The Perceived Impact of Strengths-Based Family Worker Training: Workers’ Learning that Helped Empower Families

Abstract

This qualitative study explored what family workers trained in strengths-based family support learned that helped empower families. Fifteen workers and 25 family members participated. Data analysis uncovered three major skills workers employed that family members perceived as helpful: attending, processing, and meaning-making. Workers reported they learned from working with families, family-worker training, informal support networks, and pivotal disorienting life experiences. Study findings suggest the possibility of three developmental stages in worker learning: (a) socialization or learning to implement strengths-based practice, (b) internalization or resolving dissonance about limited abilities to mediate barriers to family empowerment, and (c) identification or recognizing tacit assumptions and the cultural context of empowerment. This article concludes with recommendations for workers, agency leaders, educators, and future research.