Interdisciplinary Research in Palliative Care: A Social Work Perspective

摘要

Interdisciplinary research can be facilitated by finding ways to bring together researchers who would not otherwise meet. Interdisciplinary research (IDR) is a mode of research by teams or individuals that integrates information, data, techniques, tools, perspectives, concepts, and/or theories from two or more disciplines or bodies of specialized knowledge to advance fundamental understanding or to solve problems whose solutions are beyond the scope of a single discipline or area of research practice. Recently, there has been a growth of university interdisciplinary research projects, programs, and centers; this reflects the need to solve problems from multiple perspectives. Interdisciplinary research teams are one way of translating education into practice. This can be a powerful tool for experiential learning. Our team was created by individual faculty researchers who wanted to cross disciplinary boundaries to collaborate with others, both on campus and in the community, on a common interest and passion for palliative care issues. The team has developed three phases of a research project, and is currently in phase two. The goal of this paper is to share insights on the design and facilitation of interdisciplinary university-community research experiences, as well as the experiences and information from one such team-a faculty/student/community research team with backgrounds in nursing and social work, biology, psychology, and medicine. The three goals for this paper are to: 1) Define interdisciplinary research, 2) Identify the benefits and challenges of interdisciplinary research, and 3) Develop ideas for creating an interdisciplinary research team.