International Perspectives on Social Work in Health Care by Auslander Gail K.;Auslander Gail K.;

Author:Auslander, Gail K.;Auslander, Gail K.; [Auslander, Gail K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group
Published: 2022-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

The Role of Research in Health and Mental Health Social Work

Juliet Cheetham

DOI: 10.4324/9781315862484-17

A topic so immense which encompasses every major theme of the conference and every workshop allows and requires hard decisions about its priorities and parameters. Health social work, which is my shorthand for health and mental social work, is perhaps unique in the breadth of the research which bears upon it. This includes a long tradition of scientific research and social work enquiry which has sought explanations for illness, remedies for its relief, and which, perhaps more rarely, has examined systems for sustaining health.

My decisions about the scope of this lecture reflect my own preferences and prejudices, derived from my experience as a practitioner, a social work educator and now a researcher of social work. My instinct is to be inclusive about the role of research, its methods and its practitioners and therefore to accept the tensions this entails. I hope to show that an inclusive approach will strengthen both social work and the health interests it seeks to serve. My understanding of social work is also inclusive. Social work is not simply what qualified social workers do. It embraces the activities of social care and the personal welfare services. Social workers can therefore act as counsellors, advocates, as advisers, as “fixers” as therapists, and as friends.

Juliet Cheetham is Professor, Social Work Research Centre, University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland, FK9 4LA.

This paper was presented at the First International Conference on Social Work in Health and Mental Health Care, Jerusalem, Israel, January 22–26, 1995.

[Haworth co-indexing entry note]: “The Role of Research in Health and Mental Health Social Work.” Cheetham, Juliet. Co-published simultaneously in Social Work in Health Care (The Haworth Press, Inc.) Vol. 25, No. 1/2, 1997, pp. 135–158; and: International Perspectives on Social Work in Health Care: Past, Present and Future (ed: Gail K. Auslander) The Haworth Press, Inc., 1997, pp. 135–158. Single or multiple copies of this article are available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service [1-800-342-9678,9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (EST). E-mail address: [email protected]].

My themes are:

The nature of research and its functions.

Priorities of research, its methods and its practitioners.

The integration of research, policy and practice.

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