduring guidance and supervision throughout the course of this study. Dr Julie Smith - for supervision during the early stages of this study and support during the final stages of this study. Professor Sharon Andrew – for the supervision and guidance throughout the course of this study. Dr Adriana Sandu – for the supervision and guidance throughout the course of this study. Dr Peter Stokes – for the help with the literature search, use of Refworks and facilitating access to various online resources. Dr Sarah Burch, Research Director - for recommending me for confirmation of candidature and being the critical reader for my draft thesis. Professor David Humber, then Pro-Vice Chancellor and Executive Dean - for recommending me for confirmation of candidature. Professor Darja Zavirsek, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia - for being the external referee for my confirmation of candidature. Dr Justice Mbizo, Assistant Professor, University of West Florida - for the numerous intellectual conversations via skype and for the encouragement guidance throughout the course of this study. Kathy Kingham – for proofreading the final thesis. Finally, my wife and the Boys - for their encouragement, support and patience during the entire period of this study. ii ANGLIA RUSKIN UNIVERSITY ABSTRACT FACULTY OF HEALTH SOCIAL CARE AND EDUCATION DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY FACTORS THAT ARE KEY INFLUENCES TO EFFECTIVE INTERPROFESSIONAL COLLABORATIVE CHILD PROTECTION DECISION MAKING AND PRACTICE: SOCIAL WORKERS’ PERCEPTIONS NHLANGANISO NYATHI SEPTEMBER 2016 Social work practitioner knowledge and understanding of interprofessional collaborative child protection decision making and practice is critical to addressing the incessant concerns about failings of social workers in their statutory lead role and to informing ongoing social work policy reforms regarding new directions for practice and training. This study investigated what social workers perceive as key influences to effective interprofessional collaborative child protection practice as well as the social workers perceptions of decision making during this process. Combining elements of two systems models, Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) learning together systems model (SCIE, 2012) and Falkov’s systemic family focussed model (Falkov, 2013), a constructivist-interpretivist qualitative research design was adopted. Two qualitative research methods were employed: semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 social workers and direct, non- participant, observations were carried out at 20 child protection meetings. Findings were later compared using a triangulation protocol to explore convergence between the two strands of data, and to ensure rigour and trustworthiness in the study. This study found that the effectiveness of interprofessional collaborative child protection decision making and practice, as perceived by social workers, and the systematic identification and the systemic understanding are determined by four factors: multi-level relationship influences; multi-level organisational influences; external influences and decision making influences. Multi-level relationship influences are located at three different spheres: professionals’ relationship influences; lead social workers’ relationship influences and family members’ relationships influences. The multi-level organisational influences are also located within the interaction of three organisational levels: professionals, lead social workers and family members. Within each of these influences are ‘barriers’ and ‘enablers’ which can also be systematically identified and systemically understood. A number of key contributions to knowledge and originality were identified including: the development of a visual unified systemic conceptual model illustrating the systemic interaction between the various influences; evidence of the centrality of multi-level relationship influences; evidence of the use of discretional intuitive multiple professional judgements and decision making criteria iii The main conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that research focused on social workers’ knowledge and understanding of interprofessional collaborative child protection decision making and practice, as the lead professionals, proposes a conceptual model for the systematic identification of child protection concerns and the systemic understanding of this process, with some degree of discretion in professional judgement and decision making. Key words: family member, interprofessional collaboration, child protection, children and young people. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................................... v LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ x LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. xi LIST OF NOTATIONS ..................................................................................................... xii CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS ......................................................................................... xiii COPYRIGHT DECLARATION ......................................................................................... xv Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................... 16 1.1 Background and context ......................................................................................... 22 1.1.1 The rationale for interprofessional collaborative child protection practice ......... 24 1.1.2 Personal reflections and inspirations ............................................................... 27 1.1.3 Scale and magnitude of the problem ............................................................... 31 1.1.4 Historical context ............................................................................................ 31 1.1.5 Policy and legislative context .......................................................................... 33 1.1.6 Political context ............................................................................................... 35 1.1.7 Conceptualising interprofessional collaborative child protection practice ......... 38 1.2 Aims of the study ................................................................................................... 39 1.3 Research Objectives ............................................................................................. 40 1.4 Research Questions .............................................................................................. 40 1.5 Research Design ................................................................................................... 40 1.6 Defining key terms used in this thesis .................................................................... 41 1.7 Structure of the thesis ........................................................................................... 43 1.8 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 46 Chapter 2: Literature review ............................................................................................. 47 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 47 2.2 Search strategy ...................................................................................................... 47 2.3 Generic system-wide collaborative child protection practice influences .................. 50 v 2.4 Collaborative child protection influences in relation to various professionals and their respective agencies ..................................................................................................... 61 2.5 Collaborative child protection influences in relation to lead social workers ............. 68 2.6 Collaborative partnership child protection influences in relation to family members….. ................................................................................................................ 75 2.6.1 Engaging parents ............................................................................................. 76 2.6.2 Engaging children and young people ............................................................... 79 2.6.3 Engaging fathers .............................................................................................. 82 2.6.4 Engaging the whole family ............................................................................... 85 2.7 Collaborative child protection influences in relation to decision making .................. 88 2.8 Collaborative child protection influences in relation to external influences ............ 101 2.9 Conclusion ..........................................................................................................