Dr Beth Casey

Profile

Areas of expertise

• Social work and child neglect
• Gender and child neglect
• Evaluation of social interventions

Academic biography

I am a research associate in the School for Business and Society at the University of York. I am currently employed on the SCENE research project. The project aims to develop and evaluate a new intervention to help patients with psychosis overcome social isolation and improve quality of life.

Between 2014 and 2015 I was a Research Associate at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU). I was employed on the ‘Functional Family Therapy (FFT) Project’, a collaboration between GCU Parenting and Family Support Research Programme and the Glasgow integrated health and social care team. The aim of the study was to explore barriers and facilitators to implementing FFT in a community setting, from the perspective of families and practitioners. 

I hold a Master of Social Work and MA in Social Research Methods (Social Work). My PhD was completed at Durham University. Informed by Foucauldian and feminist theoretical positions, my PhD explored how child neglect is ‘performed’ by social work professionals and parents who had received professional intervention as a result of concerns about neglect. Specifically it focused on definitions of neglect, discourses of responsibility, assessment and interventions. I also worked on a range of research projects at Durham University, including an exploration of whole system working in mental health services. I am committed to producing research that incorporates the perspective of families and hard to reach groups, including those that access health and social care services.

Publications

Recent publications

B Casey, S Hackett, Deconstructing Discourses in Assessments of Child Neglect, The British Journal of Social Work, Volume 51, Issue 6, September 2021, Pages 2097–2115, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcab044

McPherson, K. E., Kerr, S., Casey, B. & Marshall, J. (2017) Barriers and facilitators to implementing functional family therapy in a community setting: client and practitioner perspectives. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy 43(4): 717-732

Casey, B., McPherson, K. E. & Kerr, S. (2016) Functional Family therapy: perceptions and experiences of key stakeholders in Glasgow. Glasgow, Glasgow Caledonian University.

Casey, B. (2015) Child Neglect. In: International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Second Edition). Wright, J. Elsevier. 410-416

Conference presentations

May 2014 ‘Social work practice and child neglect’ – Social Work Student Conference, Nottingham Trent University. 

April 2013 ‘Mothers’ experiences of social work involvement arising from concerns about child neglect’ - ENSACT Conference, Istanbul. 

July 2012 ‘Professional explorations of the Assessment Framework in the assessment of child neglect: a promising opportunity or bureaucratic constraint?’ – World Social Work and Social Development Conference: Action and Impact, Stockholm, Sweden. 

April 2012 ‘Constructions of child neglect within social work practice’ – BASPCAN Congress, Belfast.

Research

Research team members

Professor Martin Webber, Dr Kayonda Hubert Ngamba; Dr Cheyann Heap