Student-Led Journal Clubs: A Case Study for Social Work Education and Research

Broadly defined as “a group of individuals who meet regularly to discuss...articles in the current medical journals” (Ebbert et al., 2001, p. 455), journal clubs are a well-recognized strategy used in health-based professions to keep students, researchers, and practitioners engaged in the latest literature. Despite its proven utility in health-based education and practice, scant literature is available to date on its utility in social work education and research. This could be that there are not many established social work journal clubs, or it may be that social workers are engaged in this practice but not evaluating or publishing about their experiences with journal clubs. This research addresses that noticeable gap in the social work literature by providing recommendations for establishing and conducting journal clubs in an effective and sustainable way. Findings may be relevant to practitioners, students, educators, and researchers in the social work discipline.

We offer a case study of social work graduate and undergraduate students (N = 9) who used a research opportunity while employed as research assistants on a faculty-led research project to expand their understanding of the relevant literature. Because of the nature of the research project that employed the students, the journal club focused broadly on articles about conducting community-based research with vulnerable populations, particularly around lay-provider facilitated interventions, family caregiving, and low-income older adults. This case study presents evidence from a journal club led by this team of PhD (n = 1), MSW (n = 4), and BSW (n = 4) students who met for one hour per week over the course of 42 weeks.

Based on our data, we provide recommendations for the development and maintenance of student-led journal clubs. We find that participating in the journal club allows students to take an experiential approach (Kolb, 1984) to their education, continually gaining knowledge and skills, and shifting the focus from passive to active learning. Findings from this study have important implications for engaging students in applied research, including challenging them to learn new skills and providing opportunities to practice: 1) systematically searching the extant literature; 2) evaluating sources; 3) critiquing study design; 4) expanding their knowledge beyond the traditional confines of their personal research interests, 5) speaking in front of others and leading group discussions, 6) synthesizing information gleaned from current research, and; 7) applying newly learned information in real-world settings (e.g., implementing new strategies for participant recruitment and retention in research, applying theoretical concepts in field practicum).

Recommendations for the design and delivery of these journal clubs could be used across various avenues. For example, one of the students has implemented a journal club as part of their course content when teaching and another student has started a journal club as part of their team meetings at the hospital where they are placed for their field practicum. When provided with the right structure and a safe place to explore, journal club has the potential to help students to translate research into real-world applications.