Past projects

Group projects involving staff in the School of Counselling, Human Services and Social Work

Young people’s perspectives on youth employment in Franklin, Auckland

Rising youth unemployment coupled with the need to generate more local employment opportunities have been key issues for the Franklin Local Board. A gap in local knowledge towards developing sustainable solutions to these issues was identified and the perspectives of local young people sought regarding:

  • Barriers in the local employment sector
  • Opportunities in the local employment sector
  • Thoughts on being ‘work ready’
  • Preparing young people for employment
  • Preparing local employers to employ young people

A survey exploring these five issues was undertaken with 110 young people (aged 16-19 years) from Waiuku College, Pukekohe High School, Clevedon Presbyterian Church, Waiuku Youth Group, and Pukekohe Youth Centre in June and July 2015. Research team members include Christa Fouché and Hyeeun Kim.

View the Scoping Research for Auckland Council, 2015 (1.1 MB, PDF)

Growing Research in Practice

How much research is undertaken at the front line of social work practice? What are the impediments to research as a feature of practice? How can research undertaken in practice settings inform good social work practice? How can we grow the use of evidence in practice settings?

These questions stimulated the GRIP project. The project began as an initiative by by academics from Massey University and the University of Auckland: Christa Fouché, Neil Lunt, Liz Beddoe and Phil Harington to invite social workers from a variety of agency settings to attend a workshop where we outlined a strategy to support research undertaken by practitioners. Deborah Yates joined the team as project manager and Glenda Light as a ‘critical friend’ and adviser on practitioner perspectives.

It concerned the researchers that there was a low profile of research activity in the local social work practice. In conversation with senior practitioners prior to GRIP, the following points were noted:

  • A low research base exists in New Zealand across a range of fields of practice (level)
  • There was a lack of practitioner confidence in undertaking and making use of research (confidence)
  • That practitioners expressed interest in hearing more about small-scale practitioner research (commitment)
  • There was a broader gap in theoretical understanding around how practitioners make use of research findings and incorporate ‘evidence’ into their work and decision-making (uptake)

As a result the GRIP programme sought to generate debate and skill development within the discipline that could improve the readiness of practitioners to undertake research and for social services to see research as a key part of the contribution they can make to the wellbeing of the client’s communities and staff. The programme developed a collection of resources and culminated in a symposium where practitioners presented their research.

To boost the work and resources required to support the project the GRIP researchers gained support from: The Families Commission's Innovative Practice Fund, the Ministry of Social Development's SPEaR Linkages fund and the ASB Trusts in partnership with the ANZASW. The University of Auckland Faculty of Education and Social Work Research Fund and The University of Auckland Staff Research Fund have also provided generous support of the programme to date.

The research team has published an initial outline of the GRIP project in Social Work Review and presented at national and international conferences. A series of publications have been completed.

'Standing in the Fire': Experiences of HIV-Positive, Black African Migrants and Refugees Living in New Zealand  

HIV-positive, Black African migrants and refugees present as a growing interest in Aotearoa New Zealand. A qualitative project explored the lived experiences and social service needs of affected or at-risk Black African migrants, refugees and their family members in New Zealand. In-depth interviews were conducted with 13 HIV-positive Black African migrants between July and August 2010. One of the main themes that emerged from the data is HIV-related stigma and the profound ways it affects participants’ lives - including the ways they access care for HIV disease. Another major theme relates to participants’ courage, integrity and their challenge of stigma. Research team members include Christa Fouché, Mark Henrickson, Cynthia Cannon Poindexter, Kay Scott, Derek Brian Brown and Christina Horsford.

Fouché, C., Henrickson, M. & Poindexter, C. (2011). ‘Standing in the Fire’: Experiences of HIV positive Black African migrants in New Zealand. Auckland: University of Auckland.

View the 'Standing in the Fire' report (1.5 MB, PDF)

Crossing Borders: An exploration of migrant professional workforce dynamics (FRDF funded)

The challenge of a mobile, professional social work workforce, successfully managing the demands of service-users, policy makers and the public at large in different countries across the globe, provides an unprecedented opportunity for social work educators.

This study seeks to develop a profile of migrant social workers in NZ and key professional issues experienced by these professionals. Research team members include Christa Fouché, Liz Beddoe, Allen Bartley and Phil Harington.

Educating future health care professionals to support people with chronic conditions to live better and live longer (STAR funded)

Chronic care consumers repeatedly report that health and social care workers are delivering services that are not adequately meeting their needs. The nine health professional training programmes in NZ continue to be delivered in isolation of one another with little attention to the core competencies required of health professionals to work with chronic care consumers.

The challenge of successfully managing chronic conditions provides an unprecedented opportunity to explore new models of health professional education. This study seeks to identify the needs of chronic care consumers both from their own perspective and from expert clinicians and further, identifies the core and discipline specific competencies for novice and advanced practitioners.

Associate Professor Christa Fouché is the principal investigator for this study that includes research team members from Nursing, Pharmacy, Medicine, Speech Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Mental Health from The University of Auckland, AUT and Massey University. This study builds on extensive research done in the field of chronic care by the GERaC team of academics and researchers based at the School of Nursing within the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences.

A systematic review on the effectiveness of youth work (HRC /MYD funded)

The main objective of this research is to systematically review the available research evidence on the the impact and outcomes of youth work for young people as relevant to the Aotearoa / New Zealand context. This is done in an attempt to inform policy initiatives related to targeted intervention and prevention strategies that will have the potential to increase benefits in the life of the young person. In particular, this review aims to answer the review question: What is the effectiveness of youth work for young people?

The research team includes Christa Fouché.

View the systematic review report