It is typical for practitioner-researchers to have a love-hate relationship with literature. For example, in the RiP report Dancing in the Dark (Niks, Allen, Davies, McRae, & Nonesuch, 2003) the researchers argued that they had a different relationship with literature than those trained to do academic research, and that
the literature review would not improve the report or the research in a way that would benefit those we were hoping to reach. It would not help establish a conversation with either adults with little formal education or adult literacy practitioners (p. 8)
Practitioners often prefer to engage in discussions, workshops and face-to-face exchanges with other practitioners, and consider their fellow-practitioners to be more trustworthy sources of expertise than literature that comes out of universities (Horsman & Woodrow, 2007; St. Clair & Chen, 2003). As a practitioner, I also seek out every opportunity to exchange ideas with others in my field and have enormous respect for their experience and wisdom. But for this research project, I was drawn to the literature, and indeed found it easy to apply to my work in adult literacy.
This could be because most of the literature reviewed here is practice-oriented and written by Harm Reduction practitioners, whom I feel a great affinity with. Like most Adult Literacy practitioners I know, they tend to be committed to social justice and see it as central to their work. In a study of HIV/AIDS prevention workers in Vancouver, John Egan (2003) interviewed practitioners from a variety of different professions, including nurses, physicians, social service workers, outreach workers, counsellors, therapists, educators, program coordinators or supervisors, staff in treatment programs for addiction and drop-in centre staff. He found that “69% (cited) a personal commitment to social justice as one of their reasons for working with IDUs (Injection Drug Users)” (page 8). This commitment shines through in the literature on Harm Reduction and may have been the hook that made me want to read more.