Implementing Schwartz Rounds in children's social care: Enablers and barriers

Abstract

Summary Children's social care services can be a challenging place to work, with staff regularly reporting higher stress levels relative to the general population and other public sector settings. Thus, it is important to provide staff with good support. Previously, we completed a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of Schwartz Rounds (SRs) and reported a series of non-statistically significant differences between intervention and comparison groups. We also undertook a process evaluation, to identify enablers and barriers to the successful implementation of SRs in children's social care. Findings Compared with studies of SRs in healthcare settings, we identified several similar enablers, such as senior management buy-in and effective administrative support, and some similar barriers, such as high workloads and poor publicity. We also identified specific enablers and barriers for social care settings, including the synergy between existing practice models and SRs, the nature of trauma in social care compared with healthcare, and some related to the different nature of organisational and workload pressures. Applications Understanding the differences between SRs in healthcare and social care will be useful for local authorities who may want to support their staff via the provision of SRs. They should also be useful in any future definitive evaluation of SRs for social care by helping to maximise the possibility for a successful implementation.