Worlds Apart? Integrating Research and Practice in Professional Child and Youth Care Training

Research and clinical practice in professional child and youth care are often depicted as two dissimilar “worlds” within the profession. This paper argues that such perceived dissimilarity is principally a function of focusing on dissimilar aspects of the two undertakings: research product and clinical process. It is further argued that if one focuses on certain fundamental processes of child and youth care research and the processes of child and youth care practice, the two become quite similar and highly complementary. Indeed, skills in the one enhance abilities in the other.