Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to present a bold, new model of higher education for individuals entering the mental health and social work professions and, possibly, all professions that require new practitioners to work in the community as interns before entering their professions. For at least 40 years, researchers have repeatedly shown that mental health and social work practitioners tend neither to go to the literature for direction in their treatment selection, nor to produce research concerning their treatment of clients (Fraser, 1994; Lukton, 1980; Richey, Blythe, & Berlin, 1987; Schilling, 1990). This disconnect between research and practice has come to be known as the research-practice schism (see, for example, Fortune, Green, & Kolevson, 1987; Fraser, Jenson, & Lewis, 1993; Kolevzon, 1992; Raymond, & Atherton, 1991). This schism contributes to the ongoing shortage of qualified faculty (faculty with both doctoral and professional degrees) in colleges and universities responsible for the education of new practitioners (Zastrow & Bremner, 2004). The failure to produce information pertinent to both practitioners’ and academicians’ needs is hindering the profession’s knowledge building efforts (Baker & Wilson, 1992) concerning the use of empirically validated interventions that increase positive client outcomes. Recent research has shown that the vast majority of doctoral candidates who complete their dissertations and then enter academia may have little or no experience in practice-based research, a situation that helps to maintain the schism and to hinder the development of evidenced-based practice (Horton & Hawkins, in review). This paper suggests that the linear concept of the continuum of education is at the very root of the research-practice schism, and is standing in the way of effective curriculum development, efficient use of resources at all levels of higher education, and the use by practitioners of empirically validated interventions. The author argues that a paradigm shift is needed that includes an alternate, systemic concept, that of “consortium”, in which education, research, and practice elements of the mental health professions work in concert to provide feedback to each other at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels, providing for iteration of theoretical, methodological, and technological concepts. This arrangement would benefit students, faculty, the university itself, community-based mental health programs, and ultimately, the clients who need these services.

Keywords:

social work education, continuum, consortium, research-practice schism.