Anticipating Challenges: School-Based Social Work Intervention Research

Intervention research is vital for social work, as it aims to develop practice/program approaches and provide evidence to understand which interventions are effective and for whom. Despite growing attention, little social work research exists that evaluates interventions. Among the reasons for the dearth of intervention research within social work are the challenges associated with the longitudinal, large-scale, and rigorous nature of intervention research. Further challenges face social work researchers carrying out intervention research in schools. This article reviews challenges to conducting intervention research, including building community partnerships while managing differing procedures and philosophies, and obtaining support at multiple levels; recruiting and retaining sites and participants; attaining sufficient physical space and time; providing staff training; involving staff at all levels of the research; and disseminating jargon-free results. This article includes a case study involving a research project that evaluated a school-based intervention designed to improve the self-advocacy of middle school students with learning disabilities. Using the case study, the authors discuss challenges, which were addressed both in anticipation of the specific difficulty and as they appeared. The main factors that allowed the project to continue despite barriers were the strong and enduring relationships among the partners and their commitment to the project goals.