The Hong Kong Statement on Practice Research 2017: Contexts and Challenges of the Far East

The article focuses on theories, definitions, interests, possibilities and barriers in practice research in social work. It points out that both practice and research will be influenced by participating in and developing practice research. – and that both parts must and will learn from the process. To elaborate and define practice research in social work, it is necessary to consider connected approaches and theories. The article will show that practice research is both connected to and can use the theoretical frames of Actual science and Mode 2 knowledge production. To understand and develop research closely connected to practice it is necessary to define it in three different ways: practice research, practitioner research and user-controlled research. Examples from different Nordic approaches connected to these definitions will be presented. Although practice and research both need to develop practice research they do at the same time have different interests which will challenge both parts. Practice research must be looked upon as both an area of collaboration and a meeting point for different stakeholders: users, social workers, administrative management/organizers, politicians and researchers. It is stated that practice research at the same time need to break down barriers between the stakeholders, and to be aware not to combine them totally as differencies and dilemmas are a part of practice research and should remain so.

Digital storytelling (DST), broadly defined, is a storytelling method that is interwoven with digitised images, texts, sounds, and other interactive elements, and it has been increasingly used for social work and healthcare interventions. While the term DST has become more popular, its role in actual social work interventions is not clear. The ambiguity of DST presents a hurdle to further theorisation for social work practice and research. This article aims to provide a narrative review and derive a conceptualisation that is in line with social work’s psychotherapeutic and systems orientation. The review has derived a two-layer conceptualisation. In a broad sense, DST can be seen as an umbrella term covering different sorts of storytelling activities that use digital communication media. Practitioners and researchers can adopt a set of parameters for describing and comparing different practice designs. More specifically, DST can be seen as a kind of narrative practice utilising digital communication media. This definition offers a conceptual base for DST, which helps further theorisation and research in social work practice.

Taking a nomadic community in Inner Mongolia autonomous region of China as an example, this paper analyzes the local characteristics of chronic diseases suffered by families and nomads in the nomadic area of Inner Mongolia and puts forward the problem of ignoring the local cultural and ecological factors in the social welfare system dealing with the chronic diseases of nomadic area. The paper describes disregard of the welfare system, institutions, communities, families, and individuals of chronic diseases in the nomadic area and points out that social work practice research should be carried out based on the cultural and ecological relevance and local knowledge of the nomadic area. It is believed that the family healthcare model suitable for nomadic area has practical significance for effectively dealing with chronic diseases in the nomadic area.

Objectives: Practice evaluation strategies range in style from the formal-analytic tools of single-subject designs, rapid assessment instruments, algorithmic steps in evidence-based practice, and computer software applications, to the informal-interactive tools of clinical supervision, consultation with colleagues, use of client feedback, and clinical experience. The purpose of this study was to provide practice researchers in social work with a more complete understanding of how and why social workers evaluate their practice the way they do. Methods: Questions about practice evaluation strategies were posed to 12 licensed clinical social workers in a 3-hour focus group. Findings: Drawing on advances in the cognitive and social neurosciences, the study identified among clinical social workers an informal-interactive tool preference that displays itself as a cognitively necessary, sufficient, and stand-alone preference that required neither the supplementation nor balance of formal-analytic tools. Conclusions: New directions in social work practice research are required and delineated.

Following a scholarly thread in political theory that looks to American literature to deepen understanding of social problems and potential solutions, this paper explores James Baldwin’s conceptualization of racial innocence and the manifestation of the “culture of Whiteness” in social work practice. The paper begins by introducing the complicated history of the social work profession and its, perhaps inadvertent, collusion with structural racism via the promotion of imperialism. Next, is a discussion of contemporary social workers’ potential socialization into the culture of Whiteness, an expression of White supremacy. Third, Baldwin’s conceptualization of innocence is introduced, followed by deliberation of how this conceptualization bolsters an understanding of harmful helping. With this deepened understanding, the paper ends by considering steps towards disruption and interruption of damaging clinical patterns. Implications for social work practice, clinical supervision, and future research are introduced.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the recognition of social work as an academic discipline in Israel. The country’s first academic school of social work was established at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1958 in cooperation with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Ministry of Welfare. As part of Israel’s first university, that prides itself on its research accomplishments, faculty members were among the first social work researchers in the country. Today, social work research is carried out in a variety of settings—in universities, research institutes, and government offices. This special issue is dedicated to state-of-the-art social work practice research in Israel. It provides examples of innovative studies carried out by both scholars and practitioners dedicated to producing timely and culturally and contextually relevant research. We wish to thank Dr. Bruce Thyer for initiating this effort and for his support and guidance through the various stages of producing this special issue.

Missing data (item nonresponse) is prevalent in survey research and likely regardless of the researcher's efforts. Problems associated with missing data include but are not limited to low statistical power, biased results, and limited external validity. The present study compared online (n = 125) and classroom (n = 74) data collection methods to determine the extent of missing data between the two cohorts. The total sample consisted of 199 master's of social work and bachelor's of social work students, each of whom were asked to respond to 91 survey items (the majority of which pertained to research in social work practice). A logistic regression model demonstrated a significant relationship between the total number of completed survey items and the data collection methods. The study shows an empirical association between the classroom data collection method and the lower levels of missing data. Study limitations are discussed, and recommendations for future research are made.

One of the most difficult and challenging areas of research in social work practice is to create a philosophy of integration whereby some presumed assumptions are questioned and new areas of collaboration designed for best practices. It is the function of philosophy to question such assumptions and design newer areas of research for the practice in Africa. In this article, we have deigned to question the collaborative work of social work and entrepreneurship. This is what one might describe as the duty of the social innovator, social problem solver in business practices of the commonly defined deliverables from the social entrepreneur. In the social business innovator or entrepreneur, we have the best skills of the entrepreneurship, social philosophy, social work and social interested innovator. Many would have questioned the conjunction between the aggressive business entrepreneur who is profit oriented and the charity oriented non-governmental organizer who cares and works for others happiness. If both are for business and are investors, what kind of investment and profit is the social entrepreneur committed to in his business as different from the profit orientation of the business mogul. In Africa, such questioning and questions lead to a paradigm change in the popular understanding of the emerging area of the social entrepreneurship and the challenge of solving social problems of poverty and crisis in Africa. This article seeks to contribute to such social problem solving by enhancing the public awareness and education on the developmental possibilities of social entrepreneurship in Africa.

This article presents findings of a small-scale, multi-method study of social workers’ use of knowledge in practice. The sample included 10 social workers employed in a statutory child-protection context who participated in three stages of data collection, which encompassed six research techniques: in-depth interviewing, observation, think-aloud, unstructured interviewing, reflective recall and knowledge mapping. Despite the innovative, intensive multi-method research design, which afforded participants considered latitude and opportunity to express what they know, most participants did not demonstrate a coherent, comprehensive and elaborated theory and research base to their practice. The results of the present study combined, with previous empirical research on this topic, highlight the necessity to engage with and promote knowledge-based practice.

The case study is a neglected and maligned approach to social work research. Rejected more for how uninformed researchers have used it and less for flaws intrinsic to its nature, the case study is compatible with many forms of social work practice and policy research. Although case studies are not useful for estimating prevalence rates or for probabilistic generalization, they are useful to study problems in depth, to understand the stages in processes, or to understand situations in context (Greene & David, 1984; Yin, 1989). Other practice professions such as medicine, law, and business have long used case studies for research and teaching. Case studies have provided the basis for the development of psychotherapy (Kazdin, 1981), for the science of cognitive development as pioneered by Piaget (1951, 1952, 1954), and the science of human behavior (Garmezy, 1982). The foundation work for family therapy and family sociology was based on case studies (Gilgun, Daly, & Handel, 1992; Handel, 1991). This article defines the case study, presents guidelines for evaluating case studies, and shows the relevance of case studies to social work research. The guidelines for evaluation also provide guidelines for developing and interpreting case studies. The application of these guidelines will result in case studies that meet the rigorous standards of scientific research and are useful to social work practitioners. Background Definitions Case Study. The case study is an intensive investigation of a single unit (Handel, 1991; Runyan, 1982; Yin, 1989). Most case studies involve the examination of multiple variables. The interaction of the unit of study with its context is a significant part of the investigation. Examples include life history research on individual lives in context and thick description (Geertz, 1973, p. 6) ethnographies of social settings. Thickly described case studies take multiple perspectives into account and attempt to understand the influences of multilayered social systems on subjects' perspectives and behaviors. However, some case studies, such as single case evaluations as commonly practiced (Bloom & Fischer, 1983; Hersen & Barlow, 1984), look at a few variables measured over time and virtually ignore context. The defining characteristic of a case study, then, is its focus on an individual unit. The unit of study may be an individual person (Cooper, 1990; Fraiberg, 1981; Kivnick, 1988), but case studies can be done of other units such as a family (Davis & Reid, 1988), a treatment team (Gilgun, 1988), a segment of a clinical session (Sands, 1988), police in patrol cars (Ferraro, 1989), a community (Eckert, 1980), or a country (Ozawa, 1985). Case study research also can investigate multiple individual units (Gilgun, in press; Gilgun & Connor, 1989; Vera, 1990). Idiographic versus Nomothetic Research. Case studies are idiographic, meaning a single unit is studied, multiple variables are investigated, and generalizing is analytic rather than statistical and probabilistic (Runyan, 1982; Silverstein, 1988). In analytic generalization, findings extracted from a single case are tested for their fit with other cases and with patterns predicted by theory or with previous research and theory (Campbell, 1979; Gilgun, 1992; Yin, 1989). Researchers can argue for the generality of findings when findings are based on a wide variety of cases and are congruent with related research and theory (Gilgun, 1991, 1994; Green & David, 1984; Kazdin, 1981). Still, there is no guarantee that a set of findings will fit any other cases except those on which the findings have been constructed; the next case may contradict previous findings. Case study findings, then, are open-ended, subject to revision when they do not fit new cases. Idiographic research often is contrasted with nomothetic research, in which a few variables are investigated using groups of subjects. …

• : This article introduces basic tenents of Confucianism and its evolution, and explores its unique contribution to socio-cultural practices on gender-based oppression in social work practice. • : The yin-yang (陰-陽) relation is originally a cosmic idea that is cyclical and harmonizing, but not oppositional and contradictory. The yin-yang binary is not intended to indicate any human relations (gender) or political ethics but the harmony of human nature. Despite the complementary nature of the yin-yang union, a confucianized Chinese society consigned yang to male and yin to female, signifying hierarchal gender relations. Women were considered inferior to men in the patriarchal family system. Misinterpretation of Confucianism promoted hierarchal relationships between men and women and, as a result, dramatically affected the gender-based attitudes and behavior. • : Confucianism, one of the most crucial philosophies of Asian cultural norms, has long been studied from the perspectives of intellectual history and philosophical truth seeking; however, only a few scholarly texts are available in the area of Confucianism and its influence on gender inequality. In particular, this article attempts to help scholars and helping-professionals understand how the harmonious yin-yang concept evolved into the contradictory binary, which further perpetrated gender hierarchy and oppression toward women. Limitations of current Confucianism research and implications for social work practice are presented.

While a great deal of empirical evidence exists concerning the anticipated or intended outcomes and goals of the group process, little research has focused on the unanticipated or unintended outcomes and consequences of the group process. This paper presents the findings from four case studies involving multidisciplinary groups designed to address decision making in cases of suspected child abuse and/or neglect. The research identifies the areas where unintended and unanticipated outcomes are found that directly relate to the group process. These latent functions are shown to provide outcomes both for the group, the clients involved, and the larger community. In addition, the research demonstrates that these outcomes enhance the successful functioning of the group. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings of this research for social work practice.

Dialogue between those interested or engaged in qualitative research and practitioners is essential if practice is to respond effectively to the increasing needs of service users. However, this statement is underpinned by two linked assumptions – that the world of the practitioner and that of the researcher are separate, and that there is a policy audience receptive to qualitatively informed professional practice. This paper begins by questioning these assumptions, recognising that neoliberal managerialism remains dominant and is resistant to qualitatively inspired practice, determined that practitioners are ‘siloed’ into skills or competence-based approaches in the name of accountability, value for money and ‘outcomes’ consistent with neoliberal ideology. We emphasise the shared values and commitments between social work practice and social work research which include the recognition that people may be encouraged to understand and transform their world through the constant interaction of theory and practice, a view we promote through our teaching. For example, social justice and other social work values are highlighted through participatory, anti-oppressive and feminist research and emphasised though critical, emancipatory approaches to research questions. We include recent vignettes, demonstrating this approach, in which students have used innovative research approaches, which have provided the possibility of fully integrating research into on-going practice. Feedback from students and practitioners concludes that this becomes possible if research teaching encourages partnership between students, practitioners, service users and organisations.

Introduction Part One: Issues in social research Perspectives on social scientific research Social theory and social research Values and ethics in the research process Part Two: Methods of social research Official statistics: Topics and resources Social surveys: Design to analysis Interviewing: Methods and process Participant observation: Perspectives and practice Documentary research: Excavations and evidence Case study research Comparative research: Potential and problems Part Three: Research in practice Reflections on Research in practice

Previous articleNext article FreeThe Life and Career of Matthew O. HowardJeffrey M. JensonJeffrey M. JensonUniversity of Denver Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreMatthew O. HowardView Large ImageDownload PowerPointOn December 15, 2018, social work and the Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research (JSSWR) lost one of its most prolific scholars, outstanding teachers, and thoughtful mentors in recent memory. Matthew O. Howard, PhD—the Frank A. Daniels Distinguished Professor of Human Services Policy Information and associate dean for doctoral education in the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill—passed away following a lengthy hospitalization. As an associate editor for JSSWR, Matthew had a significant impact on improving the quality and influence of the journal. He will be sorely missed by our editorial team.Matthew was a consummate scholar who possessed a singular ability to understand and conceptualize social problems of all types. His research contributed greatly to existing knowledge of the etiology, prevention, and treatment of substance abuse, alcohol dependence, and mental health disorders. And, Matthew’s provocative articles assessing the state of social work education, practice, and research set forth ideas that will affect the trajectory of social work for years to come. His passion for knowledge—conveyed quietly and effectively to countless graduate students—was felt deeply by the many lives he touched over the course of an academic career that included appointments in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington, the Department of Psychiatry at the Oregon Health Sciences University, the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, the School of Social Work and the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Michigan, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.Matthew’s training in social work coincided with my own enrollment in the University of Washington School of Social Work doctoral program in 1984. Matthew and I became immediate and close friends during our graduate studies in Seattle, and we spent hours discussing social work, class assignments, and the research projects we worked on as doctoral students. Many of these conversations occurred in an alley coffee shop in Seattle’s University District, just a stone’s throw from the School of Social Work. Known by the employees as “Matt and Jeff,” we were treated as regulars who would sit at our customary window table for what was likely far too long. It was a time of great intellectual pursuit, and I had found the perfect colleague and friend with whom to share ideas and discuss future plans. It was the beginning of a personal friendship and professional relationship that lasted 34 years.Matthew entered doctoral education with a well-developed interest in understanding the etiology of alcohol and other substance use disorders. Over the nearly four decades that followed, he devoted his career to conducting basic and applied research aimed at ameliorating substance abuse dependence and co-occurring problems associated with alcohol and drug abuse. He became particularly well known for his basic research and intervention studies addressing the vexing problem of inhalant abuse (e.g., Howard, Balster, Cottler, Wu, & Vaughn, 2008; Howard, Bowen, Garland, Perron, & Vaughn, 2011; Howard & Jenson, 1999b). Matthew’s innovative and rigorous research in this area led to three grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and to widespread recognition as one of the world’s foremost experts on inhalant abuse. In recent years, Matthew extended his work to testing mindfulness-oriented interventions for people with chronic pain and opioid misuse. His coinvestigator in much of this work was Eric Garland, professor and associate dean for research in the University of Utah College of Social Work. Eric, a former student of Matthew’s at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, describes some of the important lessons he learned under Matthew’s tutelage in an accompanying article in this issue (Garland, 2019).Matthew also made significant contributions to social work education and research. In the Aaron Rosen Lecture at the 2015 Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research, Matthew traced key developments in social work during the past 30 years and reflected on a vision of the field that stretched to 2044—30 years into the future (Howard & Garland, 2015). The ideas he shared in this lecture have provided a useful framework for assessing the relatively recent history of social work and addressing the challenges in educating master’s-level practitioners and doctoral students in the future. Matthew delivered a similarly thought-provoking lecture on the current state and future of social work doctoral education at the 2016 Annual Conference of the Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education. Ideas presented in his lectures were coupled with action. One such example is illustrated by Matthew’s early development of a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill doctoral-level course on conducting systematic reviews. Students in this class often produced publishable papers as a result of Matthew’s fastidious attention to breadth and quality. In earlier work at the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, Matthew and colleagues advanced the idea of evidence-based practice as a paradigm for training MSW social work practitioners (Howard, McMillen, & Pollio, 2003). Enola Proctor, the Shanti K. Khinduka Distinguished Professor in the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, was a colleague of Matthew’s at the time. She remembers Matthew as… a brilliant scholar and dear person. Highly regarded for his excellence in the classroom at the Brown School, he was demanding yet was a frequent winner of student-elected teaching awards. Matthew used his seemingly boundless energy to better the fields of addiction research and social work practice. He had my highest respect and unending affection. His passing is a tremendous loss to our field and community of scholars [and] saddens me deeply. (E. Proctor, personal communication, January 9, 2019)In 1999, Matthew and I had the good fortune to guest edit a special issue of Research on Social Work Practice that explored the utility of clinical practice guidelines for social work practice (Howard & Jenson, 1999a). Collectively, Matthew’s lectures and published papers assessing the state of social work education and practice stimulated debate and produced tangible curricula changes in schools across the country.A prolific writer, Matthew published more than 250 peer-reviewed papers in his career. His written work also included 40 book reviews, editorials, and government reports. Matthew’s h-index of 55 and nearly 9,000 citations of his work to date illustrate just how much his scholarship was valued by colleagues. His written contributions will be recognized and used by practitioners, policymakers, and researchers for decades to come.Matthew was a fellow and a board member of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare and a fellow of the Society for Social Work and Research. A proponent of interdisciplinary work, he also was a faculty research fellow in the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill at the time of his passing. Matthew’s devotion to empirical research and scholarship is widely recognized. However, what may be most impressive about Matthew’s career is the recognition he received as both a scholar and a teacher. He was awarded eight outstanding teaching and mentoring awards from students and colleagues at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Two of Matthew’s doctoral students at North Carolina (Eric Garland, University of Utah; and Carrie Pettus-Davis, Florida State University) received Doctoral Fellow Awards from the Society for Social Work and Research. Matthew connected with his students by combining high scientific standards with a compassionate approach to helping people succeed. He was soft-spoken, but his ideas and words carried great weight and influence.Matthew’s service to the fields of social work and addiction was also exemplary. He reviewed manuscripts for more than 60 different academic journals in his career. He was on the editorial boards of more than 50 journals—including serving a JSSWR associate editor for the past several years—and he previously served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Social Service Research, Social Work Research, and the Journal of Addictive Diseases. Matthew also was vice president and served on the Society for Social Work and Research Board of Directors from 2005 to 2008.The task of summarizing the life and career of a prolific and impactful scholar, teacher, and mentor like Matthew is daunting. Mark Fraser, professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the founding editor of JSSWR, was a longtime friend, collaborator, and colleague. Reflecting on Matthew’s career, he recalls,As a scholar and a teacher, Matthew was eloquent and encyclopedic. Students flocked to his classes. A gentle spirit who treasured collaboration with others, his greatest joys came in exploring new ideas and reading recent research. In the profession as a thought leader, Matthew was a tour de force. At once, he was creative, insightful, sensitive, critical, and thorough. Matthew was—quite simply—incomparable. (M. Fraser, personal communication, January 8, 2019)Tangible accomplishments like those summarized here do not tell the complete story of a person. Matthew had an uncanny ability to effectively express his strong personal beliefs and ethical values in everyday interactions with friends and colleagues. He had a deep interest in applying the lessons gained from his own empirical work to promote fairness and equity for all people. Matthew’s invaluable input and feedback to students and colleagues about their ideas, papers, or projects came with great civility and kindness. He was an insatiable reader whose knowledge extended to topics well beyond social work or the addictions. In this sense, one could discuss a wide range of topics with Matthew with the preordained understanding that he had very likely already read much of what had been written on the topic. Matthew’s longstanding practice of underscoring written text with yellow highlighters was applied to thousands of empirical and conceptual articles and manuscripts during his career.On a personal level, Matthew enjoyed taking walks, listening to music, and reading novels and poetry. His wry sense of humor often left many of his closest friends and colleagues writhing in laughter. I was among them.JSSWR is proud to count Matthew as one of its most influential associate editors and contributors. His place as an important teacher and scholar in social work education and research is secure. Matthew’s many contributions will be discovered anew by emerging scholars for decades to come. His presence in social work and the broad field of the addictions will be missed by us all.NotesJeffrey M. Jenson, PhD, is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research and the Phillip D. & Eleanor G. Winn Endowed Professor Children and Youth at the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work.Correspondence regarding this article should be directed to Jeffrey M. Jenson, University of Denver, 2148 S. High St., Denver, CO 80208 or via e-mail to [email protected]ReferencesGarland, E. L. (2019). Standing on the shoulders of giants: Matthew O. Howard as a mentor and his influence on the science of mindfulness as a treatment for addiction. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research. 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Research on Social Work Practice, 13, 234–259. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049731502250404First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar Previous articleNext article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research Volume 10, Number 1Spring 2019 Published for the Society for Social Work and Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/702653HistoryPublished online February 04, 2019 © 2019 by the Society for Social Work and Research. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.