Directory of Research

All research and evidence on NICCO is reviewed using a Quality Assessment Tool (QAT) developed by the University of Huddersfield and Barnardo's.

Research and evidence is assessed in four key areas: Methodological Quality, Child-Centredness, Relevance to Policy and Strategy, and Relevance to Practice with offender's children. This ensures that items on the NICCO website are as useful as possible to academics, practitioners, commissioners and other professionals. For more information about the development of the QAT or to review research in order to list it on NICCO, please see the QAT webpage where you can download the Tool, Guidebook and a short step-by-step 'How To' document. Please contact us to submit quality assessed research on to NICCO.

Click on the icons to see a full list of items which have been awarded a standard icon or icon+ (for items which have scored particularly highly) in each key area:

Child-Centredness

Relevance to Policy

Methodological Quality

Relevance to Practice

157. Prisoners' Families and the Regulation of Contact
You will need to become a member of Taylor & Francis Online to read the entirety of this article. This article explores HM Prison Service policy and the impact of case law on the rights of prisoners to family contact. First, state provision and policy for prisoner-family contact is reviewed and the constraints imposed on contact over the past decade are explored. The article considers the legal challenges to these constraints which have been which made with reference to domestic case...
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158. Final year evaluation of the Integrated Family Support Project (2013 - 2016)
This is the final year evaluation of the NEPACS Integrated Family Support Project funded by the Big Lottery from 2013 to 2016. The project operates in four prisons and the surrounding communites across the North-east of England with a team of prison-based Family Support Workers and community-based Integrated Family Support Advocates. Conducted by Barefoot Research and published by NEPACS, the evaluation looks at the key outputs of the project and examines outcomes for prisoners, families,...
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159. Black and Asian Prisoners' Families
You will need a log in to Wiley Online Library to access the full article. This short, easy-to-read, peer-reviewed article is one of few which explore the needs of black and Asian families' in the UK. The article reports on two separate studies. The first is a survey of support services for families of offenders. The second reports on 7 interviews with black and Asian families. Key findings relevant to i-HOP users were the experiences of search and arrest in the home with regards to...
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160. A Conceptual Framework for Understanding the Stigmatization of Children of Incarcerated Parents
You will need to become a member of Springer Link to access this article in full. This theoretical piece from the USA provides a conceptual model for understanding the social process of stigmatisation, described as consisting of five elements, and how it applies to children of prisoners. The model is intended to explain why families conceal the fact that a child's parent is in prison; the potentially protective function of social withdrawal; possible links between stigmatisation and...
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161. 'It's Been Hard to Be a Father': A Qualitative Exploration of Incarcerated Fatherhood
This open-access article is based on the experiences of imprisoned fathers in the US but can be learned from by readers anywhere. The article from a leading researcher in the field presents a qualitative study of 51 fathers one month before the end of their sentences at low security correctional facilities. The findings demonstrate the types of challenges involved in maintaining a relationship with children whilst in prison, including "being a good father" and wanting to...
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162. Life in prison: Contact with families and friends
This findings paper from HM Inspectorate of Prisons is part of a series which focuses on daily life in adult prisons and in young offender institutions holding young adults (aged 18 to 21). The focus of the paper is the importance of prisoners maintaining relationships with family and friends. It draws on evidence from recent inspections of adult prisons and survey data from the corresponding inspection reports published between April 2015 and March 2016. The paper begins by summarising...

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