Competency 4: Engage Practice-Informed Research and Research-Informed Practice

As a student at George Mason University (GMU) and an intern at the ENDependence Center of Northern Virginia (ECNV) and New Hope Housing of VA, I have observed the great importance of research in developing efficient, ethical, and effective social work interventions.

Competency 4—Research-Informed Practice and Practice-Informed Research: This competency also rests upon translating research into practice and inserting practice into research. Social workers use research to enhance their practice and inform subsequent research and policy-making.

Interning has enabled me to see the impact of evidence-based practice (EBP), data-driven interventions, and research analysis on the people and community I was serving. Furthermore, real-world phenomena have a tendency to uncover flaws in current research, and social workers may create new solutions and knowledge.

Applying Research to Support Disability Advocacy at ECNV
In ECNV, I worked with persons with disabilities who encountered obstacles in finding employment, living arrangements, and gaining access to social services. The biggest surprise was the time I was assisting a client who had a visual impairment and was struggling to secure employment because a few employers had biases and would not make accommodations necessary for this client.

First, I applied my direct practice competencies in providing career information and job-seeking advice. However, after working with several clients with similar history of employment discrimination based on disability, I realized that I needed to address the issue from a research viewpoint so that I could provide the best recommendations.

In the process of learning at GMU, I researched on:
• How work accommodations affect the employment opportunities of individuals with disabilities.
• How assistive technology can be used to facilitate greater integration of persons with disabilities in the economy.
• State and federal laws, i.e., the ADA, and how it comes into effect for the workforce.
• Using research evidence, I was able to better advocate for my client by:
• Encouraging employers on the benefits of hiring individuals with disabilities and the legislation that surrounds them.
• Referring my client to successful job placement centers for the visually impaired.
• Contacting rights organizations to find out about possible policy changes that can help improve the enforcement of workplace accessibility standards and legislation.

This experience also informed me further about research as theory and strong instrument that was capable of bringing change in the real world. Being able to draw independently on research while advising made me empowered to offer data for my advocacy strategies, which made me want to keep on using research in influencing social work practice to initiate change.

Using Practice-Informed Research to Address Housing Insecurity at New Hope Housing
I worked at New Hope Housing of VA, where I interacted with homeless individuals, people facing housing instability, and economic struggles. The greatest issue that I recognized was the issue of affordable housing for low-income households and individuals.
One of the clearest examples to me was a newly unemployed man who was living in a car with two of his kids. He worked two jobs and could not even come up with enough money to pay the security deposit on a rent apartment, and most landlords didn't want to rent to him an apartment because he had all the evictions.

I was chagrined by his systemic impediments and marveled that there wasn't something in the housing program that would reach someone such as him. I used this as an opportunity to apply-informed research by:

• Interviewed clients to gather qualitative data on their issues with buying affordable housing.
• I analyzed recent research on the success of rapid rehousing and housing-first programs.
• I contrasted the housing policies of Virginia with best practices in other states.

In my research, I established that:

• The majority of lowest-cost housing programs had very strict qualification requirements, and it was not possible for individuals with prior evictions or inconsistent work histories to qualify.
• Housing-first models that emphasized providing permanent housing prior to or at the same time as requiring treatment or employment engagement had improved long-term outcomes compared to shelter-based models.
• Private housing discrimination and institutional racism were primary determinants of housing denial.
Drawing on these conclusions from the studies, I helped New Hope Housing's advocacy staff to:
• Advocating policymakers to enact policies that would open the eligibility of housing programs to individuals with a history of evictions.
• Creating more adaptive rental assistance programs for individuals with volatile incomes.
• Educating landlords on fair housing laws and asking them to participate in rental assistance programs.

This experience learned that research should not be conducted in isolation – it should be linked with the actual social work practice to effect change. Moreover, as a researcher, I was able to collect data from clients and provide useful information that can be utilized to improve housing policies and programs.

Link Between Research and Practice: Lessons from GMU

My studies at GMU provided me with a critical thinking when it comes to social work research, such as learning how to:

• Assess research studies in terms of their validity and applicability.
• Apply evidence-based interventions in real practice.
• Utilize qualitative and quantitative data to inform the voice of the client in advocacy.

While working at ECNV and New Hope Housing during fieldwork, I understood how important research was. There were times when my results aligned with practice realities, but some results were not up to real-life experiences that my clients observed. The paradox affirmed where research must be conducted in depth, affirming why research is an essential element for the solution of social work problems as they occur in the real world.

One of the most important things that I learned is inclusive research. Conventional research ignores the voices of people of color. Being a future social worker, I now understand the necessity of conducting and pushing for research that listens to the voice of oppressed people, to achieve empathy and pursuit of social justice.

 Conclusion: My Commitment to Research-Informed Social Work
Practice-informed research and research-informed practice are not a code of ethics for social work but also a requirement so that our services are the best, ethical, and fair to the people and communities we serve.

From my field experiences, I have learned that:
• Research facilitates advocacy – Either advocating disability rights at ECNV or housing justice at New Hope Housing, research helped me better make my argument.
• Practice uncovers research gaps—This assisted in helping me discern where research had gaps or needed improvement in fixing real-world dilemmas and the ways in which I could inform social work research.
• The greatest social workers are lifelong learners. The practice is in a state of flux, and in order to be effective, I need to hunt perpetually for new studies, challenge settled paradigms, and change my practice accordingly.
I wish to be a social worker someday and:
• Apply evidence-based practice in my day-to-day work.
• Assist in shaping policy and programs based on client input.
• Challenges in incorporating more diverse studies into the practice of social work.
By doing this, I intend to reform the world and make social work interventions as pragmatic, evidence-based, and equitable as possible.