Research impact

Our critical and applied social science research engages directly with key challenges in social policy and social work. Our work involves identifying the assumptions embedded in social policies and their implications for the lived experience of service providers, service users and citizens. Our insights inform both future policy development and practice-based interventions.

Our research is disseminated through conferences, workshops, academic journals, practitioner publications and the media. We have presented findings to the general public and policy officials at the local, national and European level. We engage with voluntary, charity and community sector bodies, training and education providers and service users.

We share knowledge. The main beneficiaries of our research are: governmental decision makers in the UK and Europe, professionals and service users in the fields of mental health, social care, housing and migration, members of specific communities of interest (LGBT, older people, disadvantaged young people, families), migrants and refugees and the broadcast media.

We are mindful of the need to transfer study into practice. Our work strives to:

  • improve planning and delivery of services
  • enhance understanding of, and create new opportunities for, citizen and service-user participation in service development
  • stimulate practitioner debate and,
  • shape a wider public discourse.

By providing policymakers with evidence-based research, our work has real value in advancing the quality of decision-making by identifying the steps needed to improve lives for citizens and make progress in terms of social justice.

Making an impact on criminology

Professor Peter Squires, Professor of Criminology & Public Policy, has been elected as the new president of the British Society of Criminology (BSC). In his new role, Professor Squires will be responsible for leading the society and developing the society’s strategic direction. Professor Squires, who has worked at the university since 1986, described being selected to represent the BSC as a “real honour”.

Professor John Lea, Visiting Professor of Criminology, has been awarded a lifetime achievement award for his contribution to criminology. The prestigious British Society of Criminology (BSC) Outstanding Achievement Award is presented once a year and recognises the research contribution of academics in the field. Professor Lea was nominated for his work toward the development of criminological theory and research on victimisation and police racism.

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Professor Peter Squires, President of the British Society of Criminology

Influencing policies on gun crime and CCTV to promote public safety

Our pioneering criminology research has changed national and European policy, practice and debate on public safety. With over 20 years of direct engagement with policing and firearms control, Professor Peter Squires has demonstrated that improvements in accountability, research evidence and effective evaluation are critical for gun control and CCTV surveillance policy.

Professor Peter Squires gave evidence regarding gun crime and developing more effective firearms controls to the UK Home Affairs Select Committee in 2010 and contributed directly to the European Charter on CCTV surveillance, adopted by the EU in the same year. He was appointed to the Association of Chief Police Officers National Advisory Committee on Criminal Use of Firearms in 2013, has been lauded by The Guardian as ‘the country’s most-quoted academic expert on gun crime’ and had his work cited as an ‘invaluable resource’ in the Vice-Presidential Special Commission Report Reducing Gun Violence in America (Webster and Vernick, Eds. 2013).

Squires’ seminal work, Gun culture or gun control: firearms violence and society (2000), revealed the inadequacy of narrow solutions to gun control and the need for more evidence-led and culturally sensitive approaches that adjusted to changing patterns in firearm misuse. Participation in four major EPSRC-funded collaborative, interdisciplinary research projects identified the changing profile of gun-involved violence in the UK and the complex mixed economy of illegal firearms in gang networks. Highly influential publications on illegal firearm supply, community ‘weaponisation’, gangs, youth violence and gun misuse, including the definitive Centre for Crime and Justice Studies’ Gun Crime: A Review of Evidence and Policy, have consolidated Squires’ place as a leading expert. His most recent book,  explores the role of weapon proliferation in driving up rates of violence and conflict in a wide range of contexts: western democracies and failing states.

In the wake of the Cumbria 2010 shootings, the Home Affairs Select Committee undertook an inquiry into firearms control. Squires gave evidence relating to:

  • legal weapon possession and domestic violence
  • the role of ‘readily convertible’ weapons,
  • firearms supply and the misuse of air weapons.

The resulting report Firearms control - Third Report of Session 2010-2011, Volume 1 by the Home Affairs Committee (HC 447-I, 2010) accepted recommendations and presented them to Government. Subsequently, the Home Office incorporated proposals related to records of domestic violence risk into revised firearm licence application and renewal guidance distributed to all police forces. In addition, a proposed new offence of ‘illegal firearm possession with intent to supply’ can, in part, be traced back to evidence given by Squires.

Professor Peter Squires also joined a working party of the European Forum for Urban Safety (EFUS) to help develop a protocol of evidence-led CCTV policy guidance and good practice. Research directly underpinned the EU Citizen’s Charter on CCTV surveillance and Squires’ article on evaluating CCTV effectiveness was published by EFUS in a companion volume to the new EU Charter Citizens, Cities and Video-Surveillance (EFUS, 2010).

Groundbreaking research into gun crime and public safety, engagements in public discourse and contributions to policy debate mean that we continue to have a significant impact on the development of effective, accountable public policy.

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Improving participatory practice and wellbeing with older people

Our research into participative practice and wellbeing with older people has contributed directly to the development and application of an ethic of care in policy and service delivery, as well as to practices in older people’s participation, locally, nationally and internationally.

The research has directly impacted on practitioners and practice developments in services for older people, with learning resources (co-designed with practitioners and older people) being used in professional education and training across the UK and New Zealand. An innovative participatory methodology has both enhanced older people’s participation locally and been adopted more widely by university community research collaborators working to enhance older people’s citizenship and wellbeing. Research has directly informed policy concerning needs assessments for older people by recognising the centrality of relationships to wellbeing in older age. The wellbeing research involving collaboration with service users and providers has been described as ‘exemplary’ by the leading national charity Age UK and has informed professional practice, service delivery, staff training and national campaigns on dignity and safeguarding.

More locally, findings and innovations in ways of working with older people are being drawn on directly in developing 91快活林 and Hove Council’s bid to become a World Heath Organisation (WHO) Age-Friendly City. In addition, older people working as co-researchers have benefited directly through their participation in research, developing skills and confidence and an enhanced sense of pride regarding advocating for the rights and interests of their generation.

Building on a body of work conducted over 20 years, our research focuses on user involvement, public participation, partnerships working, older people and care. Combining scholarship with participatory empirical research has been central to developing the involvement of older people in the impacts of research on practice and critical policy thinking.

Four key participative research projects – Growing Older, Being Heard, Cheers!?  Older People and Alcohol Use, Older People and Wellbeing and Knowledge Exchange with Older People and an Ethic of Care (KEOPEC) – enabled our team to explore older people’s experiences and debunk myths about wellbeing being related to independence. Overall, our research has identified how diverse relationships with family, friends, service providers, strangers and places are vital to achieving individual and collective wellbeing for older people and we continue to contribute to the debate about the implications this discovery has for policy.

Improving policy and services for LGBT health and wellbeing through participative action research

Our participatory action research in 91快活林 and Hove has identified the specific health and wellbeing needs of LGBT people in mental health, safety, housing, drugs and alcohol. The research changed local and national policy and reshaped services to reflect the diverse needs and experiences of LGBT communities. In the UK, the research influenced policy resulting in the first local LGBT housing strategy and the first suicide strategy in 91快活林 that focuses on LGBT people. The research played a key role in ensuring the survival of the only LGBT mental health charity in the UK.

In the UK, the Department of Health, the UK Drug Policy Commission, the Cabinet Office and the Equalities and Human Rights Commission have adopted recommendations from the research. It has influenced policy developments in Australia through the National LGBTI Health Alliance and has been incorporated into a guide to GLBTI inclusive practice for health and human services in the state of Victoria.

We have driven the development of an internationally-recognised strand of community based research on understanding and transforming LGBT health and wellbeing needs through two studies: Dr Katherine Browne’s Count Me In Too and Dr Katherine Johnson’s LGBT Suicidal Distress project. Findings produced new knowledge about mental health, health, housing and community safety needs of LGBT communities, demonstrated a need for a broader social policy framework and advanced the process of conducting research with LGBT collectives and the need for wider inclusion approaches. Our participatory action research brought together communities, service providers, politicians, practitioners and academics in the design, delivery and dissemination to co-produce material that worked for positive social change.

Locally, our work was central to the development of policies on alcohol community safety and domestic violence, contributed directly to the UK’s first local LGBT specific housing policy, challenged key stereotypes and engaged politicians and heads of service. Nationally, findings have informed work by the Department of Health, UK Drug Policy Commission, Cabinet Office and the Equalities and Human Rights Commission and, internationally, influenced policy in Australia through the National LGBTI Health Alliance.

In addition, evidence underpinned the establishment of an independent charity, MindOut, to provide appropriate services for LGBT people with mental health issues, informed equality and diversity training for members of the GP Clinical Commissioning Group and GP Practice Managers and resulted in two LGBT workers being recruited to RISE, a charity that supports women and families affected by domestic abuse to ensure that gay men and trans people benefited from services.

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Improving understanding of and responses to child to parent violence

The problem of child to parent violence has proved difficult to address because not enough is known about the issue; it is rarely articulated in government policy and it remains a taboo subject that families find difficult to disclose. Our team is leading a multi-agency action learning research project examining abuse perpetrated by children on their parents and carers.

Working with partner organisations in the UK, Bulgaria, Ireland, Spain and Sweden, our aim is to understand the extent of the problem, increase awareness, evaluate intervention programmes and, crucially, provide a toolkit for practitioners and families to use across Europe. The work is part-funded by the European Commission's Daphne III programme, which supports Europe-wide projects that address issues of violence against children, young people and women and aims to attain a high level of health protection, wellbeing and social cohesion.

Dr Paula Wilcox, principal lecturer in the University of 91快活林's School of Applied Social Science, explains why this vital research is key to tackling child to parent violence: "Existing literature identifies that it is mainly mothers who experience it and mainly adolescent boys who instigate it, as well as exploring links with domestic violence. However, the issues are under-researched and due to the lack of evidence-based guidance, practitioners are often unsure how to respond to this problem."

Developing intervention models including guidelines, monitoring and evaluation tools for practitioners, parents and young people will benefit those directly affected by this issue. Impact will be maximised through pooling resources across Europe and our commitment to broad dissemination through national and international networks. This project, its outputs and exploration of ways to combat child to parent violence will be publicised widely to both practitioners and policy makers.

Developing participative evaluation of health IT 

New technologies in health are creating opportunities for reflecting upon, informing and re-designing traditional forms of interaction between people (patients, carers and healthcare providers) and the information they create and use. The challenge for anyone involved in these activities is in knowing how to frame, articulate and evidence the complex and fast-paced changes taking place around them.

Through engaging with patients, clinicians and technology suppliers we have developed a way of addressing these concerns, which we refer to as a ‘practice-based’ approach. Primarily used as a means of informing and evaluating health IT projects, our practice-based approach focuses attention on when and to what extent health IT is able to make a difference to the day-to-day goals and concerns of those working with them. We work with patients, carers, clinicians and the communities they live and work in, but are also interested in the people and practices involved in developing new technologies.

Led by Professor Flis Henwood and Dr Mary Darking, this work is informed by Science and Technology Studies, philosophical questions concerning ontology and practice, and by our use of participative, patient-involved research methods. This project sits within our Information, Technology and Care research theme where we explore issues involving social media, telecare, telemedicine, health information, mobile phone applications, electronic patient records, ‘big data’ projects and clinical dashboards.

Through our direct engagement, we have discovered that it is possible to build local capacity in health IT projects through action learning in a way that stimulates trust and UK-level knowledge sharing, leadership and innovation. This approach has led to the ongoing development and refinement of a specialist hospital-based electronic record system, which consistently delivers improvements in care. Patients have benefited directly from improved access to blood results, clinicians have better access to clinical information and have gained IT leadership experience. In addition, technology suppliers have been able to respond to user feedback as illustrated by the numerous change requests they have acted on over the past four years with modifications to their products.

Work in this impact area originates from our research engagement with renal patients, carers and clinicians and our subsequent engagement with HIV/Aids patients and clinicians. We have made an important local impact by establishing a Community Research and Evaluation Gateway, supporting community organisation engagement in health service innovation. In addition, we have fostered improved engagement through our creation of a ‘Digital Health Services Research Hub’, a platform for encouraging university-hospital-community collaboration in projects involving new technologies.

Influencing policy and contributing to good practice in relation to police use of Section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983

Police in England and Wales are empowered to detain individuals who are thought to be a danger to themselves or to others under Section 136 (s136) of the Mental Health Act 1983. Use of this authority is widespread, but attracts controversy, as it requires the police to make judgements about mental health and involves detaining individuals in police custody who may not have committed any crime.

Nationally, the rate of detentions has risen significantly since 2007 and, as a result, s136 has been under increased scrutiny. Across Sussex, police use s136 to detain individuals at rates estimated to be as much as ten times the national average, but only a small percentage are admitted to hospital. While this disparity may reflect idiosyncratic local phenomena to some extent, it still does not explain the high usage of police cells over hospital Places of Safety (five across Sussex) and the low rates of follow-up treatment under compulsion or voluntarily.

Professor Gillian Bendelow was awarded the British Academy/Leverhulme Senior Research Fellowship– ‘Diagnosing Dangerousness and Vulnerability: Police use of Section 136 of the Mental Health Act across Sussex’ in September 2012 to work in close collaboration with Sussex Police (Sarah Gates, Mental Health Liaison Officer) and Sussex Partnership NHS Trust (Marion Trendall, Head of Social Care Specialist Services Sussex). Research addresses the controversially high use of these police powers and the continued use of police custody to detain the severely distressed and suicidal.

From 2013, Bendelow was appointed an Honorary Senior Research Fellow for Sussex Partnership NHS Trust and the original research design for this project has been adopted onto the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Portfolio with Claire Warrington appointed as a full-time Research Co-ordinator. The mixed methods study will provide a secondary analysis of existing statistics to understand the social patterning of detainees and is collecting qualitative data through focus groups, interviews and observations of police officers, mental health professionals, voluntary workers and those who have been detained. The research has a central focus on 'the lived experience' of sufferers, patients and users, and involves user and carer groups in the design, analysis and dissemination.

In addition to providing an overview of out-of-hours mental health crisis intervention practices for vulnerable adults, the findings will assess alternatives to s136, building upon and developing good practice and feed into current debates about the appropriateness of s136 and suggested alternatives both locally and nationally.

Our research team is currently engaged in influencing government policy through their participation in the Home Office Department for Safeguarding Vulnerable People/Department of Health Roundtable Consultation on the operation of Section 135 and 136 in April 2014. Recommendations will be reported to Parliament.

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