Results of collaborative decision-making practices in social work with families: Methodological issues in research

The article deals with methodological issues in effectiveness research of practices of collaborative decision-making in social work, focused on a family group and its informal social network, exemplified by Family Group Conferences and Network Therapy. The article provides a conceptual review of approaches to constructing the expected results of FGC/NT from the viewpoints of various stakeholders — professionals, adult family members, and children. It analyses the sensitivity to these results in research projects with various research design types, including randomized controlled trials and their suggested alternatives such as discrete time survival analysis, cohort studies, and case-study. It discusses the factors and mechanisms that influence effectiveness of FGC/NT and should be considered in a “theory of change” for these practices.

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