Problem formulation in practitioner and researcher partnerships: A decade of experience at the Center for the Study of Social Work Practice

This article examines social work research problem formulation in the context of practitioner and researcher partnerships. The analysis draws from a decade of experience at the Center for the Study of Social Work Practice. The Center was established to bring university faculty together with agency practitioners to conduct practice research. This organizational partnership between a university and a social agency has resulted in a decade of experimentation on how this partnership can facilitate social work practice knowledge development. This article describes the studies conducted at the Center with specific attention to how research problem formulation has been influenced by the university and agency partners.     

Problem attribution and intervention. The interpretation of problem causations and solutions in regard of Brickman et al.

Typologies of problem perception are of great importance for the reconstruction of social workers’ professional ideologies. The best-known typology has been provided by Brickman et al. who differentiated between a medical, moral, enlightenment, and compensatory model. The article discusses this typology on a conceptual level and indicates its central flaws. An empirical study is presented in which an alternative attempt to develop a typology is tested. The evaluation refers to a wider spectrum of perceptions of problem causes and solutions than the typology of Brickman et al. The resulting typology comprises a ‘social’, a ‘workfare’, a ‘pathology’, and an ‘education’ type.     

After-school as intermediary space: theory and typology of partnerships

This chapter explores the nature of after-school partnerships and sets forth a theory and typology describing the way in which the intersection of partners creates a unique intermediary space.     

A model of impacts of research partnerships in health and social services

Alliances have long been an important strategy for health promotion and community development. They are now becoming an important approach to generating research that is thought to have real-world relevance and easy applicability because of the involvement of community members. A comprehensive, dynamic model of community impacts of research partnerships in social or health services is presented. This process-oriented, systems model outlines three major domains of mid-term impact (Enhanced Knowledge, Enhanced Research Skills, and Use of Information) that correspond to the core functions of collaborative research partnerships discussed in the literature (i.e. knowledge generation, research education and training, and knowledge sharing). The model will assist research partners, intended recipients, and funders to understand and evaluate the real-world impacts of community–university research partnerships. The model provides research partnerships with a tool to demonstrate their accountability and to improve their operations and impacts, and evaluators with a tool to guide planning and evaluation efforts.     

Community-Based Program Research

ABSTRACT

At first glance, the worlds of program professionals and evaluators may seem quite separate. However, there are common issues whose resolution will enhance both program development and research on programs. Program professionals and evaluators have a great deal to learn from each other. As that learning occurs, both program delivery and evaluation research will benefit. Both are concerned about matters of validity, whether it pertains to the nature of the program intervention itself or to the nature of the assessment of the program intervention. To reinforce the development of program evaluation in partnership, this paper discusses key points about evaluation research relevant to both program professionals and researchers. These include the contextual influences on a program, the “readiness” of a program for evaluation, and whether the evaluation research “works” for the program. Underlying our discussion is a call for the development of partnerships around research on programs. In that light, this article elaborates the process steps that should be taken to build program evaluation partnerships, including a discussion of what evaluators and program professionals need to know about each other, and their respective values, interests, and professional perspectives.     

Developing a researcher-practitioner partnership for the effective evaluation of professional social work training

This paper reports on the development and operationalisation of a partnership between researchers at the Centre for Child Care Research at Queens University, Belfast and the Southern Health and Social Services Board Training Unit to undertake an evaluation of the Children (NI) Order Training Programme. The concept of partnership and its application to researcher-practitioner relationships is discussed. The stages of development of the partnership between the Training Unit and the researchers, and the outcomes achieved from this partnership, are described. The similarities and differences between the partnership approach developed by the CCCR and the SHSSB are highlighted. The potential benefit of this approach for other researchers and practitioners seeking to develop such links is presented.     

Towards an assessment for organizational participatory research health partnerships: A systematic mixed studies review with framework synthesis

Within the health sciences, organizational participatory research (OPR) is defined as a blend of research and action, in which academic researchers partner with health organization members. OPR is based on a sound partnership between all stakeholders to improve organizational practices. However, little research on the evaluation of OPR health partnership exists. This systematic mixed studies review sought to produce a new theoretical model that structures the evaluation of the OPR processes and related outcomes of OPR health partnerships. Six bibliographic databases were searched together with grey literature sources for OPR health partnership evaluation questionnaires. Six questionnaires were included, from which a pool of 95 OPR health partnership evaluation items were derived. The included questionnaires were appraised for the quality of their origin, development and measurement properties. A framework synthesis was performed using an existing OPR framework by organizing questionnaire items in a matrix using a hybrid thematic analysis. This led to our proposed Organizational Participatory Research Evaluation Model (OPREM) that includes three axes, Trust, Collective Learning and Sustainability (with specific dimensions) and 95 items. This model provides information to help stakeholders comprehensively structure the evaluation of their partnerships and subsequent improvement; thus, potentially helping to improve health organization practices.     

Community-based behavioral health interventions: Developing strong community partnerships

The popularity of community-based interventions has experienced a revival over the last two decades. The general theme behind this trend is that greater community involvement provides researchers and practitioners with culturally relevant information to make interventions successful. This involvement is usually solicited through the formation of community coalitions and advisory boards. Although the positive influence of community partnerships is well established, strategies for successfully developing and sustaining these partnerships are less clear. To address this gap, this paper presents evaluation findings from The Making Connections Initiative, a national effort emphasizing community-level prevention strategies for improving the mental health of men/boys. Sixteen grantees were tasked with developing a coalition of community organizations to provide input into the development and implementation of a local prevention initiative. An evaluation of the 16 grantees’ planning activities identified four themes related to developing and sustaining successful community partnerships. This article reports on the strategies that were found most successful across grantees. With the increasing popularity of community-based programs, strategies for successfully partnering with local organizations are particularly important. This study adds to the limited research on best practices for forming community partnerships and should serve as a guide for community-based evaluators and program planners.     

Eine integrative Theorie des Problemlösens in Gruppen II: Kognitive Grundoperationen und die Bearbeitung aufgabenbezogener Teilprobleme

This paper is the second paper in a three-part article series presenting an integrative theory of problem solving in groups on the basis of theory and research on group processes, problem solving and decision making. In the first paper of the series (Stempfle, 2004) basic recommendations for structuring problem solving processes in groups were established taking into account situational constraints. The focus was on aspects of group organization. Goal of the present paper is to discuss problem solving strategies in the work task area. A problem typology for work task sub-problems is proposed, wherein routine tasks, problems, puzzles and crisis situations are differentiated. It is hypothesized that the problem solving process of groups concerning arbitrary types of sub-problems can be described in terms of a complex sequence of five basic cognitive operations, namely information gathering, solution seeking, analysis, evaluation and decision. For the various sub-problems proposed, ideal problem solving strategies are proposed taking into account the need for action with regard to the sub-problem at hand and the resources available to the group. Problem solving strategies are stated in terms of sequences of the proposed basic cognitive operations.     

Participatory evaluation of a community–academic partnership to inform capacity-building and sustainability

The Tampa Bay Community Cancer Network (TBCCN) was formed as a partnership comprised of committed community based organizations (grassroots, service, health care organizations) and a National Cancer Institute designated cancer center working together to reduce cancer health disparities. Adhering to principles of community-based participatory research, TBCCN's primary aims are to develop and sustain outreach, training, and research programs that aim to reach medically underserved, multicultural and multilingual populations within the Tampa Bay tri-county area.Using a participatory evaluation approach, we recently evaluated the partnerships’ priorities for cancer education and outreach; perspectives on the partnerships’ adherence to CBPR principles; and suggestions for sustaining TBCCN and its efforts. The purpose of this paper is to describe implementation and outcomes of this participatory evaluation of a community/academic partnership, and to illustrate the application of evaluation findings for partnership capacity-building and sustainability. Our evaluation provides evidence for partners’ perceived benefits and realized expectations of the partnership and illustrates the value of ongoing and continued partnership assessment to directly inform program activities and build community capacity and sustainability.     

Evaluation of a cross-sector community initiative partnership: Delivering a local sport program

Corporate community initiatives (CCI) are often established via cross-sector partnerships with nonprofit agencies to address critical social problems. While there is a growing body of literature exploring the effectiveness and social impact of these partnerships, there is a limited evaluative research on the implementation and execution processes of CCIs. In this paper, we examined the implementation and operational processes in the delivery of a professional sport organization's CCI initiative using program theory evaluation. The findings showed discrepancies between the associate organization and the implementers regarding understanding and fulfilling responsibilities with performing certain aspects (maintaining accurate records and program marketing) of the service delivery protocol. Despite program stakeholders being satisfied overall with the program delivery, contradictions between program stakeholders’ satisfaction in the quality of program delivery was found in critical components (marketing and communications) of the service delivery. We conclude that ongoing evaluations are necessary to pinpoint the catalyst of the discrepancies along with all partners valuing process evaluation in addition to outcome evaluation.     

The role of service users in problem formulation and technical aspects of social research

The importance of the practitioner-researcher relationship in problem formulation derives from the need for relevance to the issues faced by practitioners. This paper argues that if research is to be relevant to the issues faced by service users, they too must be involved in problem formulation. There is a substantial literature on the moral case for user involvement in research but relatively little about the technical benefits. The paper sets out some distinctions in the meaning of user involvement in different models of social research, and, drawing on examples of user-led and user-controlled research, suggests not only that problem formulation benefits from user involvement but that several other key technical aspects of social research may also be improved.     

我国校园暴力现象研究的再思考

当前,学界对校园暴力的研究主要沿用了传统的"问题—对策"范式,从研究侧重点不同可以区分为现状描述型、问题探析型和对策建构型三种研究类型。但是,由于传统的"问题—对策"范式无法从主体体验去解读校园暴力,使得相关研究具有一定局限性。从身体社会学的视角出发,不仅可以发现被传统研究范式遮蔽的议题,还可以从身体与结构互构的途径来理解校园暴力现象,为当前校园暴力研究提供了一个新的研究路径。     

Building School,Family, and Community Partnerships: Developing a Theoretical Framework

School, family, and community partnerships are among the suite of strategies advocated for improved school outcomes in which social workers can play a valuable role. Such partnerships are complex to implement in practice and there is little systematic research to guide the practitioner. This study evaluated an early intervention partnership program involving school, family, community, and philanthropic partners implemented in two primary schools in rural Victoria, Australia. The findings highlighted challenges in the process of evaluation and program implementation and in the opportunities this provided to identify key enabling factors. These involved having: a shared vision and aims; democratic governance; a supportive policy and organisational environment including external funding; workers with skills and clear roles; activities for project momentum; and ongoing review and evaluation. These factors can be used by social workers and others working with schools as a valuable conceptual framework to facilitate school, family, and community partnership processes.     

Preparing Students for Public Child Welfare

Summary

Universities across the nation are attempting to increase the number of workers employed in child welfare, but thus far there has not been a systematic evaluation effort of these university/agency partnerships. This article addresses evaluation strategies and issues for preparing students for public child welfare by identifying eight beginning steps for university/agency partnerships to consider in developing an evaluation plan. Following the identification of the eight steps, the authors discuss key issues involved in evaluating university/agency child welfare partnerships and suggest recommendations for the future.     

Evaluating social exclusion interventions in university-community partnerships

Most university-community partnerships (UCPs) involve elements of community-level social exclusion interventions. As such, they face substantial challenges in management and evaluation. This paper highlights the central challenges associated with evaluation of UCP and other social exclusion interventions at the community level, and suggests methods to overcome them. The main body of the paper presents a case study based on a four-year action research involving evaluation of a social exclusion intervention initiated and implemented by a UCP in Israel. The case study highlights the challenges faced by the evaluation team, the solutions provided, and the contribution of the evaluation to improvement and accountability.     

PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION: NAVIGATING THE EMOTIONS OF PARTNERSHIPS

This paper describes the processes involved in evaluating a Sure Start programme in one inner city area. The evaluation was set up in the spirit of participatory action research in which the researchers aimed to work in partnership with key stakeholders to both enable and sustain supportive evaluative processes. The evaluation supported the aspirations espoused by the national Sure Start agenda to improve the lives of children under four, their parents and communities through an expressed commitment to partnership working. The paper draws on ethnographic reflections to describe and analyse the processes involved in setting up the evaluation over two years. Issues of trust, ambiguity and conflict associated with partnership working are explored. In particular the emotional components of relationships required to work in partnership are described as a means of managing ambiguity and conflict and promoting trust. Emotional labour is taken as a conceptual starting point to analyse the relationships and the organisational conditions required to sustain partnerships. Further psychoanalytic and sociological studies are drawn upon to aid the analysis and in particular to understand the emotional components of partnerships in the relatively uncharted waters of inner city regeneration work.     

Experiences of health service providers establishing an Aboriginal-Mainstream partnership to improve maternity care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families in an urban setting

Australian policy encourages multiagency partnerships between hospitals and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations to improve the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Service planners remain unsure about how to implement such partnerships in maternity care, and there is a lack of appropriate tools designed to gauge the state of such partnerships for the Australian Indigenous context. In 2013, two Aboriginal health services and a major tertiary hospital partnered to deliver best practice maternity care to Indigenous families in Brisbane, Australia. A participatory action research approach underpinned this study. Semi-structured qualitative interviews and focus groups were conducted with 21 of the partnership staff. All interviewees emphasized the partnership’s commitment to improving long-term health and wellbeing for Indigenous families. Strategic planners were more likely to report a positive partnership than staff involved in service delivery who had diverse views. This highlights the challenges of change management when conducting such a significant service redesign in this cross-cultural context. We detail changes made within the partnership in response to the findings and provide suggestions for future development of an evaluation tool to review the state of Aboriginal-Mainstream Partnerships.     

Tanks, Tear Gas, and Taxes: Toward a Theory of Movement Repression

Despite the importance of research on repression to the study of social movements, few researchers have focused on developing a refined and powerful conceptualization of repression. To address the difficulties such theoretical inattention produces, three key dimensions of repression are outlined and crossed to produce a repression typology. The merit of this typology for researchers is shown by using the typology to: (1) reorganize major research findings on repression; (2) diagnose theoretical and empirical oversights and missteps in the study of repression; and (3) develop new hypotheses about explanatory factors related to repression and relationships between different forms of repression. Such a typology represents an important step toward creating richer theoretical explanations of repression.     

What Works in Strategic Partnerships for Children: a Research Review

Strategic partnerships have a key role to play in delivering the government's ‘Every Child Matters’ agenda. There is a developing body of research and other evidence and practice‐informed literature about what works in relation to partnership working. Drawing on a research review commissioned by Barnardos on strategic partnership working for children, this study summarises research findings from a number of sectors relating to the development, delivery and review of effective partnerships. Although there is widespread consensus within the research on the factors contributing to effective partnership processes, there is, currently, relatively little evidence that partnerships lead to positive outcomes for children and young people. © 2006 The Author(s). Journal compilation © National Children's Bureau.