Dr Lesley Deacon

My research is now primarily focused on Participatory Practice Research, and I have developed a model of empowerment to engage practitioners in leading on it: Facilitated Practice-based Research (copyright University of Sunderland) (Deacon 2023). Facilitated Practice-based Research is a facilitated research programme that engages practitioners in co-designing, co-constructing, and co-implementing a piece of group practice research that is current and relevant to their practice. Findings from the research are then implemented into practice and their impact monitored. Read more about this in my session for 'The Insight Collective' for Social Care Wales. This has led to a number of different research projects, set out below.

Facilitated Practice-based Research Projects

1. Story of Place. A number of pieces of live fieldwork have taken place over a period of four years (2019–2023), to understand the community of Wallsend in the north-east of England. With community development practitioners from Wallsend Children’s Community.
2. What factors must social work practitioners consider when making decisions to refer service users/carers to external support services in the Third Sector? With practitioners from Nightstop and Dr Sarah Lonbay and Ms Sarah Connelly.
3. What do service users understand by the concept of ‘consent’ based on their lived experiences giving consent to being referred to an Early Help Service? With practitioners from a Local Authority and Mz Carrie Philips.
4. How do Newly Qualified Social Workers Perceive and Experience the support given for the first year of the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment? With practitioners from the North East Social Work Alliance (NESWA) and Mz Carrie Phillips and Ms Zeta Bikova.
5. How do Partner Professionals perceive and experience safeguarding children and adults? With practitioners from NESWA and Mz Carrie Phillips and Ms Zeta Bikova. 6. A further project is in development with a new cohort of practitioners from NESWA.

Further Research

Dyslexia Research:

This extended research project, with Dr Stephen J Macdonald, produced five co-authored papers. The research itself was in two parts. Firstly the quantitative analysis of data from the Multiple Homeless Exclusion Project in which the over-representation of people with dyslexia in the homeless population was identified as well as their susceptibility to addictive drug use. A social survey was then completed with people who have dyslexia; followed by biographical interviews.

Isolation and Loneliness: two projects:

1. A small-scale study to analyse the impact holistic services can have on the wellbeing of parent carers of children with disabilities and/or life-limiting conditions. This involved quantitative entry and exit surveys followed by qualitative semi-structured interviews with parent carers who accessed the service. The project aimed to evaluate the success of these services in order to determine their effectiveness in reducing the negative impact of stress, isolation, and loneliness often experienced by parent-carers; which, it is argued, is a by-product of the increasing impact of Neoliberalism on today’s society. 
2. A large-scale Community Research Project. The project aimed to understand experiences of isolation and loneliness in the City of Sunderland in order to identify effective interventions. The project was funded by the Public Health Department, Sunderland City Council. Qualitative Biographical interviews were completed with 15 participants of varying age, gender and ethnicity. This then informed the quantitative study which identified disability as a significant factor in feelings of emotional loneliness and social isolation. The qualitative research identified the continued feelings of loss people experience throughout their lives which impacts their feelings of emotional loneliness. It also emphasised the need to look outside of the Monday–Friday, 9–5pm areas of support and consider these people during evenings and weekends when feelings of isolation and loneliness are magnified.

Social Work Theory and Practice:

My post-doctoral research has developed through the post-positivist perspective; using different theoretical perspectives in order to inform effective practice. This is also informed by my co-authored book Social Work Theory and Practice (2017) which identifies the need for practitioners to refer to an eclectic toolkit of theories and models to inform inclusive and anti-discriminatory practice. My research now takes a particular mixed-methods approach by firstly conducting qualitative research to hear the service user voice; this is then followed by quantitative research to test this. This methodological position utilises a social scientific approach to inform practice. It culminated in a co-authored book chapter in the Routledge International Handbook of Social Work Theory (2019) ‘Disability Theory and Social Work Practice’.

Harmful Sexual Behaviour (HSB):

My published doctorate concerned Children’s Social Care Services Response to Children who Display Harmful Sexual Behaviour. This was written from a critical realist perspective using grounded theory to present data from a reality-orientated qualitative enquiry with a Local Authority case study. From this research generative mechanisms were identified in order to inform future research and make best practice recommendations. The first article, written from this research identifies a knowledge-gap in social work practice. A lack of specialist, post-qualifying knowledge in understanding HSB by children means opportunities are being missed for earlier intervention.