research in practice

Jane Lewis, Director research in practice, was funded to give a workshop in Stockholm, with Camilla Webster (Performance and Policy Officer at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea), at a conference organised by a network of children’s services groups called SAMBA.  Their session outlined the research in practice model of evidence-informed practice, the theories of research utilisation and learning organisations that underpin it, the benefits of evidence-informed practice, and how an exemplar local authority works with research in practice and engages with research and evidence.  Our model of working, and particularly the sector-led approach and focus on everyday case management and decision-making that is reflective and informed by research, was viewed with real interest.  Recent Swedish work on evidence-informed practice leans more to the medical model and there is nothing like the focus on children’s needs that we’ve seen in the UK in the last few years.  Jane also met with Socialstyrelsen, the National Board of Health and Welfare in Sweden which has been rolling out a major programme of work embedding evidence practice in social care with training material and practice development tools, including  Swedish translation of our Handbook Leading Evidence-Informed Practice.  We discussed other ways of working together and of sharing learning between the Swedish and English contexts.