Summary

Permanency decisions in child welfare are recognised as being challenging. Nevertheless, society and the profession expect that professional judgements should be of the highest quality, consistent, reliable, fully justified and informed by evidence of what works, particularly where decisions are potentially life-changing. However, barriers to knowledge acquisition and utilisation exist, preventing practitioners from gaining the full range of knowledge they require, leading to permanency decisions being interventionist and protectionist in orientation (author, 2020). Think-aloud protocols and semi-structured interviews, in conjunction with a vignette, were used with social workers (N = 17) in statutory services to explore barriers to knowledge acquisition and utilisation in permanency decisions for children in state care.

Findings

The main barriers to knowledge use were (1) misunderstanding or misuse of theory, (2) limitations in training and learning and (3) organisational issues.

Applications

By developing a real-world understanding of the barriers and listening to the views of the professionals themselves, we can begin to realistically inform policy and practice, with the aim of decreasing the barriers to knowledge acquisition and utilisation in permanency decision-making. If we appreciate the barriers to knowledge acquisition and utilisation in permanency decision-making more fully, then perhaps we can reduce them, thereby facilitating more fully informed decisions that best serve the individual needs of children and their families.

中文翻译：

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儿童福利决策中知识获取和利用的障碍：定性研究

概要

儿童福利的永久性决定被认为具有挑战性。然而，社会和专业人士期望，专业判断应该是最高质量的，一致的，可靠的，充分合理的，并应有行之有效的证据，尤其是在可能改变生活的决策方面。然而，知识获取和利用存在障碍，阻碍了从业者获得他们所需要的全部知识，导致永久性决策是干预主义和保护主义的取向（作者，2020）。有声思维协议和半结构式访谈，与小品相结合，用社会工作者使用（ñ = 17）在法定服务中，探索在获得国家照料的儿童的永久决策中获取和利用知识的障碍。

发现

知识使用的主要障碍是：（1）对理论的误解或滥用；（2）培训和学习上的局限性；（3）组织问题。

应用领域

通过在现实世界中了解障碍并听取专业人员的意见，我们可以开始切实地为政策和实践提供信息，以减少永久性决策中知识获取和利用的障碍。如果我们更充分地理解在永久性决策中获取和利用知识的障碍，那么也许我们可以减少这些障碍，从而促进更充分知情的决策，从而最好地满足儿童及其家庭的个人需求。