Looked After Young People and their

Social Work Managers: A Study of

Contrasting Experiences of Using

Computer-Assisted-Self-Interviewing

(A-CASI)

Alun Morgan and Sandy Fraser

Alun Morgan is a lecturer in the Faculty of Health and Social Care in the Open University. His

practice experience has been in childcare and mental health social work, including local authority

child-care management. His research interests are in service-user participation through

information technology; and the development and application of multi-media teaching

methods in Higher Education. Dr Sandy Fraser is a lecturer in social work at the Faculty of

Health and Social Care at the Open University. His social work experience is in local

authority childcare, and his current research interests are in the delivery of child-care and

child protection services in South Africa.

Correspondence to Alun Morgan, Faculty of Health and Social Care, The Open University,

Horlock Building, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK. E-mail: a.morgan@open.ac.uk

Summary

Audio-computer-assisted-self-interviewing (A-CASI) is used by many child-care agencies

in the UK, as a way of recording the views of children in the care of local authorities. This

study considers A-CASI’s use in two such local authorities in England. It contrasts how the

A-CASI methodology is experienced by children and young people and by child-care

managers, and explores how A-CASI may be contributing to the participation of

young people in the delivery and management of their care. The study reveals a

strong belief in A-CASI from a large number of participants, young people and man-

agers. But managers express concern about many organizational constraints on the

effective use of A-CASI data in their agencies. The paper discusses the enthusiasm of

the young people for using A-CASI; the concerns of managers; and the opportunities

for social workers in using A-CASI in their practice settings.

Keywords: Looked after children, computers, A-CASI, participation

# The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of

The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved.

British Journal of Social Work (2009) 1–17

doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcp009

British Journal of Social Work Advance Access published February 12, 2009