LAUSR

The health sector is a dynamic and constantly evolving environment. Health workers face a myriad of challenges including providing quality clinical care whilst balancing elevated client and organisational expectations, budgetary constraints and adapting to technological advancements. Training health workers in research skills equips them to be instrumental in the development and implementation of evidence-based practices that reflect contemporary health service delivery. Research training seeks to develop health worker knowledge, skills and behaviour in practice research and evidence and where possible to develop an evidence focused organisational culture. This special issue reports on a four-year collaboration between Children’s Health Queensland, Child and Youth Mental Health and Monash University, School of Rural Health. In capacity building and applying new skills in practice, it is important for sustainability to consider the enabling context to develop a new innovation from within the practice setting (Holden, Pager, Golenko, Ware, & Weare, 2012). Social work professionals are critical contributors to practice-based evidence development, particularly in delivering effective practice strategies within complex health and mental health settings. However, despite their academic training, many social work professionals report a lack of knowledge, confidence and skills in evaluation and research within their practice setting. This was the case within Children’s Health Queensland social work professional group who identified ‘ ... practitioner based service evaluation and research skills as a priority area... ’ (Withington et al., 2020, p. 4). This special issue presents a series of research papers completed as an outcome of a capacity building research and evaluation training program. The program was conducted with social workers in Children’s Health Queensland, which comprises a large metropolitan hospital, community health and mental health services for children, young people and families. Concurrently, Monash Rural Health, as part of their role to improve the evidence-based practice of the health workforce in rural areas had completed multiple state and national research skills training initiatives. Termed ‘Smart Skills’, the training aimed to increase the evidence base for health and mental health programs and practices related to Australian children, parents and/or families through training and mentorship. In 2015, Monash Rural Health and Children’s Health Queensland collaborated to enhance the capacity of social workers to undertake research or service evaluation activities in the Children’s Health Queensland context, using the ‘Smart Skills’ approach. The ‘Smart Skills’ approach commences with participants identifying an area of research/ evaluation that they wish to pursue, ideally closely related to their work and supported by their workplace. The participant submits an online application outlining their initial research/evaluation idea. Identifying areas of research interest prior to the training allows the trainers to understand the participants’ learning needs and research or service evaluation interests. This allows any modifications or specific foci of the two days of face to face training to be incorporated into the two day training. The two days face to face training involve lectures, small and large discussion groups and examples of research study design in the trainee’s