Title: Heads Together - Understanding Acquired Brain Injury:Addressing the knowledge and skills gap in Social Work education in order to improve practice and outcomes.
Funder: Department of Health and Social Care

Abstract: People with Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) may experience a range of physical and psychological changes that can make it difficult for them to return to pre-injury roles and daily life (e.g. participation in work, community activities, maintaining family and other relationships). For people with ABI and their families to receive access to appropriate social care support, social workers must recognise these difficulties and be able to work with service users to meet their needs. Without this, there is the potential for reduced quality of life, reduced opportunities for participation in everyday activities, and increased risk of serious harm to individuals and families. The main outcome of this research will be to develop materials aimed at improving SW s knowledge of ABI, and the social care needs of people with ABI and their families. To be able do this to the highest standard, we need to have a better understanding of SW s knowledge of ABI currently and the contexts within which they practice and the barriers and enablers to good practice. Our research will address the following questions: What is the current level of ABI knowledge and skills of SWs and what are the gaps between this and existing high quality evidence informed practice? What are the barriers to acting on current knowledge about good practice? How can organisations and managers better support SWs to support people with ABI? (What information and other materials would service users and families find helpful to play a role in this?) What kind of (form and content) resources and training are needed? Is an online resource acceptable? We have structured this project with five work packages: 1)to create an updated scoping to provide an evidence base to understanding the context of the issue and the existing evidence for good practice 2)to survey SW education needs 3)to interview to gain detailed understanding of knowledge-practice gaps 4)to co-create resources for SWs, service users and their families which will: i) Ensure a nuanced understanding of the condition to better address the needs of clients, ii) include materials for families and service users to support advocacy when working with SWs, iii) help improve SW practice management and support the potential role of the SW within an interdisciplinary team. We will pilot test acceptability of these resources. 5)to ensure our dissemination and impact plan reaches key strategic constituencies We will share our findings through these extensive networks of professionals and service users, and professional and peer reviewed journal publications. Collectively, these work packages will support learning about ABI in relation to: care assessments, care planning, Mental Capacity, Safeguarding, and fit with developing SW practice (such as &quot;strengths-based approaches&quot;). The project will achieve an improved understanding and practice amongst SWs, ultimately leading to better social care outcomes for people with ABI and their families, and enable achievement of statutory duties of social workers. With our network of project advisory group members, with SWs and academics nationally this project creates a platform for more research in this neglected area.

Lay abstract: Accidents and illnesses that cause injury to the brain can cause lasting difficulties for which people may need long-term support. Social Workers (SWs) can be key to helping to organise this, but evidence is that too often they do not fully understand acquired brain injury (ABI). This research is about improving SWs' knowledge of ABI and improving their understanding of the social care needs of people with ABI and their families. To achieve this, the research will first examine current knowledge to identify gaps and needs in SW training and practice. Secondly, we will develop and disseminate ABI resources specially designed for social workers and service users. Previous research has repeatedly shown that people with ABI can experience a range of physical and psychological changes which make it difficult for them to return to pre-injury roles and daily life, such as work, community and leisure activities, and maintain family and other relationships. People living with ABI report feeling &ldquo;abandoned&rdquo; and that SW support is often seen as something lacking in care systems. Some difficulties following ABI have been described as invisible except to the person experiencing them (e.g. problems with memory, attention, planning) though their impact can be significant and difficult to explain to a service provider. To meet the needs of people with ABI and their families, SWs need specific knowledge and skills to recognise and understand these underlying difficulties. With this knowledge, SWs can ensure appropriate high-quality social care support is provided. Without this, people with ABI may experience reduced quality of life, fewer opportunities for participation in everyday activities, and increased risk of potentially serious harm for themselves and their families. We will address questions about &quot;knowledge and skills&quot;;&quot;barriers to acting on knowledge&quot; &quot;organisational and managerial support&quot; and &quot;what kind of training & resources are needed.&quot; We will involve people with experience of an ABI, families, friends and other carers, SWs and managers using a range of activities to collect their views and experiences. To support changes that are needed to the highest standard, we need a better understanding of advocacy needs of service users and their involvement to produce the resources to support better care and support. Using interviews, focus groups, questionnaires with people in all parts of the system , together we will develop, implement, and test acceptability of these resources. These resources will support learning about ABI in relation to topics such as care assessments, care planning, Mental Capacity, Safeguarding, and developing the SW practice environment. We will share our findings through our networks of professionals and service users. Ultimately our work will lead to better social care outcomes for people with ABI and their families, and enable achievement of statutory duties of SWs.

Research activity codes: 7.3 MANAGEMENT AND DECISION MAKING;7.1 INDIVIDUAL CARE NEEDS
Health categories: NEUROLOGICAL