INTERPROFESSIONAL COLLABORATION IN SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE
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Karin Crawford 2012
First published 2012
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Karin Crawford is a Principal Teaching Fellow and Faculty Director of Teaching and Learning at the University of Lincoln. Karin is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a registered social worker. Prior to moving into higher education, Karin gained substantial practice experience in both health and social care, as a practitioner and manager. This experience spanned statutory, voluntary and private sectors and included general nursing, social work, policy development and the management of both adult and childrens care management services. More recently, Karin has experience of working in other European countries in areas related both to teaching and learning, social work, and research in health and social care. Karins research work and publications relate to both health and social care subject-related research and pedagogic-related research. Principally she uses qualitative, narrative approaches to further understanding of the experience of individuals life trajectories. Karin teaches on undergraduate and postgraduate social work programmes and supervises a number of doctoral students working on educational research. Karin is particularly interested in the development and facilitation of learning through open, distance part-time learning and using technology to aid learning.
1
INTRODUCING INTERPROFESSIONAL COLLABORATIVE PRACTICE
Chapter summary
When you have worked through this chapter, you will be able to:
- Understand the overall purpose, aims, scope and features of this book.
- Recognise how the book is aligned with a range of national standards related to professional social work practice.
- Be familiar with how the book is structured and the brief content of each chapter.
- Be aware of the key themes that underpin the whole book.
- Understand the range of terms, words and phrases used to describe aspects of working together.
INTRODUCTION
This introductory chapter will provide you with an overview of the whole book, laying out its purpose, aims and scope through an outline of the structure and key themes. This chapter will also identify how the contents of the book are related to key national standards for practice and social work education. Also, to inform your studies through the book, this chapter includes discussion about the different terminology employed to describe similar aspects of working together in social work practice; the language, terms and discourse we use are significant to how we understand and interpret the world around us. As an introduction to your learning across the book, this chapter can be likened to a course induction process.
Interprofessional Collaboration in Social Work Practice is, as they say, everyones business. The transition from a position of multi-professionalism, where there are many people from different disciplines working in isolation, to a state of interprofessionalism, where those professionals work collaboratively, is not as straightforward as it may sound: it impacts on everyone involved and everyone involved influences the progress. Written primarily for social work students and practitioners, although having relevance across the wider range of stakeholders, this book explores the issues, benefits and challenges that interprofessional collaborative practice can raise, with a particular emphasis on its impact on social work practice.
BOOK PURPOSE, AIMS, SCOPE AND FEATURES
As long ago as 1959, following an inquiry into the role, recruitment and training of social workers, the Younghusband Report stated that:
People do not normally feel part of a team unless they appreciate the effect of the combined operation, and the working method and function of each member. The elements in good team-work are, therefore, an administrative structure which facilitates co-operation, good working relationships between different types of officer and departments, and opportunities for regular meetings and discussion at all levels. (Younghusband 1959: 35)
Through the chapters of this book, you will read about how interprofessional collaborative practice has continued to be a policy and practice imperative. The book provides discussion and activities to help you learn about and reflect upon the ways in which collaborative working across professional and agency boundaries can impact upon the experiences of service users, carers and practitioners. Taking a broad, inclusive view of all aspects of social work and social care practice, this book emphasises the significance of social work as a profession in the collaborative environment. Your study through these chapters will help you look at the way social work and social work care agencies develop a professional and an agency culture and how this can both impede and assist working across organisational boundaries. It therefore encourages you to develop your skills as a critical, reflective interprofessional social worker.
The book requires you to critically examine the political, legal, social and economic context of interprofessional practice, exploring consistencies and contradictions evident in policy and procedure, through an analysis of their influence on the reality of professional practice. Within this, the background of current collaborative working practices, the continuities and changes will be considered. A principal theme throughout your reading will be the impact of interprofessional and collaborative working practices on the experiences of, outcomes for, and participation of service users and carers. Through concepts of participation and empowerment, the book will examine changes in the balance of power and infl uence between service providers and service users. Within an exploration of related research and theoretical models, you will critically examine the tensions inherent in interprofessional practice so as to be able to identify frameworks and components that typify effective collaboration.
