Social Work and Social Care: Mapping Workforce Engagement, Relevance, Experience and Interest in Research
Abstract Evidence-based practice (EBP) has been promoted within social work/social care, with emerging evidence of benefit to practitioners and service users. Advocates argue that EBP enables practitioners to have the skills to interpret and evaluate evidence and be actively involved in research. Th...
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| Published in: | The British journal of social work Vol. 52; no. 4; pp. 2291 - 2311 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Oxford
Oxford University Press
22-06-2022
Oxford Publishing Limited (England) |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | Abstract
Evidence-based practice (EBP) has been promoted within social work/social care, with emerging evidence of benefit to practitioners and service users. Advocates argue that EBP enables practitioners to have the skills to interpret and evaluate evidence and be actively involved in research. This project aimed to evaluate awareness, experience/skills and value of research, and explore barriers to engagement with research. A cross-sectional survey was undertaken across a diverse range of social work/care staff at a large National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust and partner Local Authority. The survey included both closed and an open-ended response to facilitate a mixed method analysis. In total, 208 staff responded (55 percent response) and findings show a high rating on the relevance of research to professional development (73 percent); however, a low level of actual involvement (10 percent) and low levels of confidence/knowledge across a range of research skills. Identified barriers include a lack of knowledge on where/how to begin, lack of evidence that it improves practice, the potential to threaten practice and low capacity and time. These findings highlight a potential gap between a current drive for social work/care to be more evidenced based and the ability of social work/care to enact this approach.
There is a growing movement in social work and social care to use research to inform practice (evidence-based practice, EBP). An important part of EBP is the need for practitioners to have the necessary research skills and knowledge to evaluate research evidence, and also to produce evidence by becoming researchers. This current study reports on a survey of a large social work and social care workforce in the UK. The survey asked about current awareness, experience and skills in the use of research and also whether research evidence is seen as useful. The results reported by over 200 participants showed that practitioners thought that research was useful and relevant to their practice, but they also report a low level of current involvement, knowledge and confidence across a range of research skills. Identified barriers to engagement with research included a lack of knowledge on how/where to begin, the need for more evidence that it actually improves practice and having no time to do research. These findings highlight a current gap between the drive to use EBP within social work and social care, and the ability of staff to effectively adopt EBP. |
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| ISSN: | 0045-3102 1468-263X |
| DOI: | 10.1093/bjsw/bcab169 |