Teaching Research in Social Work Through Academic Practitioner Partnerships: Knowledge, Competency and Confidence
Keywords:
Social work practice research education, health social work, field placement, evidence informed practice, fieldwork educationAbstract
Practice research in health and mental health social work contributes to an increasing demand for accountability and evidence-informed practice in health settings. Social work students who aspire to work in the health setting are encouraged to develop, not only theoretical knowledge, but competency and confidence to graduate as research-focused practitioners. In addition, educators need to support those students who have career aspirations as research leaders in social work. This is a challenge for educators as integrating the varied skills required to implement research on graduation, requires opportunities within the classroom and field- work placement to support students in their learning. In this article the process of engaging students in an existing research study, implemented as part of the academic practitioner collaboration between a university department of social work and fifteen health social work departments, will be described. Students from the qualifying Master of Social Work degree were engaged at different levels of research participation in fieldwork and classroom contexts.
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