Family Group Conferencing in adult social care
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Family Group Conferencing in adult social care and mental health: exploring how it works and what difference it can make in people’s lives
IRAS ID
323436
Contact name
Jerry Tew
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Birmingham
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 9 months, days
Research summary
Family Group Conferencing (FGC) is now being offered in adult social care and mental health services. It offers an opportunity for family, friends and neighbours to come together with a person to devise their own plan for how best to arrange their care, support and safety.
We will investigate the delivery of FGC services in three localities. We will interview staff involved in delivering the service in order to develop a clear theoretical model as to how the service operates, and what outcomes it is hoped will be achieved. In order to study people’s experience of FGC services, we will track what happens for (a) a sample of around 25-30 individuals, together with members of their family/social networks, who go through the full FGC process; and (b) a sample of 12-15 individuals and members of their family/social networks who start the process but do not go through to have a Conference.
Data gathering will involve a combination of interviews and/or survey questions at 3 timepoints – and also direct observations of Conferences where people are comfortable with this. We will explore what factors may influence whether there are positive outcomes, whether these are sustained, and what parts of the FGC process people find most useful. We will also look at what FGC costs and how FGC may impact on people’s use of care services – and we will compare outcomes and costs for our sample with a sample of 25-30 individuals and members of their family/social networks from the same localities who have received care or mental health services as usual.
Working with an Expert Panel of people who have used or are involved in providing FGC services, we will use our findings to specify the components of an effective FGC service and what outcomes should be expected.REC name
London - Camberwell St Giles Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/LO/0359
Date of REC Opinion
28 Apr 2023
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion