Response to Maranda

Maranda RE: Discussion 2 - Week 11

C O L L A P S E Applying Knowledge and Skills

When I began this course, my thoughts were ‘I won’t do research as a social worker- that’s not what I’m interested in’ but as the course has progressed, I’ve recognized that this was not correct. It’s true that social workers have an obligation to address research and evidence based practice (NASW, n.d.). Throughout the course, types of research, methods for conducting research, and the importance of analysing results have been addressed. I’ve been able to take this information to understand research more and also consider how I can apply these skills. During my field placement and my current position as a social worker, I consider these practices much more and consider what way I may be able apply these directly to these practices.

The provider that I work with currently actually just underwent a CARF, or Certified Acute Rehabilitation Facility, evaluation which encouraged me to consider how process evaluations can be tied to my practice (Dudley, 2020). From this, one recommendation from the assessment included furthering evidence based practice and participating in research. Though the hospital must work hard to develop a process, this is something that caught my attention and I expect to participate in.

Another research model that I find very applicable relates to single system design. As a hospital social worker in a rehabilitation hospital, there is a great amount of opportunity for developing single system design and implementing intervention could support research based data and therefore encourage further use of an intervention model (Dudley, 2020). Single system design offers a more practice-related approach to research that can be applied to a single social worker’s caseload.

Overall, research appears much more attainable after gathering a better understanding of methods, models, and how to apply the information. As a more aware social worker, developing an idea of how to implement research into my daily activities in order to improve my practice as a social worker. By recognizing research and evidence based intervention models, the benefit to my clients will also be greatly improved.

References Dudley, J. R. (2020). Social work evaluation: Enhancing what we do (3rd ed.) Oxford University Press.

National Association of Social workers. (n.d.). Evidence-based practice. https://www.socialworkers.org/News/Research-Data/Social-Work-Policy- Research/Evidence-Based-Practice