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Apply for Approval for Social Research
What is the Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership (GCHSCP) external research application process?
The GCHSCP external research application process is in place for students / researchers to apply for approval to conduct social research with social work service users, social work staff or social work data in relation to social care services that GCHSCP is responsible for providing.
Applicants should note that a separate NHS external research application process exists for applications to conduct social research related to health services with patients, health staff or health data in any health setting, including those health services GCHSCP is responsible for providing.
Separate applications require to be submitted via both the GCHSCP and the NHS external research application processes for any research requests involving both social work and health service users/patients, staff or data related to HSCP functions.
Education Services have a separate process for applications to conduct research on their Research Access in Schools webpage
Why do I have to apply for approval for my research?
The approval application process, which includes ethical approval, is in place to protect service users, staff, data and the researcher, ensure effective use of our resources and ensure compliance with relevant legislation (for example GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018).
All reliable and rigorous social research is conducted with due consideration of ethical issues at all stages of the research design and implementation process. All external research approved by Glasgow City Health & Social Care Partnership (GCHSCP) must conform to the highest ethical standards, to ensure that, above all, service users, staff and the researcher are safeguarded from harms that could arise from such research and that HSCP data is protected. The GCHSCP external research application form (available below) includes an assessment criteria checklist that provides guidance on the ethical issues applicants must consider in planning their research.
What themes should I consider researching?
Glasgow City Council Social Work Services Professional Governance Board has approved a list of themes it would welcome further research on, as outlined below. While other themes will be considered, students / researchers are advised to consult the theme list when applying to conduct research involving GCC Social Work staff, service users or data.
While applications to conduct research related to themes on the list will be considered more favourably, approval is not guaranteed since they will still be subject to the scrutiny of the full external research application process.
List of Approved Research Themes
| 2021/22 Approved Research Themes for students (as at Sep 2021) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Care Group | Theme(s) | Notes | |
| 1 | Children's Services | Improving outcomes for families where long term neglect is a risk factor. | |
| 2 | Children's Services | Supporting young people on the edge of care - what works to prevent them becoming looked after? | Some work internally on this recently eg. Family Group Decision Making & Lifelong Links initiatives |
| 3 | Children's Services | Kinship care | Students should identify narrower more focussed projects within this heading such as what works in supporting carers; what are the gaps in support; third sector's role in helping kinship carers. |
| 4 | Children's Services | Promoting long term stability of placements for looked after children, for example in foster care | |
| 5 | Children's Services | Education and outcomes for care experienced children | |
| 6 | Children's Services | Continuing care - how should young people aged 16+ be supported to achieve good outcomes? | Potential for small & larger scale research |
| 7 | Children's Services | Aftercare - how should young people aged 16+ be supported to achieve good outcomes? | Potential for small & larger scale research |
| 8 | Children's Services | Topics related to family support and engaging with vulnerable families | Students should identify narrower more focussed projects within this heading |
| 9 | Children's Services | Tackling child poverty | Students should identify narrower more focussed projects within this heading |
| 10 | Children's Services | Improving quality of care plans for looked after / looked after and accommodated children & young people in light of technological developments | Include focus on sibling contact using new technologies |
| 11 | Children's Services | The impact of Children's Hearing and court decision on the management of young people in the youth justice system | |
| 12 | Children's Services | Effective community based interventions to prevent young people becoming involved in youth justice services | |
| 13 | Children's Services | What are professionals' view on the range of factors associated with Global Developmental Delay? | |
| 14 | Children's Services | What is the impact of diagnosis (of Autistic Spectrum Disorder / Global Development Delay / ADHD / Foetal Alcohol Syndrome) on parents / carers / young people? | |
| 15 | Children's Services | What are the experiences / understanding of families of health and social care integration following a child's diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder / Global Development Delay / ADHD / Foetal Alcohol Syndrome? | |
| 16 | Children's Services | What are parents' / carers' / young people's / professionals' expectations / understanding of the remit of CAMHS? | |
| 17 | Adult Services | Are communication aids handed back re-used appropriately & effectively by Social Work Services | Learning disability care group - cost analysis, suitability of aids and re-allocation process could be looked at in particular with a view to recommending improvements |
| 18 | Adult Services | Experiences of newly qualified mental health officers working in Glasgow City HSCP | |
| 19 | Adult & Older People Services | Investigating well-being outcomes for older carers (age 70+) of service users with learning disabilities and those who they care for | A focus on how much carers have considered alternative care arrangements should be looked at within this |
| 20 | Adult & Older People Services | Investigating the (potential) use of Family Group Conferencing within Adult and Older People Services | Being used in Glasgow within Children's Services only. Investigate use outwith Children's Services elsewhere & use with Children's Services in Glasgow |
| 21 | Older People Services | Investigating the benefits of physical activity on the physical and emotional wellbeing of older people | There is a particular interest in this related to older people in residential care |
| 22 | Older People Services | Service users experience of intermediate care | |
| 23 | Older People Services | Residential care homes - perceptions of barriers to reduce unscheduled care | Dialogue with stakeholders to develop thematic review of issues and recommendations to improve |
| 24 | Older People Services | Opportunities for anticipatory care within care and residential facilities | Case study approach to understand opportunitites for earlier intervention and triangulated with stakeholder perception |
| 25 | Older People Services | Why in a number of cases is Intermediate Care not seen by family / carers as best option for next stage of care? | Understanding drivers / incentives / reasons for refusal or delay to identify opportunities to address these and reduce number of people being assessed / delayed in hospital |
| 26 | Homelessness | Housing First service tenancy sustainment: Investigating key barriers and enablers | |
| 27 | Homelessness | Impact of positive service relationships on Housing First outcomes | |
| 28 | Homelessness | Housing First tenancy breakdown: Investigatng supports available for individual service users | |
| 29 | Homelessness | Housing First: The effectiveness of partnership working / integration of agencies and the impact on outcomes for service users | |
| 30 | Homelessness | From a lived experience perspective what barriers and supports have Housing First service users encountered in accessing mental health services? | |
| 31 | Homelessness | What influences service users engagement with support services pre- and post- Housing First? | |
| 32 | Homelessness | Examining best practice in relation to homeless or people threatened with homelessness who experience domestic abuse | Within a Housing Options context and trying to sustain people that experience domestic abuse in their current accommodation |
| 33 | Homelessness | Examining best practice in relation to homeless or people threatened with homelessness who experience domestic abuse | For homeless people who experience domestic abuse and have to leave their accommodation |
| 34 | Homelessness | Examining best practice in relation to homeless or people threatened with homelessness who experience domestic abuse | For homeless or people threatened with homelessness with complex trauma who experience domestic abuse |
| 35 | Criminal Justice | Examining the impact of unpaid work (both positive and negative) on service users journey to desistance | |
| 36 | Criminal Justice | Tomorrows Women Glasgow service users who have had their children removed from their care: Investigating the scale of this and the impact of this on the service users | |
| 37 | Criminal Justice | Profiling the ageing population returning from custody to the community - the range of needs and service challenges | |
| 38 | Criminal Justice | Evaluation of the effectiveness of the Outcome Star Tool with Criminal Justice service users | |
| 39 | Criminal Justice | Examining the experience of presenting for a Crimianl Justice Social Work report and identifying any barriers to this | |
| 40 | Criminal Justice | Examining experiences around 2016 legislation with reduction of time on Non Parole Licence | How does a shorter time on licence prepare service users for the future? |
| 41 | Criminal Justice | Examining the prevalence of learning difficulties/disabilities within the Criminal Justice service user population and the issues that impact on this group | |
| 42 | Adult Support & Protection | Evaluate outcomes for service users following an intervention under ASP | |
| 43 | Cross cutting | Evaluating the impact of health and social care integration in Glasgow | Initially proposed for Children & Families but could be explored within all relevant care groups |
| 44 | Cross cutting | Carers - Impact of Carer Act | Gaps / opportunities |
| 45 | Cross cutting | Do carers receive the training they need to undertake their role? | Review of support packages to identify perceptions of gaps in training or style / quality of training |
| 46 | Cross cutting | Expectation of referrers to social work services | Initially proposed for Children & Families but could be explored between & across all care groups |
| 47 | Cross cutting | How is digital technology transforming health & social care? | Students should identify narrower more focussed projects within this heading perhaps relating to a single care group |
| 48 | Cross cutting | Gender Based Violence - Do women "know where to go"? Understanding landscape of services for women and information available | Recommendations to improve type / access / source of information |
| Next update due: Sep-22 | |||
How do I apply?
In order to start the application process, you should fill out the 
External Research Application Pack [92kb] and return it to sw_research@sw.glasgow.gov.uk
The form includes a checklist of documents that should be submitted when you return your application.
When should I apply?
In order to ensure that you get a decision that meets the planned timescales of your research, you should submit your application at least one month before you need access to our resources.
We receive many external research applications every year. Unfortunately, we are unable to approve every application we receive for a variety of reasons.
How much does it cost?
The application process is free of charge
