Title: Growing research in practice: messages for social work education
1Growing research in practice messages for
social work education
- Liz Beddoe Phil Harington , University of
Auckland, New Zealand
Practical Learning Conference Edinburgh 2008
2Growing research in practice
- The GRIP Team Liz Beddoe, Christa Fouché, Phil
Harington, Glenda Light, Neil Lunt and Deborah
Yates
3Practice based research
- Fox et al claim increasing number of prof.
practitioners have research within their
professional remit, as both practice and research
benefit from practitioner research and academic
research is enhanced by links with practice (Fox,
Martin Green,2007,pp.1-3
4Why practitioner research?
- Dirkx describes the insider view versus the
outsider perspective reflected in evidence based
research . - Insider research is able to use traditional
research methods to examine what works, but from
a perspective which takes into account the
epistemological, moral and political complexities
of practice (Dirkx 2006,p.276).
5Social workers research activity
- Preparatory education for social work routinely
includes content on research - Time erodes social worker confidence (continuum
exercise) - Especially social worker confidence re selection/
design methodology - Lack of support from employers, lack of
identification within peer group of research as
a job component - Lack of tradition sharing knowledge in a
community of practice / research, conferences
6its all about casework
- Concentration on the prime tasks of the
frontline - Workload measured in casework outputs
- Practice lacks attention to building an empirical
basis for decision making - No search for patterns (quant) no search for
meanings (qual) - As a consequence no body of research on practice
outcomes - No sense that data from practice informs
management nor peers, - Critically- neither is much information collected
from service users
7Whats lost?
- Loss of capacity to be appreciated for their
scholarship potential - Social work reduced to asinine and anecdotal
evidence to support practice - Audiences for social work argument may hear a
plea not a knowledge claim - Cultural capital eroded by lack of use of the
intellectual tradition and gravitas that was laid
down in university preparation
8Social work suffers a loss of professional
capital
- Lack of research mindedness and impact on
practice - Lack of confidence in interprofessional
environments - It is considered that this situation impacts on
the status and credibility of social work as a
profession.
9AIMS of the programme
- The overarching goal of the GRIP programme was to
assist the development of a culture of
practitioner enquiry in social service agencies
in Auckland aimed at facilitating meaningful
change and service improvement. It is a
collaborative programme bringing together
practitioners, academics, agencies and funding
bodies. - The objective of the GRIP teams own enquiry is
to develop an understanding of what works in
facilitating the uptake of research and results
amongst social work practitioners within
organisations and in practice settings.
10Key features
- An introductory seminar
- Expressions of interest- selection criteria
- Nine projects selected
- The workshop series
- Mentoring
- Symposium
- Collection of papers
- Collection of resources
- The Knowledge Map
11Selection criteria
- a project from, within and for practice
- a small keen group of practitioners, staff or
consumers - a small-scale feasible topic
- a client or service-delivery focus
- sufficient support from within the agency
- the potential for GRIP to add value
12Dimensions of GRIP
Knowledge Map Research into practitioner
research activity
Research Projects Small groups of practitioners
enquiring into their own practice issues
- Grip Team
- Mentoring
- Workshops
- Resources Data collection
Funders
13Values
- Sound practitioner research is congruent with
social work values (Powell, 2005). Basic social
work principles informed the projects - transparency
- reciprocity
- social sensitivity
- empowerment and social change
- multiple accountability
- Treaty partnership cultural sensitivity
14Cultural dimensions
- Within each practice project, full space has been
afforded for appropriate cultural methodologies
and ways of working. - E.g. a demonstration model undertaken with an iwi
(Maori) agency or Pacific service provider would
require the development of culturally appropriate
approaches and resources would need to be sought
to provide guidance and support. - The projects are controlled, negotiated and
staffed by those with appropriate cultural
knowledge and service expertise. - Throughout this period we have sought to include
experts with knowledge of kaupapa Maori
methodologies, Pacific ways of working such as
Fa'asamoa, cross-cultural working and work with
vulnerable groups.
15Facilitating family meetings
- Auckland City Hospital- Seven practitioners
- Desire to document multiple cultural perspectives
- And define Best Practice Family meetings
16A Pasifika project aims
- A project to document effective existing social
practices used by Pasifika practitioners at
Waipareira Pasifika. - Secondly, the aim was to conceptualise how these
practices are defined by these practitioners.
Kote loto gatasi kote galiga o fenua The unity
of heart is the beauty of the islands.
17The programme 6 seminars symposium
- 1. Getting Started
- the Research Question/the literature/ ethics and
methodology - 2. Designing Methodologies
- Interviews/ focus groups/Surveys /old and new
data/ journals memos 3. Data Collection and
Analysis of Diverse Perspectives - Responding to difference/Pasifika research
guidelines - 4. Analysing and Organising Data
- Quantitative methods/Qualitative methods
- 5. Writing and Presenting Findings
- Celebrating a Gripping Year and
- The symposium
18Mentoring
- The mentors are the GRIP research team members
and a Maori cultural advisor. - Mentors have met regularly with the teams in the
workplace and e-mail has been used to communicate
ideas and drafts throughout. - Mentoring is provided on a pro bono basis.
- The role is supportive, rather than supervisory,
and responsive to the queries or concerns raised
by the practitioners. - Mentors have encouraged the teams to create a
timeline for their project, assign tasks within
and set goals for small components to be
completed.
19Key questions for our research
To what extent is a research culture facilitated
within the organisation Are there changes to
practice and service delivery? What other
direct/indirect differences does a practice
project make? What worked and what could be done
better?
20Data Collection
- at each workshop project participants were asked
to complete questionnaires to provide a record of
their experiences over time. - Interviews with team leaders and project teams
were conducted during the latter part of 2006 and
early 2007 to provide further data. - GRIP team members recorded their reflections on
the mentoring sessions, notes made during
workshops research memos to note insights and
questions, GRIP team discussions recorded and
transcribed to add to the rich set of data. - A further set of data is being collected over
October 07-February 08
21Early analysis of this data indicates
- Considerable enthusiasm for practice research,
despite the challenges of time pressure,
knowledge and resources - Lack of confidence (Joubert,2006)
- Social workers forget their research knowledge
- Supports the usefulness of a collaborative
approach in building research capacity and
confidence in social work - Group relationships and process are very
important - This requires culture change at various levels in
social work in New Zealand as elsewhere
particularly managers professional leaders - It also requires resources and support from
mangers and supervisors real organisational
commitment (Fox, 2007 )
22Potential from collaborative process
- Growing confidence
- Sowing seeds for practitioner research
- Supporting community groups for improved funding
- Improved relationships between academia and
practice
23Outcomes
- We have been running the Chinese mental health
support for four years and weve seen outcome
is very positive but we really dont know which
part is working best is question in my mind for a
long time. I want some answers for that and
Chinese community is very, is increasing all the
time in New Zealand and more people will be
suffering and need professional help. - we need to improve, we need more money to do
that. We need to apply for funding so we also
need the evidence to go to the funders to say
that this is a good programme, we have the
research because that is the one thing that I
learn. They said in New Zealand you have to give
research evidence Chinese mental health group.
24Social work research
- I think somehow or other weve got to be able to
implement research in the same way that medical
teams here at the hospital implement research, it
just becomes part of your practice as something
thats taken for granted and its something where
youre given time to do as well and funding.
Until we show our practice and our evidence based
approaches in terms of other professions were
not going to be able to stand up Health group .
25De-mythologize research production
- That the genre of research is always academic and
remote from practice - That it has to be quantitative to count !
- That it has to be qualitative to have meaning!
- It has to contest big ideas
- That it has to construct major knowledge
- That it has to be talked about in esoteric
language not the vernacular of practice - That practitioners cant manage ethical
adjudication of proposals
26De-mythologize research dissemination
- Research doesnt have to be published in academic
journals to be significant to practice - That it cant be presented simply and accessibly
to peers and still have value and invite further
exploration - That we cant have a seminar programme in work
time- that research happens somewhere else
27Messages for pre-service education
- Strength of research methods training and
production of research reports needs to be
grounded in practice issues - Nature of relationships with the field around
student research projects - Transfer of learning
- Methodologies have to be accessible immediate
so that students will re-use them upon graduation
- Create an appetite for graduates to read, write
and utilise research and empirical practice
28Messages for practitioner communities
- Respect inquiry and expect analysis
- Time , Time , Time
- Find resources and support
- Reward those who respond to the challenge
- - awards
- Bonuses
- Research counting for salary and promotion
- Conference leave
- Writing time
- Sabbaticals and fellowships with other
stakeholders - Exchanges /secondments
29Time and support
- Project members workload has not in any way
been reduced. Theyre not supported
organisationally to attend or participate so what
they have to have do is steal time away from the
clinical load and having processes in place that
allow them to come like being able to give their
locator to a team member, its not at all unusual
for locators to go off during GRIP meetings,
people having to leave or people just not turning
up at all ,because the work overwhelms them
Health SW project leader .
30- Were told do an ethics application. No then
somebody says actually for your project you dont
need to do one, so write to the Ethics Committee
about what youre doing just to kind of get a
tick, so we wrote to them and they said you will
do an ethics application. - So then our response was oh well lets do what
the Ethics Committee tells us and then when its
well under way the person at the research office
talks directly to the chairperson of the Ethics
Committee who says do you really understand what
it is that theyre doing because its a very low
risk piece of work. Its only accessing staff. - But thats interesting in itself, the whole sort
of power of the experts telling us and under the
guise for quality project it probably doesnt
need an ethics application so weve kind of got a
bit tangled up in that.
31Last words
- Im already doing another project with a team of
people, an evaluation of the after hours service,
there are two projects now, theres going to be
another one next year, so yeah definitely
increased confidence and interest around doing it
some more. - We want all practitioners to start thinking
about their experiences and putting that into
projects and from the GRIP seminar there was
something that was said ,that you dont have to
call it research, you can just contribute, you
can have conversation, you can just communicate
and that can be your role in it. So it would be
really good to see all practitioners starting to
think of evidence based practice.
32Acknowledgments
The authors wish to acknowledge the sponsors of
the GRIP programme 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
Research Fund and The University of Auckland
Staff Research Fund have also provided generous
support of the programme to date. We would also
like to acknowledge the support provided by
Thomson Publishing who provided text resources
for each practice team and last, but not least,
the participants to this initiative who made the
whole GRIP experience possible
33Thank you for your interest
- Liz Beddoe, University of Auckland, New Zealand
PEPE Edinburgh January 2008