Decisions, Assessment, Risk and Evidence in Social Work
5th Biennial International Symposium
Monday 2nd and Tuesday 3rd July 2018
Templeton Hotel, Templepatrick, Northern Ireland
DARE 2018
DARE 2018
This fifth DARE symposium builds on the fourth symposium in July 2016 which brought together over 120 delegates from 12 countries including senior practitioners, managers, policy makers, researchers, regulators and social workers in education and training.
Conference Programme
Decision making
Decision making is of crucial importance to the social work profession.
Lives and liberty depend on decisions undertaken in crises and high risk situations.
Daily we support clients in more mundane, everyday, risk-taking decision making.
Professional judgments and recommendations have to be based explicitly on evidence and sound reasoning, utilising robust assessment tools and collaborative (and sometimes contested) decision making processes.
There are challenges in creating, synthesising and using best evidence to inform social work policy and practice.
Topics
This biennial DARE conference series brings together researchers, educators, policy makers and senior practitioners to share developments on these related topics of:
- Professional judgement including reflective practice; cognitive judgement models; heuristics and rationality; use of knowledge; judgements in uncertainty; bias; regret.
- Decision processes with clients, families, other professionals, systems and organisations; social work roles in court decisions; collaborative and contested decisions.
- Assessment tools and processes, including screening, analysis and problem solving; assessing needs, strengths and risks; statistical and intuitive approaches to predicting harm; mitigating and moderating factors.
- Assessing and managing risk, including conceptualisation, communication and legal aspects; organisational processes; positive risk taking; social care governance.
- Evidence creation, synthesis and dissemination; the use of knowledge to inform policy, practice, teaching, management and regulation in social work.
- Ethical, emotional and contextual aspects of decision making, assessment, risk and evidence, including relationship to professional, personal and societal values.
Aims
The conference series aims to:
- promote research, organisation development and teaching initiatives
- to improve professional knowledge and skills for the ultimate benefit of clients, families and society
DARE is supported by the Institute for Research in Social Science at Ulster University.
Conference progamme
Please note that this Programme is draft and subject to change.
Day 1: Monday 2 July 2018
Time Event 9am Registration and refreshments 9.40am Welcome
Mary McColgan OBE, Emerita Professor of Social Work, Ulster University9.50am Overview of the conference and its themes
Brian Taylor, Professor of Social Work, Ulster University10am Plenary: Professor Haluk Soydan, Research Professor of Social Work, University of Southern California School of Social Work, USA
Client-centred High Quality Evidence: What Next?11am Coffee break & look at posters and stalls 11.30am 12.45pm Light lunch & look at posters and stalls 1.45pm Plenary: Professor Rami Benbenishty, Louis and Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work, Bar Ilan University, Israel
Child Welfare Judgments and Decision Processes in Context2.45pm Tea break & look at posters and stalls 3.15pm 4.45pm Comfort break. Get your own drinks from the bar! 5.15.pm - 6.30pm 7pm Musical entertainment with Helen Killick 7.30pm Conference dinner Day 2: Tuesday 3 July 2018
Time Event 9.45am 11am Coffee break & look at posters and stalls 11.30am Plenary: Professor Brian Littlechild, Research Lead, Department of Nursing & Social Work, University of Hertfordshire, England; & Vice President, European Research Institute for Social Work, University of Ostrava, Czech Republic
Assessing and Responding to Risks in Social Work: Evidence-based Guidelines for Ethical Social Work Practice12.30pm Light lunch & look at posters and stalls 1.30pm 2.45pm Tea break 3.15pm 4pm Plenary
Brief feedback from discussion groups and close4.15pm Closing comments
Anne McGlade, Social Care Research Lead, Health & Social Care Board4.30pm Finish Plenary speakers
Professor Haluk Soydan
Research Professor of Social Work, University of Southern California Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, USA, who has undertaken extensive work on the implementation of best evidence at national level as well as by individual professionals.
More information about the talk by this speaker
Two Decades of Evidence-based Practice: And What is Next?
This presentation will summarize the state of the evidence-based practice, and elaborate on its merits and value in human services professions and in social and behavioral research. It will discuss trends in the fields of artificial intelligence and big data, and how these new developments may interact with evidence-based practice.
Professor Rami Benbenishty
Louis and Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work, Bar Ilan University, Israel, who is recognised internationally as a social work researcher specialising in child protection decision-making.
More information about the talk by this speaker
Child Welfare Judgments and Decision Processes in Context
This presentation will focus on the Judgments and Decision Processes in Context (JUDPiC) model, as it applies to judgments and decisions in cases of alleged child maltreatment. This model presents how case characteristics are processed by professionals in social agencies who are influenced by their personal characteristics, their agency features, and the wider local and national context of their child welfare system. The implications for understanding and improving decisions are discussed.
Professor Brian Littlechild
Research Lead, Department of Nursing & Social Work, University of Hertfordshire who has undertaken extensive research in mental health, resistant clients, youth offending & child protection social work and development of evidence-based guidelines.
More information about the talk by this speaker
Assessing and Responding to Risks in Social Work: Evidence-based Guidelines for Ethical Social Work Practice
Drawing on the work of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence in the UK and ongoing local projects, this presentation will examine how we manage ‘risk’ and best include service users, carers and practitioners in these processes, taking into account the International Federation of Social Workers ethics statements, and professional practice standards.
Call for abstracts
Abstracts are invited for Oral Presentations and Poster Presentations addressing any aspect of the conference themes. Abstracts should outline the context, methods and findings - of the study, research synthesis, or innovative service development or teaching activity - together with a generalizable message.
Conference themes
- Professional judgement including reflective practice; cognitive judgement models; heuristics and rationality; use of knowledge; judgements in uncertainty; bias; regret.
- Decision processes with clients, families, other professionals, systems and organisations; social work roles in court decisions; collaborative and contested decisions.
- Assessment tools and processes, including screening, analysis and problem solving; assessing needs, strengths and risks; statistical and intuitive approaches to predicting harm; mitigating and moderating factors.
- Assessing and managing risk, including conceptualisation, communication and legal aspects; organisational processes; positive risk taking; social care governance.
- Evidence creation, synthesis and dissemination; the use of knowledge to inform policy, practice, teaching, management and regulation in social work.
- Ethical, emotional and contextual aspects of decision making, assessment, risk and evidence, including relationship to professional, personal and societal values.
Oral Presentations
Presentations will be a maximum of 20 minutes and will be managed as parallel sets, with each set on a linked theme followed by discussion.
Poster Presentations
- One sheet, portrait (vertical) format, not exceeding 90 cm wide by 130 cm high (A0 size).
- Pins will be provided for you to fix you poster to a board.
- Title and author(s) of the poster should be at the top of the poster in bold lettering.
- Participants from Northern Ireland who would like assistance in producing a poster are invited to contact Dr Campbell Killick, Social Work Research Officer, South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust, at campbell.killick@setrust.hscni.net
Format
Abstracts should be emailed to Prof Brian Taylor, Professor of Social Work at bj.taylor@ulster.ac.uk by Tuesday 30 January 2018 with copy to the conference secretary Mrs Sharon Lucas at dare@ulster.ac.uk using the template.
Abstracts will only be accepted where at least one named author attends the conference. Preference will be given to abstracts:
- with a clear link to the conference themes;
- with clear relevance to social work practice, management, regulation, teaching or research; and
- based on empirical data (research, service evaluation, training evaluation, professional audit; etc.) although exceptional theoretical abstracts may be accepted.
Preference for Oral Presentations will be given to abstracts that are likely to be of interest to a wide cross-section of the audience. Where the Scientific Committee declines an abstract for Oral Presentation it may offer Poster Presentation instead. Decisions will be made by Fri 23 February 2018. The conference early-bird rate closes Wednesday 28 March 2018.
Further conference details, including information on the programme, registration and fees, are being added incrementally to our website www.ulster.ac.uk/dare or contact the Mrs Sharon Lucas sa.lucas@ulster.ac.uk telephone +44 (0) 28 9036 6554.
Sponsored by the Health and Social Care Board for Northern Ireland and Ulster University Institute for Research in Social Sciences.
Location
DARE 2018 will take place at the Templeton Hotel in Templepatrick, Northern Ireland which is convenient to Belfast International Airport.
Accommodation
Accommodation at the Templeton Hotel is available to conference candidates until 30 March 2018 and is on a ‘first-come first-served’ basis at a conference discount rate of £75.
(NB: this cannot be booked online – please either telephone or email; details below)
Please do not commit yourself to travel or accommodation arrangements until you have received confirmation of acceptance of your conference booking.Web:
The Templeton Hotel
882 Antrim Road
Templepatrick
BT39 0AH
T: 028 9443 2984
E: reception@templetonhotel.com
W:www.templetonhotel.comOther hotels in the area
Hilton Templepatrick Hotel & Country Club
Castle Upton Estate
Templepatrick
BT39 0DD
Tel: 028 9443 5500
www.hilton.co.uk/TemplepatrickDistance 0.5 miles (approx. 13 min walk)
The Dunadry Hotel & Country Club
2 Islandreagh Drive
Dunadry
BT41 2HA
Tel: 028 9443 4343
www.dunadry.comDistance 2.2 miles (bus/taxi)
Guest house accommodation available in the local area includes:
Keef Halla Country House
20 Tully Road
Nutts Corner
Crumlin
BT29 4SW
Tel: 028 9082 5491
www.keefhalla.comDistance 6.2 miles (taxi)
NB A taxi would be required from other accommodation (except the Hilton).
Temple Taxis: 028 9443 3333 or Aldergrove Taxis: 028 9442 2226Previous Conferences
DARE 2016
The fourth DARE symposium in July 2016 brought together about 130 delegates from 12 countries including social workers in practice, management, policy, regulation, and education and training.
Plenary Speakers
- Mandeep K. Dhami, PhD, Professor of Decision Psychology at Middlesex University, London.
- John D. Fluke, PhD, Associate Director of System Research and Evaluation at the Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect and Associate Professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
- Gerd Gigerenzer, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and Director of the Harding Center for Risk Literacy in Berlin.
DARE 2014
The third DARE symposium in July 2014 brought together about 120 delegates from 10 countries including social workers in practice, management, policy, regulation, and education and training.
Plenary Speakers
- Professor Eileen Gambrill, Hutto Patterson Professor of Child and Family Studies, University of California at Berkeley, USA, internationally recognized for her work on critical thinking, decision making and related ethical issues, and evidence based practice.
- Dr Martin Webber, Reader in Social Work, University of York, UK, well-known for his passion for rigorous research in mental health social work, including application of evidence to practice decisions and professional knowledge-creation process.
- Mr David Carson, Visitor, School of Law, University of Southampton, UK, an international speaker on the interface between law and risk in human services including the management of risk and professional decisions in organizations.
DARE 2012
The second DARE symposium in July 2012 brought together about 100 delegates from nine countries including social workers in practice, management, policy, regulation, and education and training.
Plenary Speakers
- Professor Hazel Kemshall, De Montfort University Leicester who has published widely on risk assessment and management with adult client groups including criminal justice.
- Professor Aron Shlonsky, University of Toronto who has published widely on risk assessment and predicting harm in child welfare, and on evidence based practice in social work.
Dare 2010
The first DARE symposium in July 2010 brought together about 70 delegates including social workers in practice, management, policy, regulation, and education and training.
Plenary Speakers
- Professor Jill Manthorpe, Director of the Social Care Workforce Research Unit at King’s College London, who has undertaken research and published widely on adult safeguarding and risk in social care.
- Mr Martin Calder, MA, CQSW, private consultant of Calder Training & Consultancy Ltd, who has undertaken developmental work with organisations and published widely on risk and assessment in child protection.