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Case evaluation of a holistic approach to addressing female youth violence. Anna McLeay 12/10/11. Case background. Local Authority Early Intervention Team 15 year old female Excluded from school – previously truanted Offending in community – violent offending
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Case evaluation of a holistic approach to addressing female youth violence. Anna McLeay 12/10/11
Case background • Local Authority Early Intervention Team • 15 year old female • Excluded from school – previously truanted • Offending in community – violent offending • Several moves between caregivers • Preston-Shoot and Williams (1987) model of evaluation – aims, objectives, indicators and review/findings.
Overarching Aims • Safe and stable place to live and be cared for • Reflects difficulties in developing secure attachments • To promote wellbeing (Children Scotland Act 1995 and Getting It Right for Every Child) • General aim pertinent to holistic approach
Objectives • Establish relationship with Claire. • Secure a safe place to live. • Accessing educational provision then encouraging Claire to engage with this. • Reducing offending. • Access and engage with formal supports.
Intervention • One-to-one work with Claire. • Supporting Mum • Multiagency working – developing a formal support network • Social Background Report
Indicators (1) Objective 1 (relationship) - Engagement with one-to-one sessions (quantitative) Objective 2 (safe and secure place to live) - Whether Claire had a safe place to live (absolute) - Perceived accuracy of SBR (qualitative) Objective 3 (educational provision) - Whether educational provision accessed (absolute) - Attendance (quantitative)
Indicators (2) Objective 4 (offending) • Rate of offending (quantitative) Objective 5 (formal support network) • Whether formal support services accessed (absolute) • Pattern of engagement with formal support services (quantitative) Overarching aim 2 (promote wellbeing) • DoH ‘Adolescent Wellbeing Questionnaire’ (quantitative and promoted discussion)
Review/findings (1) • Relationship • 10/16 sessions attended 2. Safe place to live (including assessment) • Living in safe place • Assessment accurate? - To an extent. Effectiveness of SBR unknown. 3. Education • Educational provision accessed • 61.25% overall attendance (varying over 8 weeks)
Review/Findings (2) 4. Offending • Reduction in offending over last 5 months 5. Formal support network • Accessed (Youth Offending; Homelessness service; Intensive Support Service) • Engagement – varied Overall safety and wellbeing • Safe place to live although volatility of situation meant contingency plan required. • DoH ‘Adolescent Wellbeing Questionnaire’ score reduced from 12 to 8.
What worked well • Systematic approach to evaluation - allowed reflection. • Allowed me to apply theory to practice. • Seeking Claire and her mother’s views was valuable as an indicator.
Challenges • Not easy to measure and quantify qualitative indicators e.g. trust. Qualitative approach better for evaluating work with female offenders (Hedderman et al. 2011). • Being objective when evaluating own practice. • Need for objectives and indicators to be flexible to allow for changing situations.
Key tensions • Balancing risk - referral to Reporter vs. risk of situation deteriorating. • Multiagency working . • Success of preventative work may be difficult to measure. • Time restraints on qualified workers affects ability to evaluate work.
Lessons for future evaluation • Setting up indicators with family. • Useful to further consider how outcomes of different objectives are dependent on each other. • While large-scale quantitative evaluation of outcomes are necessary, small-scale case evaluation could be valuable for continuous learning and professional development.
References 4 research articles Biehal, N. (2008) ‘Preventative Service s for Adolescents: Exploring the Process of Change’, British Journal of Social Work, vol. 38, pp. 444-461 McAra, L. and McVie, S. (2010) ‘Youth crime and justice: Key messages from the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime’, Criminology and Criminal Justice, vol. 10(2), pp. 179-209 Moran, P., Jacobs, C., Bunn, A. and Bifulco, A. (2007) ‘Multi-agency working: implications for an early intervention social work team’, Child and Family Social Work, vol. 12, pp. 143-151 Thomas, J. and Holland, S. (2010) ‘Representing Children’s Identities in Core Assessments’, British Journal of Social Work, vol. 40, pp. 2617-2633 Evaluation model Preston-Shoot, M. and Williams, J. (1987) ‘Evaluating the Effectiveness of Practice’, Practice, vol. 1(4), pp. 393-405