Professor Geraldine Macdonald has spent her career seeking to improve outcomes for people who use social work services. Yet the direction she chose came more by chance than design.
She says, ‘I read Philosophy and Theology at Oxford. I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do, and took a job as a residential social worker in the London Borough of Barnet.
‘I found myself looking after adolescent girls who were not much younger than me – 16 to 18 years old. Looking back, I’m not sure that in the two years I was there I understood very much about the lives of those young women, and how they’d come to be where they were; and I certainly didn’t know very much about the social workers who were responsible for them and how they came to be involved. But it made me eager to learn more.’
She returned to Oxford to train as a social worker, and worked for Oxfordshire Social Services for a number of years. Academia followed: first, Royal Holloway, University of London and then the University of Bristol, where she held the Chair in Social Work from 1997. But the outside world would beckon again and in 2004 she was recruited to a major post with the national social care inspectorate and regulator in England, then the Commission for Social Care Inspection.
In 2006, an opportunity arose at Queen’s. She was appointed as Professor in Social Work and a year later took over as Director of the Institute of Child Care Research (ICCR).
Established in 1995, the ICCR provides policy-makers and practitioners with the knowledge and evidence they need to improve outcomes for children and young people. Professor Macdonald says, ‘Our research aims to give children a voice, to shed light on the social problems that impact on their lives, and assist in the development of effective interventions by rigorous evaluation.’"Our research aims to give children a voice." Funders of the research include the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), National Institute for Health Research, Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, Atlantic Philanthropies, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Alcohol Research UK and a number of charities such as Barnardo’s, Parenting NI and Brook.
Professor Macdonald says, ‘ICCR is well-embedded in the systems it is designed to influence. We work with a wide range of external bodies from all sectors. We have two very strong advisory groups – one a scientific group and the other a professional liaison group made up of people who are at the cutting edge of policy and practice.’
The research portfolio is varied and innovative. ‘To give some examples – The Belfast Youth Development Study is a longitudinal study of adolescent development, and the largest study of its kind in the UK. We have followed some 4,000 young people from 42 schools since they were 11. We have an enormous amount of information, including – uniquely – data on young people’s friendship networks. This provides a rare opportunity to explore the impact of peer-influences relative to other factors known to be associated with the use and misuse of substances, including cigarettes, alcohol and drugs.
‘We also do excellent qualitative research. One of the studies funded by the Public Health Agency (NI) is currently looking at the emotional health and well-being of disabled adolescents, a study prioritised by disabled young people themselves, who felt this important issue was ignored by professionals.’
Evaluations include randomised trials of a parenting programme for parents of adolescents and of an after-school literacy programme for primary school children. These are funded by Parenting NI and Barnardo’s respectively.
‘Good intentions are not enough. History confirms that wellintentioned, well-trained and well-resourced professionals sometimes do more harm than good.’ That is why Professor Macdonald established the Cochrane Developmental, Psychosocial and Learning Problems Review Group in 1997. The group, now based in the ICCR, works with over 750 authors across the world to produce ‘gold standard’ systematic reviews of health, social and educational interventions aimed at improving outcomes for children and adolescents.
‘PhD students are tomorrow’s researchers, managers, and policy-makers. One of my students is exploring the potential of computer games as a therapeutic tool for use by residential child care social workers. The project is in collaboration with the Southern Health and Social Care Trust and funded by the ESRC.
‘Looked-after children have poor mental health but most don’t like the idea of “therapy.” The research uses a computer game that simulates the daily lives of characters. The person playing is responsible for working out what they need and how they are feeling, and responding appropriately. This provides the residential worker with a chance to talk about things that might be difficult to talk about “formally”, such as how to recognise when someone is feeling angry or upset, and how best to manage situations.’
Further afield, ICCR is a key partner in Childwatch International, a prestigious consortium of research centres, and has links with policy research centres in countries including the US, Norway, Spain, Brazil, South Africa, Israel and Jordan.
As Professor MacDonald says, ‘There’s nothing parochial about the work we do here.’
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