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2. TEMPLATE DESIGN © 2008 www.PosterPresentations.com Communities of Practice and Social Worker Retention Rates in Northern Alberta Jana McKinley, MSW (C) University of Calgary Literature Review Attracting and retaining social work professionals has been identified as a problem in Northern Alberta, as well as across the country. “Current difficulties in child welfare agencies in the areas of staff recruitment and retention are becoming increasingly critical preoccupations of agencies responsible for the mental health and well-being of our children and youth…The Conference Board of Canada has predicted that by 2020 the country will be facing a shortage of one million skilled workers.” (Anderson and Gobeil, 2003, p.3) Finding skilled social workers can be a lengthy process for human services agencies. Recruitment of new staff is a time consuming and costly endeavour that directly affects production. Studies have shown that it can cost up to 18 months salary to lose and replace a manager or professional. (Alberta Job Centre, 2008, p.1) Communities of Practice Study Purpose This proposed study will seek a convenient sample with a selection criteria of registered social workers (Alberta College of Social Workers members) employed in the education field in Northern Alberta. An invitation will be sent out via letter to all school divisions in Northern Alberta (defined by the Northern Alberta Development Council as geographical locations situated north of the City of Edmonton) who will be asked to voluntarily engage in an action research study. Five school divisions will be chosen for the study. An additional 5 school districts will serve as the control group. Each school district that signs up will be asked to nominate a social worker to assist in organizing the action research project at their site. These “leaders” will help plan the monthly meetings and activities with a cohort of social workers from each school division ranging in number between 10-15 participants (n=50-75). An agreement will be made with the school divisions to compensate participants for their time by being given time off work in lieu of time spent engaging in communities of practice activities. Permission will also be requested from the Alberta College of Social Workers to enable study participants to use some of their hours spent in the research study towards their continuing competency credits, category A. Sample Methods Due to the on-going nature of action research, data collection will be a concurrent triangulation design where qualitative and quantitative data are given equal priority. (Creswell, 2003). Triangulation is considered by many involved in participatory action research as an important tool in obtaining more detailed and rigorous data and as well as a better understanding of research or evaluation questions and their context. (Lennie, 2006, p. 31) Qualitative data will be acquired by asking study participants to reflect and journal about their employment situation as well as their impressions regarding social worker turnover. They will also be asked to look at what they already know about communities of practice and their ideas of how to incorporate this into the research project. Qualitative data will be collected via written questionnaires with participants once per month during their regularly scheduled monthly meetings. Questionnaires will use open-ended questions to elicit participant’s responses regarding their experience in the cohort, and whether they felt more supported and had access to more resources as a result of community of practice activities. Quantitative data will be gathered by analyzing Human Resources personnel records in each school division for the past 10 years and come up with a mean statistical average for each school division that represents average years of service for social work positions. This average could then be compared to records post communities of practice engagement. Quantitative data will be gathered using a standardized instrument: the Job Descriptive Index (JDI). “The JDI has been described as the most popular and widely used measure of job satisfaction.” (Stanton, Sinar, Balzer, 2001, p.1105) All participants including those in the control group will be administered the Job Descriptive Index prior to beginning the study and as well as the conclusion of the study communities of practice site. Pre and post test scores can then be compared. Data Collection Implications for Social Work Selected References If agencies that employ social workers want to retain staff, they need to find ways to provide them with the elements they require to feel supported. One of the recommendations of the 2004 study of the Child Welfare League of Canada was to develop and implement agency-specific strategies that increase support to workers and between colleagues in order to improve worker morale and effectiveness. (Anderson and Gobeil, 2004, p. 16) If these strategies were proven to be effective, it would benefit those who employ social workers as well as those employed in the social work field. It would also adhere to Value 6 of the Canadian Association of Social Workers-Code of Ethics (2005) which states: “Social workers contribute to the ongoing development of the profession and its ability to serve humanity, where possible, by participating in the development of current and future social workers and the development of new professional knowledge.” (CASW, 2005, p.8) Anderson, Madeleine & Gobeil, Shalan. (2003). Recruitment and retention in child welfare services: a survey of child welfare league of Canada member agencies. Child Welfare League of Canada: Ottawa, ON. Lennie, June (2006). Increasing the rigour and trustworthiness of participatory evaluations: learnings from the field. Evaluation Journal of Autralasia. Vol 6 (1), 27-35. Stanton, Jeffrey, Sinar, Evan (et al.) (2001). Development of a compact measure of job satisfaction: the abridged job descriptive index. Educational and Psychological Measurements Vol. 61 (6), 1104-1122. Wenger, Etienne (2006). Communities of practice: a brief introduction. Retrieved from: http://www.ewenger.com/theory/communitiesofpra cticeintro.htmhttp://www.ewenger.com/theory/communitiesofpra cticeintro.htm. Communities of practice are groups of individuals who share an interest or a passion for something they do, and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.(Wenger, 2006 p.1) Communities of practice develop through a number of activities such as: visiting other professional’s worksites to learn new ideas, seeking input from others, networking, problem- solving, and documenting best practices. They can take the form of having regular lunch dates to discuss topics of interest, or in internet forums such as a blackboard site. For the purposes of this proposed study, communities of practice will be organized via blackboard site that participants can access at any time however, they will be required by the study to log on at least 2 hours per month. There would also be a 2 hour monthly meeting at each site where participants can talk, share resources, and complete study questionnaires. The purpose of this proposed study is to examine whether engagement in communities of practice improve social worker retention rates in northern Alberta. The study seeks to determine whether those who had access to communities of practice stayed in their current positions longer, and reported more feelings of job satisfaction than those who did not. Research regarding social worker turnover found evidence that feeling as though one belongs to a community and has the support and guidance of peers at work can reduce burnout at all levels. (Anderson & Gobeil, 2003)