New ways of seeing: Health social work leadership and research capacity building

What is known about clinician researcher careers in allied health? A scoping review of the last decade

PURPOSE

Although the benefits of clinician researchers for health services are now more clearly recognised, their career development is not well understood. Hence, the purpose of this paper, a scoping review, is to determine what has been discussed in the literature about career opportunities for allied health (AH) clinician researchers in health services.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH

A structured literature search was completed in December 2020 for literature published 2010-2020 in English. A total of 2,171 unique abstracts were found and screened by two reviewers and 206 articles progressed to full text screening.

FINDINGS

Forty-six studies were ultimately included; however, only two of these had aims directly related to AH clinician researcher careers, with the remainder containing only incidental data on this topic. Over half (56.5%) of the included studies were conducted in Australia, with a variety of AH professions represented. In terms of research design, 52.2% used cross-sectional survey designs, while case studies and qualitative research designs were also common. Key observations were that varying terminology and definitions were used, and there was little information about the inclusion of research in clinical positions or opportunities for formal clinical researcher positions in health services. There was some evidence to support that there are limited career opportunities after PhD completion, and that current career pathways are insufficient. There was conflicting evidence on whether engagement in research is beneficial for clinical career progression.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE

This review highlights a lack of research on this topic and outlines future directions to better support career pathways for AH clinician researchers.

Attitudes, Self-Efficacy, and Feasibility: Exploring Social Work Students' Perceptions of Evidence-Based Practice

PURPOSE

The literature on evidence-based practice (EBP) in social work indicates a complex relationship between practitioners' attitudes, views on feasibility, and self-efficacy related to EBP implementation.

METHOD

Qualitative interviews and a self-report questionnaire were completed with 8 social work students. A conceptual framework of their perceptions was developed through thematic analysis.

RESULTS

Participants reported mixed EBP attitudes, as both a practice "ideal", but also oppressive, rigid, and dehumanizing. Low confidence regarding research skills affected participants' self-efficacy. Resource constraints impacted feasibility through organizational culture and available practice-relevant research.

DISCUSSION

EBP misconceptions critically impacted educational practices, organizational culture, and practitioners' attitudes. Comprehensive education mindful of professional identity may address misconceptions and enhance self-efficacy. EBP-enabling organizational change and practice-relevant research may alleviate resource constraints.

CONCLUSION

Research should expand on how EBP attitudes and social work identity intersect, the impact of research skills on self-efficacy, and EBP barriers and facilitators in education and organizations.

Capacity building of the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health researcher workforce: a narrative review

BACKGROUND

This paper provides a narrative review that scopes and integrates the literature on the development and strengthening of the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health researcher workforce. The health researcher workforce is a critical, and oft overlooked, element in the health workforce, where the focus is usually on the clinical occupations and capabilities. Support and development of the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health researcher workforce is necessary to realise more effective health policies, a more robust wider health workforce, and evidence-led clinical care. This holds true internationally. It is critical to identify what approaches have resulted in increased numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in health research, stronger local community partnerships with universities and industry, and research excellence and have contributed to evidence-led health workforce development strategies.

METHODS

The search was for peer-reviewed journal articles between 2000 and early 2018 on capacity building of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health researcher workforce. Databases searched were CINAHL (EBSCO), PubMed, PsychINFO, LIt.search, and Google Scholar, combined with manual searches of select journals and citations in the grey literature. A coding scheme was developed to scan research coverage of various dimensions of health research capacity building.

RESULTS

Twenty-four articles were identified. Eight focused on strengthening research capabilities of community members. A recurrent finding was the high research productivity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health researchers and strong interest in furthering research that makes a substantive contribution to community well-being. Action-based principles were derived from synthesis of the findings. Generally, research capacity building led to numerous gains in workforce development and improving health systems.

CONCLUSIONS

There is a shortage of literature on health researcher workforce capacity building. National-level research on capacity building strategies is needed to support the continued success and sustainability of the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health researcher workforce. This research needs to build on the strengths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers. It also needs to identify clear and robust pathways to careers and stable employment in the health workforce, and health researcher workforce more specifically. This need is evident in all settler colonial nations (e.g. Canada, United States of America, New Zealand), and principles can be applied more broadly to other minoritised populations.