The impact of participation in research on practitioners: a qualitative study among practitioners who delivered interventions in the Helping Children Achieve study

Abstract

Purpose

Community-based randomised control trials (RCTs) rely heavily on the involvement and collaboration of statutory and third-sector services and their employees. This paper seeks to explore the experiences of practitioners working within a statutory children and family service setting that delivered additional parenting programmes evaluated by an RCT.

Design/methodology/approach

Practitioners completed a semi-structured interview about their experiences of the research trial based on a topic guide. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis.

Findings

Results suggest that the experience of being involved in research was mostly positive for practitioners, but also produced additional stress. The research brought them the experience of being involved with national and international teams; and they valued the additional supervision and training that they received. They spoke about the skills that they developed and how they were able to continue to use these after the research trial had ended.

Originality/value

Little is known about how services working alongside major research projects experience their involvement and what impact, if any, this has on them. This may be important as it could influence successful recruitment and retention of practitioners during RCTs, and the successful design and execution of other types of evaluation.

Citation

Marlow, R., T. Hunt, W., Reville, M.-C., Lynes, A., Lowe, J. and Ford, T. (2013), "The impact of participation in research on practitioners: a qualitative study among practitioners who delivered interventions in the Helping Children Achieve study", Journal of Children's Services, Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 183-193. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCS-09-2012-0007