Research-informed Practice Research Articles

Coaching research in Gaelic games: a scoping review

ABSTRACT Gaelic games are central to cultural life in Ireland. As a means of enhancing research-informed practice and future research directions, the aim of this scoping review was to provide a broad overview of the existing literature pertaining to coaching in Gaelic games. Adhering to the Joanna Briggs Institute’s framework, a search of six electronic databases was undertaken. A total of 38 studies met the eligibility criteria and were classified according to four knowledge domains: the player, the sport, pedagogy, and the coaching context. The findings indicated a relative paucity of research across the knowledge domains and the predominance of single-focus studies, highlighting the need for interdisciplinary research. Additionally, limited research methodology, participant samples, and clarity in describing participants were identified as limiting factors. These findings have implications for the broader sport coaching literature, suggesting the need for more comprehensive research across knowledge domains and a focus on practical coaching needs.

From research reading and doing to research use: Tracking trajectories of becoming research-informed second language teachers

Despite the crucial role of teachers in connecting research to classroom practices, very little is known about the processes of research-informed practice through their reading, doing, and use of research. Also largely unknown is how the potential interconnections among these activities could influence teachers’ evaluations of research relevance and sustainability of their research-informed practice. This study, therefore, explores trajectories of teachers in adopting research-informed practice. Relying on an ecological theoretical lens through a narrative case study approach, we collected data from three in-service EFL teachers using in-depth individual interviews, multiple follow-ups, teacher-generated research logs, and researcher-made analytic memos. Data analysis revealed specific starting conditions (e.g., subject-matter explorations) for development of rudimentary familiarity, turning moments (e.g., developmental thresholds) giving rise to more sophisticated reception, and bottlenecks (e.g., disciplinary identity) for sustained involvement in research-informed-practice for teachers. Furthermore, on top of cyclical links among reading, doing, and use of research, we found perceived signature patterns of reading (i.e., empirical papers), doing (i.e., action research), or use (i.e., successful classroom application) for each teacher, as evidence for threshold crossing. Implications for theory and research, professional development, and policymaking, including key prerequisites that must be provisioned to prepare teachers for research-informed practice, are discussed.

Strategies to promote scholarship among academic hospitalists.

Academic hospitalists play an integral role in the day-to-day care of hospitalized patients, education and research. They are well-positioned to engage in scholarly and research activities and inform clinical practice. Hospital medicine also offers a compelling career path for those seeking to maintain a broad clinical focus while also pursuing opportunities in quality improvement (QI), clinical research, and medical education (MedEd) projects. Participation in these endeavors not only foster scholarly growth but also enhances career satisfaction for hospitalists. Therefore, there is a need to explore and implement feasible strategies to equip hospitalists with the knowledge and resources necessary to generate scholarship and promote academic growth within the field.

Addressing Barriers to Research-Informed Practice: A Library and Social Work Collaboration to Empower Future Practitioners

Social work education prioritizes the use of research to inform practice. As university students, prospective social workers have a wealth of research available to them as well as librarians to help them find, evaluate, and use that information. However, access to much of this research ends once the student graduates—at a time when it is most needed to inform their professional practice. To address this challenge, a librarian and a social work faculty member worked with one class of students in their final semester of a bachelor’s degree in social work program to promote awareness of information privilege and barriers to access, to expand their understanding of authority to include marginalized voices, and to utilize an open pedagogy assignment as a means of proactively addressing these challenges. This article describes what was learned from this effort, including the results of surveys conducted with students before and after instruction.

Bridging Research and Practice: Using Article Analysis to Prepare Practitioners for Research-Informed Practice

Bridging Research and Practice: Using Article Analysis to Prepare Practitioners for Research-Informed Practice

Research outcomes informing the selection of public health interventions and strategies to implement them: A cross-sectional survey of Australian policy-maker and practitioner preferences

BackgroundA key role of public health policy-makers and practitioners is to ensure beneficial interventions are implemented effectively enough to yield improvements in public health. The use of evidence to guide public health decision-making to achieve this is recommended. However, few studies have examined the relative value, as reported by policy-makers and practitioners, of different broad research outcomes (that is, measures of cost, acceptability, and effectiveness). To guide the conduct of research and better inform public health policy and practice, this study aimed at describing the research outcomes that Australian policy-makers and practitioners consider important for their decision-making when selecting: (a) public health interventions; (b) strategies to support their implementation; and (c) to assess the differences in research outcome preferences between policy-makers and practitioners.MethodAn online value-weighting survey was conducted with Australian public health policy-makers and practitioners working in the field of non-communicable disease prevention. Participants were presented with a list of research outcomes and were asked to select up to five they considered most critical to their decision-making. They then allocated 100 points across these – allocating more points to outcomes perceived as more important. Outcome lists were derived from a review and consolidation of evaluation and outcome frameworks in the fields of public health knowledge translation and implementation. We used descriptive statistics to report relative preferences overall and for policy-makers and practitioners separately.ResultsOf the 186 participants; 90 primarily identified as policy-makers and 96 as public health prevention practitioners. Overall, research outcomes of effectiveness, equity, feasibility, and sustainability were identified as the four most important outcomes when considering either interventions or strategies to implement them. Scores were similar for most outcomes between policy-makers and practitioners.ConclusionFor Australian policy-makers and practitioners working in the field of non-communicable disease prevention, outcomes related to effectiveness, equity, feasibility, and sustainability appear particularly important to their decisions about the interventions they select and the strategies they employ to implement them. The findings suggest researchers should seek to meet these information needs and prioritize the inclusion of such outcomes in their research and dissemination activities. The extent to which these outcomes are critical to informing the decision of policy-makers and practitioners working in other jurisdictions or contexts warrants further investigation.

Open access for community partners, impactful outputs for scholars: Leveraging scholarly communication movements to enhance reciprocity in community based research

Many corners of the academy are actively working to build bridges between research in the ivory tower to outcomes and needs in the community. Our study seeks to unify two such efforts – community-based/service-learning research and open access scholarly communication. Open access is an implicit value in community-based and service-learning research, and is part of the symbiotic relationship value, but has not been explicitly discussed, framed, or embraced as a value or goal. We explore existing literature on the desire for research-informed practices from community members and practitioners, the current state of open informational practices from scholarly publications dedicated to work happening in community spaces, and make recommendations for good practices for editors, publishers, researchers, and institutions looking to link the work of scholars to the needs of the community and evaluate impact.

Decolonizing big data: addressing data colonialism in social work’s grand challenges

ABSTRACT The acceleration and escalation of datafication has increased interest in advancing the use of big data throughout social work. While one of the current Grand Challenges of Social Work focuses on harnessing technology for the social good, the present work expands on this endeavor with a particular focus on big data in social work. Despite mandates from the CSWE EPAS to engage in research-informed practice and practice-informed research, prior work has extensively documented social work students' general fear and apprehension of research in practice. At the same time, big data continues to grow, perpetuating colonialism inherent within the data. This work delineates how social work can rise to the occasion, remain dedicated to social justice, and work to decolonize big data.

The Multilevel Factor Structure of Social Cohesion, Mutual Efficacy, and Informal Social Control: A Case for Practice-Informed Research.

Collective efficacy is the process by which social cohesion is activated as informal social control. Mutual efficacy, the perceived capability of the community, mediates the relationship between the two constructs. Interventions based on collective efficacy have a positive impact on individuals but are limited in their ability to affect the broader community. A possible explanation for this finding is that community-level theories operate differently at the individual and neighborhood levels. The present study contributes to the literature by testing the multilevel factor structure of social cohesion, mutual efficacy, and informal social control. Findings suggest that multiple-factor structures demonstrate adequate model fit. However, the three-factor model is most consistent with social work theory and practice. Social workers can foster constructive dialogue to build social cohesion, authentically engage residents to build mutual efficacy, and train residents in skills necessary to institute informal social control.

The implementation of writing pedagogies in the Write to Read intervention in low-SES primary schools in Ireland

This study describes the initial implementation of the writing component of the Write to Read (W2R) literacy intervention in eight low-SES (socio-economically disadvantaged) elementary-level urban schools. Through customised onsite professional development provided by coaches, the writing component sought to build teachers’ capacity to design and implement a writing workshop framework infused with research-informed practices for writing suitable for their school and classroom contexts, including attention to cognitive, social and affective dimensions. The paper draws on quantitative and qualitative questionnaire data gathered from classroom teachers in the eight schools in Year 1 (n = 66) and Year 3 (n = 62) of implementation, and semi-structured interviews with randomly selected teachers in each school in Year 4 (n = 18). In general, teachers succeeded in implementing a writing workshop approach to teaching writing, within the broader W2R literacy framework, including the allocation of more time to writing instruction. Professional development, including observation, feedback and demonstration by W2R literacy coaches, contributed to high levels of teacher confidence in such areas as planning and teaching fiction and non-fiction writing genres, and analysing writing samples to inform mini-lessons. By Year 3, teachers noted marked or good improvements in students’ attitudes towards writing, volume of writing produced, knowledge of writing genres, and language of response to writing. Areas in need of further support included aspects of the craft of writing, including writing vocabulary, supporting pupils to set goals for writing, selecting mentor texts to teach writing genres, and using a rubric to assess writing development.

Addressing Bioethical Implications of Implementing Diversion Programs in Resource-Constrained Service Environments.

The opioid epidemic demands the development, implementation, and evaluation of innovative, research-informed practices such as diversion programs. Aritürk et al. have articulated important bioethical considerations for implementing diversion programs in resource-constrained service environments. In this commentary, we expand and advance Aritürk et al.'s discussion by discussing existing resources that can be utilized to implement diversion programs that prevent or otherwise minimize the issues of autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, and justice identified by Aritürk et al.

FROM THESE ROOTS: THE ROLE OF HBCUS IN PREPARING THE NATION’S GERONTOLOGISTS FOR AN AGING SOCIETY

Abstract The aging of the U.S. population is creating an increased need for social workers and other helping professionals with training in gerontology. Estimates indicate that less than 3% of MSW students are enrolled in an aging concentration, as compared to 19% enrolled in children/youth concentrations. The phenomenon of a diverse baby boomer generation joining the ranks of persons age 65 and older has created a plethora of scholarship and curriculum development aimed at readying the aging network for the unprecedented growth of older persons. Social work can make unique contributions to the field of gerontology. This study asserts, however, that social work is not adequately prepared to practice in an increasingly diverse aging society. The social work profession has articulated commitments to acknowledging and affirming how diversity and culture shape the human experience and to developing social workers who can competently engage in research-informed practice and practice-informed research. However, there remains a need in social work education for more widespread use of culturally relevant pedagogies that can help achieve these goals. Informed by both the Afrocentric and Black perspectives, this study presents a content analysis of the curricula infused at two historically Black universities. The nature and extent of the contributions of historically Black universities to social work education is the focus of this article. The scope of this investigation also includes the identification of prominent Black social work educators and discusses the implications of these perspectives for more culturally informed gerontology curricula that promote culturally competent gerontological social workers

THE AGING NETWORK AS A CATALYST FOR COMMUNITY GERONTOLOGY AND APPLIED RESEARCH

Abstract The Older Americans Act (OAA) established Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) fifty years ago as local community-based organizations responsible for planning, coordinating, funding, and delivering nutrition and other supportive services which allow older adults to remain living in their homes and communities. Local control and decision-making, mandated by the OAA, has allowed AAAs to adapt to the evolving needs and demands of their communities The centrality of their role was never more apparent than during the COVID-19 pandemic. As national and societal circumstances have resulted in increased social isolation, housing insecurity, and public health concerns for older adults, AAAs have adapted and expanded beyond traditional OAA services to address the social and health needs of an increasingly diverse older adult population. The Community Gerontology framework provides a useful structure to understand the evolution and impact of AAAs and the broader Aging Network on the health of older adults. Using data from the 2022 National Survey of AAAs and a new qualitative study on Community Care Hubs, academic and Aging Network-based researchers will illustrate the many partnerships and pathways of mutual influence between AAAs and the micro and macro levels to describe how Aging Network services are expanding provision of services for health care partners, public health initiatives, and new housing and homelessness services and partnerships to address emerging needs. The symposium will conclude with an illustration of how applied researchers and Aging Network organizations partnered on research-informed practice to innovate and strengthen services for at-risk older adults.

Advancing early relational health: a collaborative exploration of a research agenda.

Here, we introduce the Early Relational Health (ERH) Learning Community's bold, large-scale, collaborative, data-driven and practice-informed research agenda focused on furthering our mechanistic understanding of ERH and identifying feasible and effective practices for making ERH promotion a routine and integrated component of pediatric primary care. The ERH Learning Community, formed by a team of parent/caregiver leaders, pediatric care clinicians, researchers, and early childhood development specialists, is a workgroup of Nurture Connection-a hub geared toward promoting ERH, i.e., the positive and nurturing relationship between young children and their parent(s)/caregiver(s), in families and communities nationwide. In response to the current child mental health crisis and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) policy statement promoting ERH, the ERH Learning Community held an in-person meeting at the AAP national headquarters in December 2022 where members collaboratively designed an integrated research agenda to advance ERH. This agenda weaves together community partners, clinicians, and academics, melding the principles of participatory engagement and human-centered design, such as early engagement, co-design, iterative feedback, and cultural humility. Here, we present gaps in the ERH literature that prompted this initiative and the co-design activity that led to this novel and iterative community-focused research agenda, with parents/caregivers at the core, and in close collaboration with pediatric clinicians for real-world promotion of ERH in the pediatric primary care setting.

Visualizing Digital Communities of Practice

In 2021, forty art, design, and media educators throughout a midwestern state in the United States critically examined their lessons through the lenses of social-emotional learning (SEL), standards-based assessment, research-informed practice, and culturally responsive instruction. During the program, teacher-learners recorded their reflections, which are condensed in a presentation-as-art-installation, highlighting dialogic self-reflection in a community of practice. In the video, originally conceived as a 2-channel installation, teachers discuss SEL; equity, diversity, and inclusion; research-informed practice; and standards-based grading, looking at the camera by themselves and reflecting on their daily practice as they incorporate new learning into their teaching. The text discusses how these transformative conversations took place, the necessary conditions for dialogic self-reflection in a community of practice, their impact on their professional practice, and sharing classroom experiences.

Advancing sport ecology research on sport and the natural environment

ABSTRACT Sport and the natural environment have an intimate relationship threatened by global warming and climate change. Individual sport organizations and events to the collective global sport sector must address climate change on two primary fronts – (1) reducing their impact on the natural environment resulting in climate change to sustain the environments individual sport organizations and events taking place and (2) sustaining sport from changing environments due to climate change. This paper examines previous research from these two fronts, and gaps are identified that can inform future research to advance our understanding of environmental sport management or sport ecology topics. The paper then discusses practical and measured responses to climate change using examples from other disciplines beyond sport management to enhance these research lines and inform industry practice. As the sport sector advances, a fourth wave of the sport environmental movement is emerging where sport organizations encounter internal and external pressures to resolve contradictions in their stated environmental values and organizational operations (e.g. short-haul flights, carbon-intensive sponsors). The paper concludes with recommendations across these two fronts to engage fans and participants in meaningful climate action with demonstrative results.

Using a classroom-as-organization method to bridge the research-practice gap in human resource management

Human Resource Management (HRM) has a major impact on organizations' ability to achieve their strategic objectives. Yet, there is a large gap between research-informed practices and what HR managers do in the field. In the experiential classroom-as-organization (CAO) method presented here, students work in simulated HR firms, where they use evidence-based HRM practices with ‘real-world’ impacts. Two studies are conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the instructional method: the first uses questionnaires to assess students' experiences and perceived learning; the second combines questionnaires and a field experiment involving students who did and did not participate in the method to ascertain its impact on exam performance. The research makes several contributions to the management education literature. First, the instructional innovation addresses the need to develop more HRM-focused experiential methods that foster deep learning. Second, it shows how a non-hierarchical and multi-firm CAO approach aligns with the principles of social learning theory, and in particular allows students to benefit from vicarious learning. Finally, it is one the first studies to investigate the impact of CAO methods on objectively measured academic performance, demonstrating their promise for not only generating student engagement, but also for enhancing the comprehension and retention of evidence-based concepts.

A participatory practice-informed research agenda for the historical sanctuary of Machupicchu: first experience in Peru

Purpose A research-practice team was convened for the Machupicchu World Heritage Site to participate in the Heritage Place Lab (HPL), with the goal of building a practice-informed research agenda designed to support the management needs of the site.Design/methodology/approach The agenda was built based on both the HPL methodology and a complementary one.Findings The proposed agenda centres on three research priorities: (1) Ecosystem services and well-being, (2) local sustainable development and cultural heritage, and (3) mixed-heritage research integration for conservation.Practical implications These priorities address conflicts between the two agencies that manage the site and a lack of awareness of heritage values in contrast to economic interests.Originality/value The article proposes new research-informed strategies for joint working between the managing agencies of a site where conservation needs conflict with public use demands, representing the first such case for Peru.

Including students with autism within the PBIS framework: Recommendations for research and research-informed practice

There is increased focus on narrowing the research-to-practice gap in education for students with autism. Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is an evidence-based and widely implemented framework designed to improve outcomes for all students; however, relatively little attention has focused specifically on using the PBIS framework to guide intervention and assessment for autistic students. This commentary’s purpose is to describe the utility of PBIS as a viable school-based model for the use of evidence-based practice (EBP) in autism. We aim to demonstrate how EBP for students with autism may be integrated within the PBIS framework, discuss critical concerns for students with autism within this model, and provide suggestions for future research and practice on improving educators’ capacity to implement EBP for this student population.

Body image and autism: A scoping review

BackgroundAccumulating research has broadened our understanding of body image across novel populations, and attention is turning towards exploring how autistic individuals experience their body. However, to date, there has been no synthesis of the body image and autism literature. This scoping review provides an overview of the emerging literature which focuses on body image and autism. MethodsPubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL Plus, and APA PsychInfo were searched using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis Scoping Review (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines. A total of n = 8 studies (3 cross-sectional, 1 experimental, 4 qualitative) met the inclusion criteria. These were examined to identify what is known from original empirical research, theoretical standpoints, and experiential perspectives. ResultsOverall, findings suggest there is a significant relationship between indices of negative body image (e.g., body dissatisfaction) and autistic traits. This review also suggests that autistic individuals experience both negative and positive aspects of body image, informed by autism-specific factors such as differences in social communication, information processing, and sensory sensitivities. The extant research is, however, limited to either neurotypical samples or autistic individuals in clinical contexts (e.g., eating disorders, weight management). ConclusionThis review identifies a paucity of robust research investigating body image and autism. Future research is encouraged to investigate the construct of body image in the actual autistic population more comprehensively, as doing so holds important implications for research and research-informed practice.