Social Work and Social Care: Mapping Workforce Engagement, Relevance, Experience and Interest in Research

Jodie Wakefield,Christian Mallen,David Dobel-Ober,Ruth Lambley-Burke,Sam Hornby,Susan Lavender,Paul Campbel,Karen Nixon,Gary Spolander,Pauline Bonner

doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcab169

Abstract

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.

Highlights

Healthcare organisations have long advocated and evidenced that higher levels of quality of care, improved overall performance and better outcomes for patients and service users, are achieved as a result of evidence-based practice (EBP) (Ozdemir et al, 2015; Boaz et al, 2015; Jonker et al, 2020)
The majority (33.2 percent) of respondents described their current role as social workers/approved mental health professionals/advanced practitioners, with a further 26.0 percent describing their role as social care assessors, and 11.1 percent as management/practice lead/operational lead
This study has reported on the level of engagement, current skills and knowledge, awareness and use, perceptions on the relevance and the current needs for research in a social work/care workforce within a large National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust

Summary

Introduction

Healthcare organisations have long advocated and evidenced that higher levels of quality of care, improved overall performance and better outcomes for patients and service users, are achieved as a result of evidence-based practice (EBP) (Ozdemir et al, 2015; Boaz et al, 2015; Jonker et al, 2020) These benefits are underpinned in the UK by a long-established link between medical-based research and the NHS, in particular the adoption of evidence-based medicine (EBM) where current best evidence (including that of research) is utilised within clinical decision making (Sackett et al, 1996; Sackett, 1997). Criticism of EBP practice has highlighted assumptions regarding the importance of positivistic traditions (see Gray et al, 2009; Nevo and Slonim-Nevo, 2011; Zeigler, 2019) including the gold standard

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