Building research capacity for social work practitioners: a regional perspective

ABSTRACT

This article explores the research experiences, interests and capacity of social work professionals working as frontline workers and managers in human service organizations in regional South Australia. It also draws attention to social work practice issues requiring further investigation as identified by these professionals. The research data for this paper were collected using quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative data provided evidence to show the extent of research interests among social work practitioners in the region. Qualitative data added depth to the findings by identifying social work practice issues as described by research participants. The study revealed that few participants had any research experience; however, the majority felt the need to undertake research, expressed interest in research training and a desire to be involved in research projects. These findings have implications for higher education providers in the social work discipline. They draw attention to the importance of better preparing students for research in practice, and also for schools of social work to actively engage in building research capacity and output in regional Australia.

Abbreviations: Frontline social work professionals (FLSWP); The Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW)

KEYWORDS:

• Social work practitioner
• research
• capacity building
• research needs
• research training
• regional Australia

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge Ms Antoinette Day for her contributions to the study during data collection and preliminary analysis phase as a research assistant and Ms Bronwyn Ellis (Adjunct Research Associate), Department of Rural Health, University of South Australia for editing the paper.

We also thank Division of Education Arts and Social Sciences, University of South Australia for funding to conduct the study in 2016.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Division of Education Arts and Social Sciences, University of South Australia.

Notes on contributors

Kalpana Goel

Dr Kalpana Goel is an academic and researcher in Social Work, in the School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy, University of South Australia. She has both practice, research and teaching experience in the field of social work, community development and mental health. She has widely published in the area of migration, community settlement, unorganized sector, mental health and teaching and learning. She is a member of The Australian Association of Social Workers and Refugee and Migration Research Network. Contact: [email protected]

Cate Hudson

Dr Cate Hudson is Head of the Social work and Rural practice Unit in the School of Psychology Social Work and Social Policy at the University of South Australia. Dr Hudson is responsible for regional delivery of the Social Work program at Whyalla and Mt Gambier campuses of UniSA, is a course coordinator and lecturer. Until recently she was also manager of the Parenting Support Program based at the Whyalla campus of UniSA. The program was funded by the Australian Department of Social Services to provide parenting support and education to vulnerable and disadvantage families in the region.

Jane Cowie

Dr Jane Cowie is a teaching academic in Social Work at the School of Psychology, Social work and Social Policy. She has both practice and teaching experience in the field of social work. Her PhD thesis explored ‘Youth transition from school in rural and remote Australia’.