TY - JOUR
T1 - Catalyzing Innovation in Social Work Practice
AU - Traube, Dorian E.
AU - Begun, Stephanie
AU - Okpych, Nathanael
AU - Choy-Brown, Mimi
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016, © The Author(s) 2016.
Copyright:
Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2017/3/1
Y1 - 2017/3/1
N2 - Social innovation is defined by novelty and improvement. This definition requires social work practice to be more effective or efficient than preexisting alternatives. Practice innovation is accomplished by leveraging technical, social, and economic factors to generate novel interventions, diffusion or adoption of the interventions into broader use, and identification of the value created by the new approaches or processes. Innovation in social work practice is fundamentally hindered by the foundational trifecta on which the profession is built: (a) the structure of social work education, (b) diffusely focused professional organizations, and (c) siloed professional environments. This article explores the elements of social work education, professional organizations, and practice environments that impede innovation and offers recommendations for changes in each sector that can facilitate innovation.
AB - Social innovation is defined by novelty and improvement. This definition requires social work practice to be more effective or efficient than preexisting alternatives. Practice innovation is accomplished by leveraging technical, social, and economic factors to generate novel interventions, diffusion or adoption of the interventions into broader use, and identification of the value created by the new approaches or processes. Innovation in social work practice is fundamentally hindered by the foundational trifecta on which the profession is built: (a) the structure of social work education, (b) diffusely focused professional organizations, and (c) siloed professional environments. This article explores the elements of social work education, professional organizations, and practice environments that impede innovation and offers recommendations for changes in each sector that can facilitate innovation.
KW - innovation
KW - social work education
KW - social work practice
KW - social work professional organizations
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U2 - 10.1177/1049731516659140
DO - 10.1177/1049731516659140
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85013243986
SN - 1049-7315
VL - 27
SP - 134
EP - 138
JO - Research on Social Work Practice
JF - Research on Social Work Practice
IS - 2
ER -