Social Workers in Community Engaged Research: Contributions to the HEALing Communities Study 

Overview: HEALing Communities is a community engaged study working to reduce opioid overdose fatalities. Social workers are integral to carrying out the study’s commitment to harm reduction and racial equity. Panelists will discuss their roles on interdisciplinary teams, highlighting the integration of social work values and ethics in the research process.Proposal text: HEALing Communities employs a community-engaged strategy to decrease opioid fatalities and improve the health and wellness of people who use drugs. Community engaged research is designed to uplift human rights and social justice of the people whom the research is aiming to understand. In this study, social workers collaborate with the community members to assess needs, identify opportunities for collaboration, communicate with key stakeholders, address conflicts, and develop implementation strategies to reduce opioid overdose fatalities. Social workers are well suited to bring their professional values, including commitment to social justice and dignity and worth of the person, into their work on interdisciplinary health research.

Social workers have made the following essential contributions to The HEALing Communities study: prioritized racial equity in the research by leading trainings and establishing racial affinity groups; carried out successful collaborative planning, and incorporate people centered management, all tied to a collaborative work environment. These social work positions range from on the ground direct community based work to the research-facing processes and policy level work. During this workshop, panelists will discuss opportunities available to social workers to leverage their skills to advance health equity in research. Participants will develop skills in community engagement and work through real life examples of how social work skills and community engagement can be applied in research. Additionally, participants will learn about the intersection of social work values and professional ethics with the promotion of health equity and harm reduction in community-engaged research.