Practitioner research brings inside knowledge to social care evidence base
Research evidence needs to reach those who can use it, yet social care research carried out by practitioners as an adjunct to delivering services rarely gets publicised. Research carried out in academic settings generally finds its way into the public domain in some form, usually through a journal paper. In contrast, research carried out in local authorities or third sector organisations often circulates no further than the organisation where it originated.
The latest issue of Research, Policy and Planning draws together articles on the findings from five research studies led by or heavily involving social care practitioners:
The special issue was produced as part of a trial, led by PSSRU at LSE with support from SSCR, that provided academic mentoring support to practitioners to develop a journal article from their research.
“We are strongly committed to supporting improvements in the use of research and one aspect of this is awareness of current research, including research carried out in local authorities and the third sector. Through this initiative we hope to encourage others to consider publishing their research (in whatever form) to make findings from all research more accessible, and in turn improve the evidence base for social care practice in England”.
Professor Martin Knapp, Director of PSSRU and NIHR SSCR
“We must make sure practice is informed by evidence of what we know works, as well as learning from the experiences of others, and to do that we not only need to improve the way in which research is shared between academic and practice settings, but also our learning with our colleagues in practice. That doesn’t mean we all have to write journal papers but we should consider different ways to share our learning more widely”.
Lyn Romeo, Chief Social Worker, Department of Health and member of SSCR Advisory Board
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