‘It takes a leap of faith’

Care and Connect: the way forward for social work research in Ireland

Presenters: Dr Janet Carter Anand, Queen’s University Belfast, NII and Sarah Donnelly, Trinity College Dublin , ROI Acknowledgments: Dr Des O’Neill, Mr David Willow, Ms Brenda Mehigan from Adelaide and Meath Hospital, Tallaght; Erna O'Connor and Professor Robbie Gilligan from Trinity College Dublin

‘Many other disciplines and allied health professionals see evidence-based research as the norm, whereas for us it’s very much outside the box and it shouldn’t be’

Research, Education and Practice

‘high quality research that is practice credible that has validity

both in the research world and the practice world’

The Challenge? Gap between university based research

and practitioner research (JUC SWEC 2006)

The Need? Research by practitioners for practitioners

(Epstein, 2008)

The Alternative? Practitioner research paradigm (Fook,

2002)

Models We were doing it off the tops of out heads, didn't really ask the question,

has this been done by someone else. Here is model you can plug into.

Centres of Excellence-Translating Research into Evidence Informed Practice

Social Work Academic-Practice Partnerships

Research Networks

Mentoring Programmes

Professional Journals-Practitioner Research

Individual Practitioner Researcher Posts

Care and Connect

2006-recognition of need for a strategic approach for the promotion of research capacity and activity amongst practitioners (AMNCH/TCD)

Aims and Objectives promote best practices in person-centered care

planning for older people through a process of investigation, trial and consultation

Promote partnership in decision making between older people, families and health care professionals and to gain a deeper understanding of this process

Develop strong practice/research partnership for hospital based social work

Overview

Trinity College Tallaght Hospital

SSWSP SWD

Position

PhD

ARHC

Critical Evaluation: Care & Connect ‘the heart of ...practice is to think counter

intuitively ‘ Methodology

Action learning (Gardiner, 2006) Critical Reflection on project

Semi-structured interviews with key players (hospital manager, geriatrician, social work manager, lecturer, professor, practitioner researcher )

Analysis of the Findings Themes

Organisational Change Critical Development Stages Different Agenda Processes

Capturing Practice Wisdom ( illustrated by quotes)

Action Learning: Sustainability and organisational change

Organisational Roles and Change

‘‘I couldn’t say I had a game plan, it was a

matter of push each step as it came’

Organisational culture Universities and hospitals both ‘human service organisations’ but

with unique mandates, structures, cultures, boundaries

Process of organisational change Balance between planning and leaps of faith

Organisational change agent roles (adapted from Ottoway, 1983) Change Generators: Visionaries & Patrons

Change Implementers: Technocrats & Strategists

Change Adopters: Prototypes for change

Interpersonal relationships;like-mindedness,trust and tensions

Critical stages‘If I was saying it to anyone I would say, I would not underestimate the amount of time needed’

Extended initial negotiation phase Finding a precedence Funding intersects with resources Fusion of visions /matching expectations Inception Role development and definition/The focus

PhD Evaluation and were to from here?

Different Agendas

Political Care of elderly, empowerment of clients

Organisational positions and funding Partnerships/ collaboration

Professional strengthening social work research base standards of practice in family meetings need for evidence-based practice interdisciplinary links

Personal motivation to be involved in research commitment to social gerontology

Executive Action

Reflectiveness

Advantages ‘The critical stage was working an institutional level agreement as to who would be the employer.…quite complex’

‘With a great deal of flexibility we managed to work through some of the tricky decision-making moments...we skirted around some of the issues rather than facing them and putting our cards on the table’

Disadvantages

‘It can unravel very easily if you haven’t actually done the groundwork and there was a danger that could’ve happened’

‘we had more to tease out when the actual worker came on board and I don’t know how wise that would be in the future’

PROCESSES- ‘the right degree of reflectiveness and executive action’

SUSTAINABILITY AND ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE

‘We can get people to do it but getting people to own it in a deep and meaningful way is a much more subtle process and challenge’

Translation into practice; better model for working with families and older people

Action Research

Social science research embedded into the social work department in a longer term way

SUCCESS ON DIFFERENT LEVELS

Training manual and education and training programme implemented

Changes to practice; social work and care of the elderly in hospital setting

Completion of PhD and publications Continuation of hospital/university

partnership and further collaborative enquiry

‘Success would be coming back in 2 or 3 years and seeing change genuinely embedded in the system ‘

SOCIAL WORK AND RESEARCH

Practice research network

Models that you can plug into

Global strategies

References

Gardner, F. (2006) Working in Human Service Organisations, South Melbourne, Oxford University Press.

Ottoway, R. N. (1983) The change agent: A taxonomy relation to the change process. Human Relations,36 (4), 361-392.

Fook, J. ( 2002) Critical Theory and Practice, London, Sage Publications. Joint Universities Council of Social Work Education Committee (2006) A social

work research strategy in higher education 2006-2020. London, Social Care Workforce Research Unit, International Policy Institute, Kings College London.

Epstein, I. (2008) Presentation, Trinity College, Dublin