Top 10 research priorities: transitions from children’s to adults’ social care
We’re excited to announce that we now have a final ‘top 10’ of research priorities.
We’ve used various methods of engagement over the past eight months to find out what different groups have to say about the transition process. We’ve reached this point following a transparent process that was reviewed at every stage by our working group and dedicated team, including a specialist researcher and priority-setting expert.
Our process
Our first survey was live between 17 April and 8 May 2024. The survey and additional discussion groups gave us 72 responses from different stakeholders including practitioners, third sector colleagues and people with lived experience of the process either as a young person or parent or carer.
We analysed the responses and looked at what research already existed from the questions that were being raised. We then recorded gaps in information or evidence to come up with a long list of 44 questions, which we grouped thematically. We also ran some discussion groups at this stage and included the information they were asking for on our long list.
Our second survey ran for three weeks in early summer and asked people to choose their ‘top 10’ from the long list. This helped us arrive at 15 shortlisted questions.
“This was a unique opportunity to work with a diverse range of stakeholders, including young people, carers, researchers, and policy makers. Our aim was to help identify the most pressing issues and uncertainties in this area. The exercise was well designed and facilitated, and I learned a lot from the different perspectives and experiences of the participants.
I would highly recommend this type of exercise to other social care workers who want to have a say in shaping the research agenda. It’s a good way to help improve the outcomes for the people we support. I look forward to seeing how the research progresses and how it can inform and enhance the practice of social care."
Jim Wright (Development and Day Opportunities Manager at Torfaen County Borough Council)
The ‘top 10’
On 7 August, practitioners and people with lived experience were invited to attend a final workshop to discuss the priorities together. We asked them to vote on the questions they felt were most important to them.
These are the 10 priority questions that workshop participants wanted research to answer:
- How can transitions best meet young people’s needs when adults’ services offer different support, or less support?
- How can young people be supported to make their own choices about transition and what happens after transition?
- How can all agencies and organisations involved in supporting someone work together to support a good transition?
- How can parents and carers be supported with legal matters and decision-making during and after transition?
- How can support for transition planning be coproduced (where people who may use services work together with professionals to create them)?
- How can young people and parents/carers be supported to advocate for themselves/their children in transitions?
- During the transition process, how can young people be supported with understanding what services they can access?
- How is cost and funding of services affecting what support is provided during and after transition, and what can be done to support individuals’ best interests?
- How can age thresholds for support be balanced with individual needs so that needed support does not stop?
- What does a good relationship between children’s and adults’ services look like? How can this be supported in the transition process, and how does it contribute to good transition experiences?
These five priorities were also discussed during the workshop but didn’t make it into the top 10:
11. What does good transition planning look like? When should it start, what should happen at which stages, and what is needed to make this possible?
12. How can transitions best meet the needs of young people accessing mental health support?
13. How can transition support best meet the needs of young people who do not have family support?
14. How can information about the transition process be made accessible to young people, parents and carers, and professionals?
15. What do young people need so they can be fully involved in the transition process?
What happens next?
We’ll turn the top 10 research priorities into research questions. We’ll use these to select topics for our next set of evidence summaries. We’ll also share them with funders and researchers to encourage more research on these topics.
Find out more
Visit our pages on transitions from children's to adults' social care support and research priority setting.