School of SSESW academic Professor Joe Duffy has been commissioned by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) in the United States to lead the research and development of a 'Specialized Curricular Guide on Service User Involvement in Social Work Education'. CSWE is the educational association and sole regulator for social work education in the USA, involving more than 900 social work programmes and thousands of social work educators. The Guide will enable new social work graduates in the USA to offer a better-informed service to clients and communities.  

Joe Duffy (second left, with CSWE colleagues in Alexandria, Virgina) was approached to lead the project as a result of his US-UK Fulbright Scholarship (2018-19), where his research focused on the pilot and evaluation of service user involvement initiatives in the social work curricula at New York University and Belmont University, Nashville.

The team working on the new guide consists of members from across North America, with a cross disciplinary team of more than 50 people, including social work service users, academics and practitioners. Due for completion in 2025, the Guide will be an important curriculum resource and is the first of its kind in the United States.  

Professor Duffy said: “Involving social work service users in teaching helps students understand the application of theory to practice in areas such as their skills development and preparations for social work practice, understanding the meaning of social work values, understanding the impact of  and issues related to disability, domestic abuse, child protection and trauma, for example 'The Troubles' in Northern Ireland. There is something quite distinct and particular about knowledge that comes from the lived experience of social work service users and, as such, it makes a very important contribution to social work education. That the commissioning of this Guide evolved directly from my US-UK Fulbright research evidences the positive impact of service user involvement in the universities where the research was piloted.”

The involvement of service users who work with Joe Duffy at Queen's University Belfast, in the Republic of Ireland, in parts of the UK and the USA will be an important expression of this Guide's inclusive ethos through their involvement in co-producing all its key aspects.

To date the Guide is supported by funding from the CSWE Katherine Kendall Foundation (USA), the Northern Ireland Social Care Council, the British Association of Social Workers (Northern Ireland) and Queen's University Belfast.