BTEC NATIONAL HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE

UNIT 4: ENQUIRIES INTO CURRENT RESEARCH IN HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE

Unit 4: Enquiries into Current Research in Health and

Unit title Key to lesson types
Social Care

Guided learning AW Assignment RS Revision

120
hours writing session
Number of GS Guest speaker V Visit
40
lessons
Duration of IS Independent WE Work
3 hours
lessons study experience

Links to other units

 Unit 1: Human Lifespan Development

 Unit 2: Working in Health and Social Care
 Unit 5: Meeting Individual Care and Support Needs
 Unit 7: Principles of Safe Practice in Health and Social Care
 Unit 8: Promoting Public Health.
Les Less
son Topic on Suggested activities Classroom resources
type
Topic A: Types of issues where research is carried out in the health and social care sector
1 Introduction/ IS  Activity 1: ask your learners to list what they think are the most ICT
Starter important issues facing health and social care services. They Sheets of paper/
activities should each present one reason why their chosen issue is
important. The ensuing discussion could lead to comments about writing equipment for
Topic A1 creating displays
Purposes of why research is needed (e.g. in order to find out whether the
research in the issues they choose really are important).
health and  Starting research: ask your learners to look online for one
social care statistic, which relates to their chosen issue and suggest reasons
sector why this supports their view.
 Activity 2: this activity is about lifestyle factors. Ask your learners

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to complete a presentation on lifestyle factors that are most likely

to cause ill-health (these can be mental or physical or both
combined). Learners are likely to have covered this in other units.
They could design a poster consisting of composite parts of the
human body with relevant information attached, or they could
collate short videos from YouTube. This activity should enable
learners to start thinking about the sources of the material
they use.
 Tutor feedback: commenting on the issues selected by the
students and where they do or do not fit in, highlight the key
issues for current research in health and social care and illustrate
how research has supported improvement.
2 Topic A2 IS  Tutor-led introduction: ask your learners to state the source of
Issues the statistic they found in Activity 1. Discuss with them whether this
is a trustworthy and reliable source. Introduce the idea that other
sources are available and give examples of these.
 Learner research: ask your learners to find one other source of
statistics to support the view stated in Activity 1.
 Tutor-led session: what are health conditions and why is research
needed? Offer a definition and examples. Ask learners to state what ICT
they think are the most prevalent health conditions. Are these
therefore the most serious? This indicates another reason why
research might be needed.
 Learner research: ask your learners to find the five most prevalent
health trends in the UK, and then go on to look at the five most
prevalent health trends in their local area. They should compare the
two for similarities and differences.
3 Topic A2 IS  Tutor-led introduction: explain health promotion and ill-health
Issues AW prevention. Give examples from local area.
 Group activity: using human body poster from Activity 2, learners
add strategies which could be used to avoid ill-health or minimise
the effects of lifestyle factors.

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 Developing problem-solving skills: this activity is designed to

support learners in preparing their own independent secondary
research for the external assessment. The tutor should give learners
written exercises and problems to solve. At this stage these do not
need to be specific to a health and social care setting. Tutors could
use the television programme ‘Only Connect’ as a source
(www.learning-for-life.org also has some fun activities, which might
appeal to learners). This is a good point to get an early idea of how
your learners approach supervised exercises.
4 Topic A2 IS  Tutor-led introduction: the tutor should revisit material covered ICT
Issues AW in previous lesson, giving learners examples of statistics/evidence
showing how effective certain types of treatments and care
approaches are for certain conditions and explaining the reasons
why they are successful.
 Activity: learners should identify and discuss success criteria and
display these in a medium of their choice. Discussion should cover
whether success criteria apply to all groups (e.g. older people or
people who have alcohol addictions).
 Tutor-led introduction: look at why lifestyle factors are often the
target of research. Give examples of research into the five most
prevalent trends in ill health in the UK and identify key findings.
 Research activity: give your learners two short examples of
research into a lifestyle trend. One of these should be from a
reputable source such as a local authority, the Department of
Health or a medical journal such as The Lancet (all these will need
to be in a format which is accessible to learners) and one example
from a popular magazine which learners are likely to be familiar
with.
 Ask learners to:
o identify key findings
o compare language used in each
o comment on which they think is more trustworthy and reliable

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and give reasons.

5 Topic A2 IS  Tutor-led introduction: social care and welfare needs. Explain
Issues AW these terms.
 Brainstorming: ask your learners to list individuals who might
have specific care and welfare needs.
 Supporting research: ask your learners to think about and find
which services are provided for individuals who might have specific
care and welfare needs.
 Activity: give your learners some scenarios/brief case studies
which describe the care and welfare needs of individuals
(www.skillsforcare.org.uk has accessible and useful information
you could use).
ICT
 Ask your learners to explain:
o whether the individual is in a state of wellbeing or not (NB:
scenarios and case studies should include at least one example
of mental health)
o which services would support the individual
o what effect service provision could have
o whether the services identified are provided in the local area
o whether the services are free or paid for.
 Tutor-led conclusion: explain the terms statutory and non-
statutory.
6 Topic A1 IS AW  Brainstorming: using learning from previous lessons, give reasons ICT
Purpose of why research is carried out.
research in the  Tutor-led session: discuss and explain the purpose of research in
health and the health and social care sector to include to improve outcomes for
social care people using services; informing policy and practice; extending
sector knowledge and understanding; identifying gaps in provision.
 Activity: in pairs, learners should choose either one illness/condition
or one service and research the cost of providing it in a) their local

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area and b) nationally.

 Tutor support: ask learners to:
 justify sources they used
 explain reasons why the cost of service provision is a focus of
research.
7 Topic A1 IS  Tutor-led session: Explain changes in health trends.
Purpose of AW  Discussion: are improvements in health trends the outcome of
research in the  better standards of living
health and
social care  wider knowledge of healthy living
sector  the availability of services/treatments ICT
 research?
 Research: learners find statistics, which indicate how health
trends have changed. These should include mental health as well
as physical health.
 Assignment: evaluate reasons why health trends have changed.
8 Topic A1 IS  Group activity: Using the Public Health England website (or Scotland
Purpose of AW or Wales), look at the section on what it does and the statistics pages.
research in the Ask learners to choose one issue they are interested in and report to
RS the group one factor they discovered that they did not already know.
health and
social care Learners explain whether the statistics they have found are more or ICT
sector less trustworthy than those they found in newspapers and
magazines.
 Tutor-led discussion: look at the role and importance of Public
Health.
9 Topic A1 AW  Developing research skills: learners should identify a range of ICT
Purpose of health and social care issues. Examples from health could include in-
research in the patient admissions; midwives; physiotherapy; genito-urinary
health and infections; obesity. Examples form social care could include adult
social care social care; people with visual impairment; people over 85; care
workers; meals on wheels. The choices could include issues relevant

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sector to their local area

 Ask learners to find out the following:
o the number of people involved (such as the number of midwives
or number of people in the UK over 85)
o the costs involved (the cost of one week of meals on wheels)
o the sources they use.
Topic B: Research methods in health and social care
Topic B4 RS  Tutor-led introduction: Revisit lesson 9: research into Public
Research Skills IS Health England. To introduce topic B.2 learners could use a
statistical table they have found on Public Health England or any
other suitable source.
 Activity: Learners select one piece of information that they think is
10 ICT
relevant and present this to the others in their group. They could
then show one or two problems which might be found in the data.
Learners work in groups or pairs and share their findings.
 Assignment: explain ways to overcome the problems found in the
data selected from Public Health England.
11 Topic B4 RS  Tutor-led introduction: discuss generic research skills to ICT
Research Skills IS include time management; organisational skills; non-
judgemental practice; recognising potential sources of bias or
AW
error; interpreting graphs and tables produced by others;
selecting relevant numerical data.
Definitions of key terms: non-judgemental; bias; error; fact;
graphs.
 Activity 1: give learners five brief examples of research from health
and social care where some information has been deliberately
changed and ask learners to identify the errors.
 Activity 2: give learners short newspaper articles about the same
health and social care issue and ask them to compare how the issue
has been reported and whether there is evidence of bias.

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 Assignment: learners find charts/graphs of health and social care

issues and explain how they interpret them. Present findings to
group.

Topic B4 RS  Tutor-led introduction: exam technique – how to analyse data

Research Skills IS and draw conclusions. Use examples from previous lessons or those
supplied by learners.
 Activity: each learner writes 5 statements with two versions of
each. One is fact, one is opinion. Other learners identify which is
which.
12  Discussion: are there times when opinion is necessary in research? ICT
Link to meeting needs of service users/need to improve
services/need to know what other services are needed.
 Tutor-led session: analysing results – part 2. To include
compilation of data, results and findings, use of methods of analysis
valid for data collected such as triangulation, use of percentages,
use of statistical averages.

Topic B1 IS  Tutor-led introduction: Ask your Sociology/Psychology

Research AW Department for a video/TV programme showing how research is
methodologies carried out. (At this stage, does not have to be about health or
social care.)
 Invite Sociology/Psychology students to explain research methods
used and their advantages and disadvantages. This should look at TV/Video
13 qualitative and quantitative methods, and include a discussion on
research methods, analysis of data, literature searches, and ICT
identifying and evaluating source material.
 Activity: learners should find one research study which utilises the
main data collection techniques to include: questionnaires;
interviews; participant observation. They should explain how each
methodology was used.
14 Topic B1 IS  Tutor-led discussion: Explain quantitative and qualitative data. ICT
Research Give learners examples of each.
methodologies

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 Research: learners investigate health and social care data at the

Office for National Statistics (ONS) website: www.ons.gov.uk
 Activity: using one of the studies carried out by the ONS,
investigate the ways that quantitative and qualitative data are used
to show evidence of trends or issues in health and social care.

Topic B1 IS  Activity: Learners create a chart listing the main data collection
Research techniques. This should include advantages and disadvantages for
methodologies each one. Ask learners to either prepare for an inspection of a
health or social care setting of their own choosing or investigate a
health trend. They should:
o list the methods they will use to carry out the inspection
15 ICT
o justify these methods
o indicate what they expect the findings to be
o identify what problems they think might be found in their final
data.
Learners present their research project to the group.

Topic B1 RS  Tutor-led session 1: recap main features of research

Research methodologies and research skills. Ask learners to think about the
methodologies key organisations producing this research (they could list these).
Finish the session with a short test on key terms.
 Tutor-led session 2: how to carry out a literature search. Using
a popular topic (not related to health and social care at this stage)
ask learners to find sources of information about this. Ask them to
16 ICT
find out about a musician/singer they like or an actor or a TV
programme or a sport. Revisit issues of whether sources are
trustworthy. Introduce methodological issues of reliability and
validity.
 Activity: learners should identify sources of information about
health and social care which they understand to be most
trustworthy and reliable, and create a visual display chart.
17 Topic B3 IS  Tutor-led discussion: Revisit material covered in Unit 2: Working ICT

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in Health and Social Care on issues of confidentiality. Ethical

Ethical issues principles are also covered in Unit 5: Meeting Individual Care Needs.
 Discussion: discuss the ethical issues involved in using quantitative
and qualitative research methods. Revisit the TV/video programme
on research project.
 Activity: learners should identify strategies they would use to
obtain consent from participants to carry out research. These should
include those unable to give their consent.
 Assignment: ask your learners to write a proposal for a research
project on a health and/or social care setting.

Topic B3 IS  Activity: ask your learners to run a training session for people who
Ethical issues are new to research, explaining how to conduct the research and
maintain a professional distance.
18  Tutor preparation for above activity: explain purpose of activity; ICT
need to use appropriate language; to clarify aims and intentions; to
discuss ethical issues. Explain how teachers maintain professional
distance from students.
19 Topic B3 IS  Tutor-led discussion: explain data protection. Explain key features ICT
Ethical issues AW of Data Protection Act 1998 and Human Rights Act 1998 as they are
relevant to research conduct.
 Activity: Learners explain how these pieces of legislation might
affect them in the following situations:
 when taking part in research
 when accessing medical information about themselves
 finding out information about their college/school
 finding out information about their local hospital
 finding out information about a privately-run residential care
home.
Learners do not need to understand all the features of the legislation
nor the minutiae of the details. The following link gives a breakdown
of the main features of the act: https://www.gov.uk/data-

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protection/the-data-protection-act

Topic B3 IS Preparing for topic C:

Ethical issues RS  Tutor-led session: learners should select three articles about
AW pieces of research that reflect their interest in a particular area of
health and social care which they will use in topic C.
 Test: explain factors, which must be considered when carrying out a
literature search.
20  Tutor-led session: revise your group’s understanding of ICT
legislation. Use You Tube excerpts of news reports on Andrew
Wakefield and MMR research (1998). Explain how statistical
evidence was used in the above case.
 Activity: learners should review the statistics they used in an
earlier lesson. Did the articles they found represent the statistical
findings accurately?

Topic B3 IS  Tutor-led session: explain 1947 Nuremberg Code. Relevant videos

Ethical issues are available on You Tube. Explain the implications of the 1947
Nuremberg Code for research projects and ethics. Discuss ethical
concerns in health and social care using the concept of assisted
suicide as your point of focus.
21 www.dignityindying.org.uk and www.carenotkilling.org.uk contain ICT
information on both sides of the argument. This will develop
learners’ insight into ethical issues, which they can then apply to the
research agenda.
 Activity: learners should outline the ethical issues they will come
across when studying a topic in health and social care.
22 Topic B3 IS  Tutor-led session: explain conflicts of interest. Ask learners to find ICT
Ethical issues RS examples of these in:

AW a) day-to-day life
b) health and social care settings.
Explain how conflicts of interest are avoided.

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Peer-to-peer review: ask learners to:

a) review an assignment completed by another learner
b) review an article about an issue in health and social care
Learners share their findings.
 Test: test your group on the key terms used in the session.

Topic B3 IS  Tutor-led session: explain disclosure and whistleblowing. To

Ethical issues RS reinforce understanding, ask learners to find examples of these in:
a) day-to-day life
b) health and social care settings.
Explain disclosure and whistleblowing in research settings.
23  Revision: give learners the opportunity to identify issues which ICT
need to be revisited in topic B.
 Assignment for topic B: Either: Evaluate the extent to which
research has led to greater awareness of issues such as the effect of
diet on health and wellbeing. Or: Evaluate whether research has led
to improvements in services such as the impact of addiction centres
in local communities.
Topic C: Carrying out and reviewing relevant secondary research into a contemporary health and
social care issue
24 Topic C1 RS  Activity 1: Learners could select a piece of research that they are ICT
interested in. This might have been chosen from the reports on the
Selecting IS
Public Health website; it might be a piece of research carried out by
appropriate AW a university; it might be research undertaken by a local authority.
secondary
sources Examples of research include:
 The Black Report 1980 (inequalities in health)
 The Benenden National Health Report 2014 (emotional and physical
wellbeing)
 The State of the Nation’s Waistline 2014 produced by The National
Obesity Forum

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 The Community Mental Health Survey 2014

Learners do not need to consider the whole report. They should
identify aspects that interest them and report these to the group.

Topic C1 RS  Tutor-led discussion: Recall from topics A and B to include:

Selecting IS o selecting sources of reliable secondary research
appropriate AW o consideration of the suitability of the sources
secondary
sources o selecting relevant numerical data
o examining and interpreting graphs and tables
o recognising bias in graphs, tables and statistics.
 Test: re-cap on the key terms with examples to include
quantitative, qualitative, reliability, validity, ethics, consent,
25 methodology, questionnaire, triangulation. ICT

 Activity: ask your learners to find examples of representation of

health and social care service users in:
a) the mass media
b) research studies (those referred to in lesson 24 could be
used).
 Assignment:
 Assess the extent to which people who use services are fairly
represented in the mass media.
26 Topic C1 GS  Guest speaker: invite a representative from Public Health England
Selecting IS or the ONS or a researcher from a university health studies
appropriate department. Possible talk subjects (they should centre around the
secondary topic of reliable and appropriate research sources) include carrying
sources out research in health trends; ethical issues in researching young
people with health and care needs; minimising non-reporting in
research.
 Preparation: ask your learners to prepare questions to ask.

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 Review: lead a review session following the talk. Ask the learners
what they found most interesting or surprising and what they feel
they learnt from the session.
Topic C1 IS  Tutor-led session: interpreting graphs, tables and statistics. You
Selecting AW could invite a maths student to assist with this.
27 appropriate  Activity: using statistics, graphs and tables from either Public ICT
secondary Health England or from the ONS reports, ask learners to interpret
sources findings and report these to the group.
Topic C2 IS  Tutor-led session: explain the advantages and limitations of
Evaluation of AW research sources and methodologies. Explain generalisation.
research  Activity: ask learners to explain the following generalisations:
o Poor people are fat.
o Boys in Young Offender Institutions are violent.
o Old people are vulnerable.
28 o My father smoked four packs of cigarettes a day from when ICT
he was 14 and lived until he was 69. Therefore, smoking
really can’t be that bad for you.
 Assignment: ask your learners to explain how the above
generalisations were reached. Suggest statements, which could be
made about each of these situations. Support your claim with a
statistic and evidence. Ask your learners to write this up as a
presentation for the rest of the group.
IS  Tutor-led session: explain recommendations as a result of
Topic C2
AW the research in to how to work with people who use services.
29  Activity: ask you learners to research how recommendations have ICT
Evaluation of
research been implemented in their local area.

IS  Tutor-led session: explain potential for development of working

Topic C2 practice and provision of services.
AW  Activity: following on from lesson 29, learners should research
30 ICT
Evaluation of current local service provision and identify which services are
research needed.

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Topic C3 IS  Tutor-led session: look at:

Wider AW o making recommendations for potential future areas for research
applications of
research o implications of research for health and social care practice
o implications of research for health and social care service
provision.
 Activity: working in two groups, learners should research changes
31 which have taken place in health and social care, with a focus on ICT
o services provided
o numbers of service users
o costs of service provision
o changes in working practices.
 Learners should use statistics to support their claims and explain
why they trust their sources.
Topic C IS  Activity: as a final task, learners might interview a health and
social care worker to identify how their roles have changed within a
General re-cap AW
given period. This should then be linked to research, which led to
32 task ICT
changes in practice.

 Activity: learners prepare interview schedule and discuss this with

their tutor.
Topic C IS  Revision: give learners the opportunity to identify issues which
Revision/ AW need to be revisited in topic C.
Preparing for  Exam skills: tutor should explain how to evaluate information to
assessment classify, compare and analyse it, recognise patterns, reason
33 inductively or deductively and draw conclusions on how research ICT
can benefit health and social care practice and inform service
provision (AO3). Explain how to synthesise content and ideas from
several sources and apply and adapt research methods to real
health and social care situations, using research to build or revise
conclusions relating to health and social care issues (AO4).

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IS  Preparation for external assessment: for this unit, learners will

External be given a choice of two articles based on current research in health
assessment AW
and social care issues. They must select one article on which to base
task RS their research commentary and literature review of related
34 secondary sources, and should spend about 18 hours over six weeks ICT
carrying out their research. During the 18 hours you should read the
task and article and then analyse the article to understand what
issue is being researched, why it is important, and how the research
has been conducted.
External IS  Preparation for external assessment: ask your learners to
assessment analyse an article. Get them to reflect on how limited or extensive
35 AW ICT
task the research is, and what recommendations and conclusions are
RS made by the author(s).
External IS  Preparation for external assessment: ask learners to carry out
assessment their own independent secondary research. Make sure they think
36 AW ICT
task about how other research deals with this issue, and whether it has
RS been conducted in the same way or using different methods.
External IS  Preparation for external assessment: ask learners to carry out
assessment AW their own independent secondary research. Make sure they think
37 ICT
task about how other research deals with this issue, and whether it has
RS been conducted in the same way or using different methods.

External IS  Preparation for external assessment: ask learners to carry out

assessment their own independent secondary research. Get them to reflect on
38 AW ICT
task how other research deals with this issue, and whether it has been
RS conducted in the same way or using different methods.
External IS  Preparation for assignment for unit: support learners in their
assessment preparation for final supervised assessment. Ask them to draw up
39 AW ICT
task notes on secondary sources and the article they have researched in
RS a way that they can use.
External IS  Preparation for assignment for unit: support your learners in
assessment their preparation for final supervised assessment. Ask them to draw
40 AW ICT
task up notes on secondary sources and the article they have researched
RS in a way that they can use.

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