Apply for Approval for Social Research

What is the Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) external research application process?

The HSCP 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 the HSCP 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 the HSCP is responsible for providing.

Separate applications require to be submitted via both the HSCP 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 (HSCP) 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. Among the ethical issues that researchers must consider and address are those related to equality. For example, sampling should be inclusive and reflective of the researched population and communication should be accessible by using alternative formats and languages to enable everyone to engage. Further ethical considerations are listed on the application form assessment criteria checklist.

When should I apply?

If your research involves conducting social research with social work service users and/or social work staff, you should submit your application at least one month before you need access to our resources, in order to ensure that you get a decision that meets the planned timescales of your research.

Applications that require the HSCP to share personal and/or sensitive social work data relating to service users are likely to take significantly longer than one month to be considered for approval. For such applications, the HSCP will undertake a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) that may lead to a requirement for an individual Data Sharing Agreement (DSA) to be developed with the applicant or applying agency.

Approved applications will need to meet our ethical requirements and assure senior managers that they are for research that is:

potentially beneficial to the HSCP,
able to be supported within existing HSCP resources, and
different from that already conducted within the HSCP or available elsewhere.

We receive many external research applications every year. Unfortunately, we are unable to approve every application we receive.

What themes should I consider researching?

A list of approved research themes is shown below. We welcome applications for research on topics related to these themes and encourage applicants to consider equalities issues when selecting their research topic and planning and conducting their research.

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.

Current Approved Research Themes for Students
Last Updated: July 2023
	Care Group	Theme(s)	Notes
1	Adult and Older People Services	Consider well-being outcomes and choice for older carers when caring for a young adult with additional needs	Consider the impact on ageing carers of young adults with physical and/or learning disabilities
2	Adult and Older People Services	Domestic Abuse: older people and carers - explore the opportunities for service development and care delivery
3	Adult and Older People Services	Investigating the use of Family Group Decision Making (FGDM) within Adult and Older People Services	How might FGDM be successfully adapted from the model implemented in Children's Services to Adults/Older People Services? A focus on areas where the current statutory response can contribute to a loss of independence for service users or reduced involvement in decision making about their care should be looked at
4	Adult and Older People Services	Health and Social Care Connect: Examining 'destitution' referrals in respect of adults and older people and the effectiveness of responses to these referrals, including the impact of on site Welfare Rights support	Consider: the impact of increases in fuel costs; cost of living increases
5	Adult Services Mental Health	Examining the experiences of qualified mental health officers working in Glasgow City HSCP
6	Adult Support & Protection (ASP)	Evaluate outcomes for service users following an intervention under ASP
7	Adult Support & Protection (ASP)	Investigating service user and stakeholder participation in the ASP process	Consider the impact that technology (eg. video calling) has on the participation of service users and/or other stakeholders
8	Alcohol and Drug Recovery Services (ADRS)	Consider the benefits and challenges in recovery conversations at the earliest point in treatment and care
9	Alcohol and Drug Recovery Services (ADRS)	Experiences of women in treatment and care services
10	Alcohol and Drug Recovery Services (ADRS)	Family involvement in recovery planning - what are the key benefits and challenges of the family role?
11	Alcohol and Drug Recovery Services (ADRS)	How do we ensure that the social work role is embedded in meeting the Medication Assisted Treatment Standards within Alcohol and Drug Recovery Services
12	Alcohol and Drug Recovery Services (ADRS)/Children's Services	Parental substance use - does available support reduce the impact on children and their carers
13	Children's Services	Aftercare - how should young people aged 16+ be supported to achieve good outcomes?	Potential for small and larger scale research
14	Children's Services	Continuing care - how should young people aged 16+ be supported to achieve good outcomes?	Potential for small and larger scale research
15	Children's Services	Education and educational outcomes for care experienced children
16	Children's Services	How do we engage much more effectively and systematically with dads - to build effective parenting and avoid escalation?
17	Children's Services	How do we improve our practice in working with LGBT+ children and young people?
18	Children's Services	How do we take the learning from other services to develop peer support across Children's Services?	Inc. kinship care; foster care; children's health and disability
19	Children's Services	How do we work creatively with families with a long history of social work involvement to support meaningful positive change?
20	Children's Services	Improving quality of care plans for looked after/looked after and accommodated children and young people in light of technological developments	Include focus on brothers and sisters contact using new technologies
21	Children's Services	Kinship care	Support for children/young people & carers
22	Children's Services	Promoting long term stability of placements for looked after children, for example in foster care
23	Children's Services	Researching the use of the Youth Court and the impact it has on outcomes for young people
24	Children's Services	Supporting children/young people and whole families on the edge of care - what works to prevent family breakdown?	Early intervention/prevention, family support. What do families find useful? What amplifies the voice of families and children/young people? Link to anti-poverty strategies.
25	Children's Services	Tackling child poverty	Students should identify narrower more focussed projects within this heading
26	Children's Services	What do children/young people and families tell us is helpful for children/young people with neurodiversity or suspected neurodiversity?
27	Children's Services	What do effective early intervention and prevention services look like for children and young people experiencing difficulties with their well-being and mental health?
28	Cross cutting	Health and Social Care Connect: Investigating referrals made in respect of people with no recourse to public funds and the responses to these referrals
29	Cross cutting	How can consumer technology support the provision of social care?	Consider barriers to sharing data and ways this can be overcome
30	Cross cutting	Investigate the relationship between Self Directed Support (SDS) and Maximising Independence in Glasgow	Consider across all care groups
31	Cross cutting	What opportunities does AI present for the future of social care provision?
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	Homelessness	From a lived experience perspective what barriers and supports have Housing First service users encountered in accessing mental health services?
36	Homelessness	Housing First service tenancy sustainment: Investigating key barriers and enablers	Consider through a mental health lens
37	Homelessness	Housing First tenancy breakdown: Investigating supports available for individual service users
38	Homelessness	Housing First: The effectiveness of partnership working/integration of agencies and the impact on outcomes for service users
39	Homelessness	Impact of positive service relationships on Housing First outcomes
40	Homelessness	What influences service users engagement with support services pre- and post- Housing First?
41	Justice Services	Evaluation of the effectiveness of the Outcome Star Tool with Criminal Justice service users
42	Justice Services	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?
43	Justice Services	Examining the experience of presenting for a Criminal Justice Social Work report and identifying any barriers to this
44	Justice Services	Examining the impact of unpaid work (both positive and negative) on service users journey to desistance
45	Justice Services	Examining the prevalence of learning difficulties/disabilities within the Criminal Justice service user population and the issues that impact on this group
46	Justice Services	Profiling the ageing population returning from custody to the community - the range of needs and service challenges
47	Justice Services	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
48	Older People Services	Consider the benefits of physical activity for older people alongside the ADL Life Curve model	Consider within a care home setting
49	Older People Services	Examining the effectiveness and efficiency of Social Work/HSCP resources responding to acute electronic early referrals under the Discharge without Delay agenda
50	Older People Services	Experiences of transition from community setting to long term care in Glasgow	Consider: experience of individual and family. Experience at different stages of transition
51	Older People Services	How can individuals best be supported to have a 'healthy' transition from community to long term care?	Literature review highlighting examples of best practice
52	Older People Services	Opportunities for anticipatory care within care and residential facilities	Case study approach to understand opportunities for earlier intervention and triangulated with stakeholder perception