Growing research in practicea collaborative approach

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Growing research in practice-a collaborative
approach

• Liz Beddoe, University of Auckland, New Zealand

JSWEC Swansea July 2007
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Growing research in practice

• The GRIP Team Liz Beddoe, Christa Fouché, Phil
  Harington, Glenda Light, Neil Lunt and Deborah
  Yates

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Practice based research

• Practice based research derives its meaning from
  its affiliation with that which people do as they
  go about their professional business.
  (Groundwater- Smith, 2007, p.2)

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Social workers research activity

• The nature and quantity of research activity
  undertaken by social workers has been subject to
  critical commentary for some time.
• There is longstanding concern that social workers
  concentrate on the prime tasks of work at the
  front line ahead of building an empirical basis
  for their decision making, and developing a body
  of research on practice outcomes

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Impact on social work

• 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.

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Why practitioner research?

• Dirkx describes the insider view versus the
  outsider perspective reflected in evidence based
  research regarding insider research as being
  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).

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AIMS 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.

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Key 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

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Selection 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     

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Dimensions 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
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Values

• 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

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Cultural 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.

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A brief example
Auckland City Hospital Seven practitioners Multip
le cultural perspectives Best Practice Family
meetings
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The projects

• Evaluating the impact on staff of a screening
  tool currently in use.
• Evaluating effectiveness of a non-Chinese
  programme used with Chinese NZ consumers.
• Developing their evaluation process.
• Seeking to create a consistent social work model
  for Pacific practitioners.
• Developing a best-practice social work model
  within family meetings.
• Investigating the reasons for non-engagement and
  non-completion of programmes.
• Investigating participation by male clients in
  domestic violence programmes elsewhere.
• A stock-take of social services to assess need in
  the broad area covered.
• Investigating the effectiveness of goal-setting
  as a tool for working with young people.

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The workshops (six in total)

• Getting Started
• Refining the Research Question
• Using the literature
• Thinking through ethics and methodology
• Designing Methodologies
• Introduction
• Interviews and focus groups
• Surveys old and new data
• Journalling as reflection

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Workshops 2

• Data Collection and Analysis of Diverse
  Perspectives
• Responding to difference
• Pasifika research guidelines
• Analysing and Organising Data
• Quantitative methods
• Qualitative methods
• Writing and Presenting Findings
• Celebrating a Gripping Year

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Mentoring

• 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.

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The Symposium

• Seven presentations
• Invited participants
• Funders
• Managers and colleagues (invited by the projects)
• Other key stakeholders

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The Knowledge Map

• The Knowledge Map addresses questions related
  to
• perceptions about research and knowledge
  dissemination
• obstacles to be negotiated to undertake research
• the perceived impact of the GRIP programme over a
  period of time and
• the influence of this exercise on work-place
  research culture.

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Key questions
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?
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Data 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.

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What next?
Collecting data across the projects will allow
models of research impact to be developed. It
is crucial to explore this little understood area
and generate knowledge that can be fed back into
social work pedagogy and research designs. The
point is not to unify but rather to understand a
range of approaches and to provide greater
opportunities for understanding, learning,
sharing experience and ideas, and initiating
action
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Early 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.
• 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 (Fox,
  2007 )

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Acknowledgments
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
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Thank you for your interest

• Liz Beddoe, University of Auckland, New Zealand

JSWEC Swansea July 2007