Empowerment onderzoek: een kritische vriend voor sociaal werkers

Abstract

The empowerment paradigm has consequences for social work practice and policy, as well as for the way in which research is carried out. The growing prominence of empowerment research is relevant because empowerment -as a central notion in the international definition of social work -provides identity to social work research. Empowerment research also meets the increasing demand for co-creation in research. Here, different stakeholders not only contribute relevant knowledge, but also have a say in the design of the research and in the interpretation and transfer of its results. The questions that we address in this article involve the methodological consequences of empowerment research, its implementation in practice and the lessons that can be learned from this.Academische Werkplaats Sociaal Werk van Tranzo-Tilburg University.Katrien Steenssens, MSc is als onderzoeker verbonden aan onderzoeksinstituut HIVA aan de KU Leuven.

Relational ethics as enrichment of social justice: Applying elements of contextual therapy to social work

“…In this article, the authors argue that social workers would do well to focus first on issues at the micro level, empowering the service users, helping them find the already present resources, and encouraging them to take their responsibility for each other and for their environment. In that regard, already promising initiatives can be found (Driessens and van Regenmortel, 2006; Heyndrickx et al., 2005, 2011; van Regenmortel, 2008, 2011; van Regenmortel et al., 2016). However, to some extent, the social worker will also intervene in macro issues.…”

Building a working alliance between professionals and service users in family preservation. A multiple case study

“…The research project is conducted in Flanders at an academic collaborative centre that comprises a long‐term partnership between a university and a state‐funded, social service organization (see also Academic collaborative centres (ACC) in the Netherlands: Molleman & Fransen, ; Garretsen, Bongers, de Roo, & van de Goor, ). Hoeijmakers et al (: 175) describe their main objective: “to improve knowledge transfer and exchange between policy makers, researchers and practitioners in order to increase the production of socially relevant scientific knowledge and the utilization of such research evidence in policy and practice.” The ACC in Flanders is supervised by a multistakeholder collaboration board (composed of research supervisors from the university, a practitioner researcher, management, and practitioners from the social service organization and representatives from three independent user organizations) and embedded in a framework of empowerment research (Van Regenmortel, Steenssens, & Steens, ; Zimmerman, ).…”

“…Hoeijmakers et al (2013: 175) describe their main objective: "to improve knowledge transfer and exchange between policy makers, researchers and practitioners in order to increase the production of socially relevant scientific knowledge and the utilization of such research evidence in policy and practice." The ACC in Flanders is supervised by a multistakeholder collaboration board (composed of research supervisors from the university, a practitioner researcher, management, and practitioners from the social service organization and representatives from three independent user organizations) and embedded in a framework of empowerment research (Van Regenmortel, Steenssens, & Steens, 2016;Zimmerman, 2000).…”

Beyond the Research–Practice Gap: The Development of an Academic Collaborative Centre for Child and Family Social Work

“…It claims that research cannot be limited to building knowledge, but should also be about social justice. Socially vulnerable groups should be a priority, as well as the themes that are relevant to them like marginalisation, segregation, quality and accessibility of care (Van Regenmortel et al, 2016).…”

“…From the start of the research project, it was decided that the research projects in the ACC had to be carried out by science practitioners (Figure 2). Science practitioners have experience in both social work research and practice, and fit in with the ACC as a critical friend: a friend who connects with the different stakeholders, negotiates between the mutual expectations and challenges them by posing critical questions (Van Regenmortel et al, 2016).…”