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Partnership and regulation in adult protection: the effectiveness of multi-agency working and the regulatory framework in adult protection.

This study is one of eleven research studies that make up the Modernisation of Adult Social Care (MASC) research initiative, which DH commissioned and sponsored between 2003 and 2007.   

The core modernisation themes of improving protection and developing effective and flexible partnerships were examined within this study and are central to it. The study examined the extent / nature of inter-agency work in adult protection across England and Wales, and explored perceptions of the safeguarding regulation and legislation. 

The research involved three phases:

• a postal survey of social services departments in England and Wales, with an 84% response rate;
• focus groups with adult protection committees in 26 case study sites across England and Wales, where 271 people attended; and,
• semi-structured interviews with a range of social services employees from these sites, where 260 people participated

• University of Sheffield: Partnerships and regulation in adult protection (opens new window)