Embedding researchers in clinical practice may not be an obvious consideration in asset-constrained healthcare settings. However, with increasing calls for best practice and value-for-money, understanding what works, for whom and why, is of paramount importance. This article illustrates how a researcher embedded in a healthcare professional group not only facilitated a service development within existing resources, but also enabled the group to identify relevant theories, and their interrelationships, underpinning the group's actions during the developmental process. This resulted in the construction of a new theoretical model, the Asset-based Collaborative Working model. This research suggests that embedding research in service development is feasible and can result in substantive learning and an understanding of group working which is required in contemporary healthcare provision. While developed in the clinical field of lymphoedema, the Asset-based Collaborative-Working model may be applicable in other care settings
