4. Engage in Practice- Informed Research and Research- Informed Practice

Research and Informed Practice

Competent and ethical social workers strive to provide their clients with the most effective services. Research is what establishes these best practices and shows how to effectively meet client and community needs. Being able to critically review literature is am important skill to have.  Continued research in the field is needed to further fill gaps in culturally competent practices and to evolve as societal needs change. Social workers can be involved is this process as a part of research teams. Research can also be used to identify community needs and assess the effectiveness of programs and interventions. Utilizing evidence based practice creates a strong foundation to build services upon. As an ethical and competent social worker, I demonstrate my commitment to research by utilizing skills such as assessments, evaluations, and  involving myself in continuing education opportunities.

4.1 Critically review current research on evidence based and contemporary best practices to improve practice, policy, and programs

Course Evidence: Mental Health Emphasis II (SOCA-677) exposed me to a variety of therapeutic modalities and interventions to use with different populations. I was able to choose one of the therapeutic modalities discussed in class to write a literature review about.  I wrote about  psychodrama, an evidence-based therapeutic intervention. This involved reviewing research on the effectiveness of this intervention and best practices. Then I was able to critically apply this knowledge to how I could potentially incorporate psychodrama to future practice.

4.2 Conduct and disseminate research that responds to social work practice needs and uses ethical, culturally informed, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive strategies to advance the purposes of social work.

Field Evidence: For my special project, I developed a resource binder with both mental health and case management resources for hospice social workers and patients. One of the initial phases of this project was establishing a need for mental health resources to be included in the binder. I was able to conduct research by reviewing patient files and collecting data from diagnosis lists and care plans to support the need for mental health resources. Here is a presentation that shows the findings that I was able to share with my Field Instructor.

Knowledge: I utilized my knowledge of how to evaluating research and being able to  navigating the library database to find information. Writing skills were used when putting together the literature review. I had to organize data that was found for both the resource binder as well as the literature review in order to clearly display the information. I was also able to use my knowledge of collecting and interpreting data to show the need for my special project to encompass mental health.

Values: Being a competent social worker is a part of ethical practice that I value. To prepare for work with hospice patients, I learned about hospice philosophy and a variety of evidence based practices so that I was prepared to meet their needs.

Skills: Skills used in this competency include identifying reputable sources, evaluating  research, and conducting research. When finding evidence to support an intervention I utilized resources such as the McKee Library to help me identify quality sources.  While conducting my own research, skills needed were organization and presentation of data.

Cognitive: Understanding and Creating were used for this competency. First, I had to understand the research and information that I was learning. Then I was able to write a literature review and develop resources based on information found.

Affective: The affective used for this competency is responding. Once I had the information, I was able to begin implementing the evidence based practice into my field work.  An example of this is demonstrated using my special project to provide psycho-education to a hospice patient.

Theories: Confirmation bias supports the idea that humans seek information that supports their already formed hypothesis. When reviewing research,  I was self-aware of how my personal biases may influence what articles I reviewed. I also had to be impartial when collecting evidence to support my special project, letting the data determine the areas I would focus on while collecting resources for the binder.