Let’s Talk About Social Work Core Values as they relate to Social Work Academia and Research6/5/2016 SERVICE. SOCIAL JUSTICE. DIGNITY AND WORTH OF THE PERSON. IMPORTANCE OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS. INTEGRITY. COMPETENCE.
These are our social work values and they are magnificent and should guide our profession not just in the realm of practice, but in academia and research as well. As I progress as an academic, I have realized that sometimes it is easy to dismiss our values when we engage in research or spend our time writing about the profession. Writing, limits our interactions with people, which may cause some of us to ignore the importance of social work’s core values. I know, at times, I get so wrapped up in writing that I forgot a world of people exists outside of my office. I focus on the grammar, flow, structure, and syntax of writing as they feed into my research design. Thank goodness I decided to continue being employed as a social worker because it reminds me that I am writing and researching to elevate society and enhance the well-being of its members. I need that reminder and that reminder right now had made me feel very upset about my untimely dissertation progress. When conducting research, we are required to consider ethical procedures to ensure minimal or an absence of harm for research participants. Questions that have recently been ruminating in my brain are: “Are we doing harm to society by not engaging in certain types of research and or not engaging in our research in a timely fashion?”, “Are we doing harm to possible participants by not taking into account the six core values that drive our profession?”, and “Are we harming participants by not ensuring that research findings are disseminated to a grander population outside of academia to the benefit of study participants?”. These questions have me thoroughly disappointed in my progress towards completing my dissertation. I finished Chapters One and Two of my dissertation back in January. I just completed Chapter Three last week. My goal was to have all three chapters finished before the end of February and secure IRB approval before the end of May 2016 so I could conduct my research during these summer months. I am researching the confluence of challenges faced by adolescent and poor African American females living in a Southeastern town of the United States and how those challenges impede their ability to attend institutes of higher education. An additional goal of my research is to emphasize the strengths of this population living in the midst of a socially unjust environment. Since February, I have heard of and witnessed horrific circumstances that characterize the lived experience of these young females. I am moving too slowly to help these young women be empowered and change the social and educational structure of their community. For example, since February, one girl was gang raped by three boys in her high school. The assault was videotaped, and administration chose to cover up the incident for a month. Due to my employment as a social worker, I am well-connected and involved in this community. Three girls told me that they chose to drop out of high school and decided to get their GED because they preferred feeling safe over a high school diploma. Gang violence is also running rampant in this community. I know of at least four youth, very recently, who are being tried as adults for alleged gang activity. During the time I spend at the local technical school, I have also spoken with young adults, struggling with their college course work. They have communicated to me confusion about why their school did not teach them how to write a paper or use proper grammar. They also expressed frustration that they have to take extra classes since their college entrance exams scores were too low to start their programs of study without taking remedial courses first. In this community, 76% of students attending public school identify as economically disadvantaged, almost 80% identify as belonging to a minority, and only 22% are testing as college-ready. Paulo Friere, in Pedagogy of the Oppressed, affirmed that the power to change an unjust social structure lies in the hands of those being oppressed. He suggested that education must be revolutionized in order to bring critical consciousness about oppression through dialogical educational methods. He reiterated that once the oppressed understand the exploitative nature of society and their part in changing it, then those that are oppressed ignite societal change and move us towards a more humanistic form of living. Without meeting my future study participants, I believe in them and their ability to activate change in their communities. I am causing them a disservice by moving too slow. I should be right now, co-constructing the narratives with them; instead I went for a hike in Tennessee yesterday and am making a peach pie for friends today. My actions are not reflecting the cores values of our profession. It is my fault that Chapter two of my dissertation required at minimum four revisions. I am still waiting for feedback to complete my fourth revision. I am not practicing competence by writing chapters that require so many revisions. I am not servicing the population I wish to study through my untimely writing of my dissertation. I am not considering the importance of human relationships or the dignity and worth of the person since I have prioritized teaching, work, class, and other writing endeavors over the population I wish to study. I have not created social justice nor have I practiced integrity, as my correct mode of action would be to finish my dissertation. Since February, a girl was gang raped. Since February, numerous adolescent females have dropped out of high school, fearing for their safety. Since February, another group of students failed to pass college entrance exams. Since February, youth in this community have affiliated with gangs since poverty, lack of employment, and a failing educational environment cause them to feel as if they have no alternative. Since February, I have been causing harm to a population I wish to study simply because I have not conducted my research. I need to remedy this situation now and in order to do so, I must allow our core values to guide my actions from this day forth and complete my dissertation as soon as possible. In the future too, upon completion of my dissertation, I must consider our core values when disseminating my research. For example, how do I share my results outside of academia? If I turn my dissertation into a book, which is my plan, how do I ensure that the profits benefit the community and not my own financial status? I do not want to pull a “Rebecca Skloot”, meaning that I do not want to be the person that profits from writing a book about my research, like she did when she wrote about Henrietta Lacks. I decided that I will use all profits of the book to create a Dr. June Gary Hopps scholarship for young black females living in this community and wishing to attend institutes of higher education. I will also donate the rest of the money to the public high schools in this area to create college preparedness programs. Again, my untimely progress is harming this population since who knows when the completion and publication of this book will actually take place. I am thoroughly disappointed in myself and my progress. As this blog is devoted to creating social change, I want to conclude by encouraging other social worker researchers to think critically about the questions I posed when engaging in their own research. In what ways can our core values guide our research? Can we change the structure of IRB so that students and practitioners are also engaging in research, less extensive than dissertation work? How can we be more time-sensitive so people are not harmed by the absence of research that seeks to enhance social justice by empowering participants? In closing, I give my word to prioritize and focus on my dissertation. I refuse to continue harming a community by not engaging in and completing my research in a timely fashion.
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