Building Social Work Research Infrastructure: Understanding Strategic Actions to Build Capacity

 

Building Social Work Research Infrastructure: Understanding Strategic Actions to Create and Enhance Capacity

Background and Purpose

As the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) celebrates its 20^thannual conference, it has returned to our nation’s capital. This venue is in keeping with the goal of promoting the importance of social work research in resolving the grand challenges that our society faces, and in highlighting how social work research contributes to enhancing public policy and human well-being. At this particular juncture it is timely to take stock of the targeted investments that were made to build the profession’s research infrastructure and capacity over the last 25 years and to look at the strategies that might be needed to sustain it into the future. Since the profession’s attention to social work research has been cyclical over the last 120 years, it is important to understand what advocacy and organizing efforts took place to influence policy makers, and the profession itself to enhance the social work research enterprise. These changes have resulted in changed expectations for doctoral students and early career faculty as well as expectations for garnering external funding, especially from federal research entities. It has also resulted in strengthened relationships with federal funders and greater recognition of social work research in the federal arena. This roundtable will provide a case study of the intentional actions that helped build social work research infrastructure and capacity and will address recommended strategies to sustain and continue to grow social work research into the future.

Case Study of Strategic Policy Actions and Organizing Strategies

Beginning in 1988 social work leaders saw that impacting federal policy was essential to build the evidence-base for demonstrating practice effectiveness, advancing knowledge for critical social problems, and informing national policy. Thus, critical interventions, using community organizing principles, were undertaken to achieve professional solidarity, and to work with federal "insiders" (most specifically the National Institute of Mental Health) and outside advocacy agents (including members of Congress). Not only was a federally funded Task Force on Social Work Research created, but there were also strategic efforts to ensure that its recommendations were funded and implemented, requiring representation of social work research needs, priorities and findings at the federal level, where major policy initiatives take place.    

Conclusions and Implications

Strategic organizing efforts and targeted policy practice resulted in greater support for social work research, enhanced rigor in social work research methods and representations of social work research and researchers in the federal research community. This session provides eye-witness accounts that detail some of the nuanced and specific actions and relationships that were essential for success. Understanding this background provides the opportunity to identify what steps are needed within the profession and as part of our on-going connections to the legislative and executive branch to sustain our accomplishments and to continue to grow social work research and its influence into the future,