Social Work, Social Care and Health Spotlight Series: Respectful, Responsive and Relational – How do we define, evidence and improve social care in Scotland?

Welcome to our ‘Spotlight Sessions’ – events designed to raise awareness of an idea, approach or research that we believe could interest and inspire those involved in Social Work, Social Care, Health and related Third and Voluntary sectors. These sessions are open to all and recommended for anyone across all sectors interested in understanding more.
At Leading to Change, we are delivering a series of awareness sessions relating to core themes within Social Work and Social Care with the intention of ‘shining a light’ into the areas of the sector that others may know very little or nothing about.
We want to give people insights into roles and functions and the impact on ‘Mr and Mrs Smith’ with a view to reinforcing the message about collaborative leadership and the difference it can make.

In this session, Dr Jenna Breckenridge will share the findings from a multi-method qualitative research study she conducted as part of an Economic and Research Council (ESRC) funded policy fellowship with Scottish Government.

At a time of social care reform in Scotland, it is crucial that policy makers listen to distinctly social care knowledge, build on the existing evidence base for ‘what works’, and devise sensitive and effective ways of evidencing what ‘good’ social care looks like. Combining data from individual interviews and holding creative research workshops with stakeholders from across the sector, Jenna’s research generated a model to explain how “good” social care in Scotland can be defined, evidenced and improved. The model suggests that the core values of ‘good’ social care – being respectful, responsive and relational – should underpin not only how we design and deliver services, but how we build the social care evidence base and develop a national approach to social care improvement.