Relationship-based Practice Research Articles

Children and young peoples’ lyrics and voices capturing their experiences within youth justice services

PurposeThis paper aims to explore young peoples’ authentic experiences of youth justice services (YJS) during the Covid-19 pandemic. By adopting the creative arts-based method of lyric writing, the research team sought to empower participants through collaboration and participation and to facilitate them leading the narrative (Deakin et al., 2020).Design/methodology/approachThis research adopted a creative arts-based method in which participants worked alongside an artist to generate lyrics that captured their experiences within YJS. Such an approach demonstrated a commitment to participatory, child-first approaches.FindingsTwo main themes were identified: identity and relationships. The young people vocalised resistance to frequent labelling and their ambitions to move away from past criminal identity and behaviour. Relationships with practitioners could be a source of frustration within this but were also highlighted as valuable and supportive.Research limitations/implicationsAs data collection was remote, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns, the opportunity to develop relationships with young people within the YJS prior to conducting the research was restricted. This approach may have also impacted recruitment of participants. The sessions presented short-term interventions and whilst follow-up sessions were offered, many did not take them up. Although the research sample is small and cannot be considered representative, it allows for a valuable insight into the experiences of young people at a particularly challenging time.Practical implicationsUpon receiving our findings and recommendations, the first YJS research site has sought to further embed a relationship-based practice model and greater creative/participatory socially prescribed psychosocial therapeutic interventions, including music groups and spoken word artists to work with children and young people.Originality valueThis research adds to the growing literature base surrounding creative arts-based research with children and young people for their value towards communication, pro-social identity and development.

Autism and Play: Bringing Insights from Movement Research into Relationship-Based Practice

ABSTRACT This article is intended to spark discussion about, and greater recognition of, play as it emerges among people diagnosed on the autism spectrum. To do so, it will view autism through the promising lens of dynamic systems theory, commonly known to researchers in child development as the movement, or movement-sensing, approach. In depicting autism as a movement difference that can interrupt the complex coordination involved in social interactions, communication, and exploration, this approach aims toward a fresh, nonjudgmental perspective that may allow us to move past the increasingly wobbly infrastructure of autism diagnosis and prognosis. The first half of the article will consider the current state of research and practice, while the second half reflects on the play of several children with autism.

Culturally Safe Neonatal Care: Talking With Health Practitioners Identified as Champions by Indigenous Families.

The burden of health inequities borne by Indigenous peoples can be overwhelming, especially when mothers and newborns' lives are at stake and health services seem slow to invest in responsiveness. In Aotearoa (New Zealand), urgent action is required to eliminate persistent systemic inequities for Māori (Indigenous) whānau (family collectives that extend beyond the household). This Kaupapa Māori (by Māori, for Māori) qualitative study aimed to explore the views of health practitioners identified as champions by whānau of preterm Māori infants. Ten health practitioners were interviewed and asked about their involvement with the whānau, their role in explanations and communication, and their thoughts on whānau coping. Interview data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Three superordinate themes were identified: working together in partnership, a problem shared is a problem halved, and sacred space. Collaboration between health practitioners and with whānau was important to the champions and central to their goal of enabling whānau autonomy. This was built on a foundation of connectivity, relationships, and a full appreciation that childbirth is a sacred time that is potentially disrupted when an infant is born prematurely. The values- and relationship-based practices of these champions protected and uplifted whānau. They showed that health practitioners have important roles in both the elimination of inequities and the sustaining of Māori self-determination. This championship is an exemplar of what culturally safe care looks like in day-to-day practice with Māori and is a standard that other health practitioners should be held to.

Personalisation as contribution-focused social work practice

ABSTRACT As a key driving force in adult social care policy in both the United Kingdom and internationally personalisation has wide-ranging implications for the social work profession. Yet its meaning can be elusive and is often contested. This article explores findings from a doctoral study which sought to explore the current meanings associated with the notion of personalisation, by asking those with lived experience how it is experienced by them. Unique features of the study’s participatory and psychosocial research design, which placed lived experience at its centre, are outlined. Original findings from the study explored in this paper include a range of themes related to dependence, independence and interdependence, depersonalisation and reciprocity. Risks associated with contemporary practice models in adult social work, including strengths-based approaches are explored. Based on the findings a reorientation towards ‘contribution-focused practice’ within a relationship-based practice model is proposed.

The emotional labour of decolonising social work curricula

ABSTRACT In the light of global calls to decolonise the curriculum and the national impact of the Black Lives Matter movement, there is pressure on social work academics to review, deconstruct and decolonise social work curricula. Social work education places strong emphasis on anti-oppressive, relationship-based practice that acknowledges diversity, social and economic injustice. This creates additional complexities and pressures for educators attempting to deconstruct social work curricula. This paper considers the emotional labour that such a task entails, and the usefulness of applying psychoanalytic concepts to understanding this emotional labour. It does this by exploring a critical incident and examining the complexities that educators face in constructing decolonised curricula within a marketised academy. It makes recommendations about the kinds of resources that are needed to support educators, especially Black educators.

Integrating responses to caregiver substance misuse, intimate partner violence and child maltreatment: Initiatives and policies that support families at risk for entering the child welfare system

Complex trauma is a significant public health problem in the United States (U.S.), occurring in families with chronic and compounding exposures to traumatic stressors like substance misuse, intimate partner violence (IPV) and child maltreatment (Cook et al., 2017). Yet, few programs exist to treat their intersection, challenging our ability to respond effectively and restore positive trajectories for children and families. In this context, there is a need for innovative approaches to treat these intersecting phenomena. In this conceptual paper, we identify three innovative programs that offer integrative approaches to these intersecting challenges. We analyze common elements among these programs, offering a theoretical foundation for fundamental elements of transformative services. Finally, we consider how the Families First Prevention Act could be leveraged for states to adopt and implement these programs. The goal of this conceptual paper is to advance empirical and practical discussions regarding programmatic and policy options for more effectively responding to substance misuse, and IPV in families, and the associated traumas incurred by maltreated children and their caregivers. • Substance misuse, IPV, and child maltreatment, frequently co-occur. Yet, few programs exist to address their inter-related effects. • This conceptual paper reviews three exemplar integrative programs: Child Development Community Policing, Family-Based Recovery, and Child Parent-Psychotherapy. • We identify key and common elements of these integrative programs. Specifically, we find that: 1 warm handoffs, 2) removing barriers to access, 3) relationship-based practice, 4) a trauma-informed approach, 5) strong case management, 6) providing access to services when families are in crisis, and 7) breaking down silos are important components for integrated approaches. • The federal Family First Prevention Act (FFPSA) could be leveraged to fund innovative, integrative approaches to substance misuse, intimate partner violence, and child maltreatment. • Integrative programs are important for promoting resilience and restoring positive trajectories for children and families.

Healing Trauma and Loss and Increasing Social Connections: Transitions from Care and Early Parenting

International literature suggests that many young people transitioning from government care become parents before age 21, characteristically termed ‘early parenting’, at least in the English-speaking world. Yet there is only limited knowledge of the factors that lead to this challenging responsibility. This paper presents findings from a qualitative study of service providers’ experiences working with young people transitioning from care who had become parents, in the state of Victoria, Australia. Victorian service providers recommended ways that current out-of-home care, transition from care and parenting services could be improved to reduce feelings of loss, including new service approaches that prioritise relationship-based practice, holistic support and practical assistance from a trusted person or service. Preventing feelings of loss and isolation and increasing supportive relationships in care and throughout transitions from care may help to prevent early pregnancy and parenting amongst care leavers who otherwise lack resources for parenting independently. Providing parenting support which addresses feelings of loss and social isolation may reduce the increasing numbers of children being placed in care, and associated ongoing cycles of child protection involvement with disadvantaged families.

Agile Emotion Practices: Findings from an Ethnographic Study of Children and Families Social Work

Abstract Social work is intrinsically relational, centred on interpersonal encounters between practitioners, service users and other professionals. Emotions are a core element in these encounters. Yet, despite a substantial focus on relationship-based practice there is limited research into the everyday experience and functions of practitioners’ emotions in socio-legal organisational environments. This article reports on findings from an ethnographic study of a Local Authority Children and Families Referral and Assessment Service in England. It explores how practitioners constructed and used their emotions in everyday practice. The construct of ‘agile emotion practices’ was generated from analysing observations of teams, home visits, systemic group supervision, interviews and diaries. Informed by social constructionist and psychosocial theories, the characteristics of agile emotion practices are outlined. This article suggests there is merit in recognising practitioners’ emotions as functional practices, which inform relational practice, analysis and assessment. Data are specific to the organisation, context and timeframe. However, valuable insights are provided into the ‘doing’ of emotions in social work, including some of the factors that facilitate and hinder agile emotion practices. The analysis offers new empirically based knowledge, applicable to diverse social work settings, education and research.

Relationship-based practice and digital technology in child and family social work: Learning from practice during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vital services provided by social workers to children in care or on the edge of care were largely delivered “online” during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper explores the potential impact of these changes on vulnerable children and their families. Relationship-based practice is integral to social work and the shift to digital communication during the COVID-19 pandemic has led to accelerated practice changes and implications for relationship building both with and between service users. Going forward, social workers and other professionals are likely to move to an increasingly hybrid model of communication, combining both digital and face-to-face methods. This article identifies the impact of digital communication on relationships in professional practice, drawing on three studies of digital communication in the UK carried out at the University of East Anglia. The first considered how child protection social workers responded to the challenges of COVID-19, the second looked at how children in care were keeping in touch with their birth families and the third focused on the approaches being taken to moving children from foster care to adoptive families. Five themes related to relationships were identified across all three studies: the significance of the age and developmental stage of the child; the frequency of contact and communication; digital literacy/exclusion; the impact of the lack of sensory experience; and the importance of the relationship history. The article concludes with implications for utilising digital methods in building and maintaining relationships in practice and highlights the need to consider both the inner and outer worlds of those involved.

The implementation of a multi-level reflective consultation model in a statewide infant & early childcare education professional development system: Evaluation of a pilot.

The growth in professional development for the infant-early childhood workforce has necessitated the implementation of novel, sustainable approaches to meet infant early childhood mental health (IECMH) training and reflective supervision consultation (RSC) needs. The 12-month pilot of a US statewide reflective consultation (RC) group model included IECMH consultants, grant specialists, supervisors, and program managers (n=38) and their group reflective consultants (n=6). The pilot evaluation provided an opportunity to design a study that assessed the impact of RC on infant-early childhood professionals. The mixed-methods study included an assessment of consultees' reflective practice skills and experience of their work. Findings included consultees' self-reported increased reflective practice self-efficacy and increased use of reflective practice skills. While there were no changes in the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) personal accomplishment, emotional exhaustion, or depersonalization results, qualitative findings indicated a decrease in burnout and an increase in relationship-based practice across professional roles. This unique pilot provides an example of an organizational approach to instituting RC with a broad spectrum of infant-early childhood professionals and yields valuable information about the impacts of RC models on such professionals' work experience and professional practice.

Remote service delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic: Questioning the impact of technology on relationship-based social work practice

Abstract The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic caused widespread lockdowns, social distancing measures, restrictions to businesses and the closure of buildings. During this time social workers were required to adjust to remote practice, adopting technological adjuncts for continued engagement with service users. This article reports on qualitative interviews with fourteen front line social workers practicing during the pandemic in Northern Ireland, exploring the impact of remote delivery and technology on relationship-based practice. Findings highlight negative outcomes on relationship building and social worker self-care, alongside concerns that efficiency would be prioritised over future face-to-face contact with service users. The adoption of alternative methods of communication through technology has disrupted the core principles of relationship-based practice and has meant that, without proper planning or staff training, alternative models of delivery, which may have enabled some form of continuation and centralisation of relationship-based practice are under explored and require further investigation.

A message of hope: the challenges of relationship-based practice in a time of social distancing, but why it is more important than ever to come together

ABSTRACT This article was written during June 2020, during the first Covid-19 national lockdown, with the aim of exploring fundamental changes within our profession as a result. It is written in a reflective and pensive style, with the intention of questioning how, as social workers, we can continue to work in a relationship-based way, at a time of social distancing when this has seemed impossible. This article argues that, despite ways of working having changed, it is more important than ever to strengthen human connections and relationships, despite the challenges and complexities we now face.

“I got into a very dark place”: addressing the needs of young people leaving care during the Covid-19 pandemic

Purpose This paper aims to report on the findings of a qualitative study that explored the views and experiences of young people leaving care during the first phase of the Covid-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative approach was adopted involving semi-structured interviews with 24 care leavers 18–25 years old from across the region. Interviews were conducted remotely online or by telephone and explored young people’s lived experiences during the pandemic including their views on the formal support services and how best to provide ongoing for support care leavers during the pandemic. Findings Study findings highlight how known adversities for care leavers are exacerbated during the pandemic, having a detrimental impact, particularly on their emotional well-being. The response of the state as a corporate parent in mitigating the impact of the pandemic was found to be inadequate; with a need for much clearer communication, transparent and prompt decision-making and targeted specialist mental health services. The account given by the young people also highlighted the importance of participation and relationship-based practice to build on the young people’s resilience in the context of high levels of social isolation and limited access to informal support systems. Originality/value This research, based on the views of care experienced young people themselves, is the first study in Northern Ireland to report on the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic on care leaving. As such it makes a contribution to this emerging international field of study and, given the persistence of the pandemic, provides empirical findings and a social justice perspective of ongoing relevance to policy and practice with young people leaving care.

Preparing New Zealand's Teachers to Use Culturally Responsive Relationship-Based Pedagogies

This article addresses culturally responsive relationship-based pedagogies as a foundation to quality teaching and learning. Framed through an examination of the Masters of Teaching and Learning (MTchLrn) program in Aotearoa/New Zealand, this qualitative study was conducted using naturalistic inquiry. A study of how this program works across multiple contexts forms a basis for determining whether it could serve as a model for other institutions and countries. Results indicated the MTchLrn program, through the infrastructure of the program and triad relationships so central to the program, holds promise for effectively preparing teachers in culturally responsive and relationship-based practices.

"They Stay With You": Nursing Home Staff's Emotional Experiences of Being in a Close Relationship With a Resident in Long-Term Care who Died.

Aim: To explore and develop understanding of nursing home staff's emotional experiences of being in a close relationship with a resident in long-term care who later died. Design: Ethnographic fieldwork. Methods: As part of fieldwork, narrative interviews were conducted with nursing home staff (n = 6) in two nursing homes in Norway and analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Findings: Through data analysis, we identified three superordinate themes: (1) wanting to be something good for the resident and their families, (2) striving to make sense of the resident's death, and (3) struggling to balance being personal and professional. Implications for holistic nursing and conclusion: Nursing home staff experience tensions between ideals of distanced professionalism and the emotional experience of proximity, evidenced by personal commitment and mutual recognition in relationships with “special residents” in long-term care. To support holistic practice, awareness is needed of the emotional impact of relationships on health professionals. Suppressing feelings puts staff at risk of moral distress, compassion fatigue, and burnout, as well as higher turnover and absenteeism. Managers should facilitate discussions on professionals’ ideals of relationship-based practice, including processing of, and reflection on, emotional experiences in long-term care. Rituals to mark a resident's death can provide further emotional containment.

Complexities in Student Placements Under COVID-19 Moral and Practical Considerations

The work placement experiences of MA and BA social work students at an English university during a pandemic were explored by way of an online survey. Thirteen students responded and reported that the moral and practical consequences of a sudden forced move to the “new normal” of online working and assessment raised serious issues about the boundary between home and work life, and about the relationship-based nature of the career they thought they were entering. Experiences of moral and practical support from agencies were mixed, and a lack of consistency across different placement agencies led to feelings of unfairness in the students’ experience. Opportunities for incidental and tacit forms of learning were lacking in online working environments and students were strong of the belief that the future of social work would entail a permanent locus shift from community work to online interaction regarding the people (service users and carers) with whom they worked. This shift was largely perceived in terms of loss and a further diminution in relationship-based practice in English social work services, which have increasingly been dominated by a task and performance management culture before the onset of COVID-19.

Commentary on “What are the experiences of professionals working with parents with learning disabilities? A meta-ethnography”

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a commentary on Pytlowana and Stenfert Kroese’s article on the experiences of professionals working with parents with learning disabilities by exploring challenges and good practice in this area.Design/methodology/approachKey areas of practice were identified for further exploration by drawing on research studies with parents with learning disabilities.FindingsWhile there is growing evidence of good practice around working with parents with learning disabilities, a number of challenges around communication and relationship-based practice remain. The paper recommends further training and education for those working in this complex area of practice.Originality/valueThe paper adds value by bringing together evidence from across a number of studies to highlight good practice.

Relationship-Based Practice in Therapeutic Residential Care: A Double-Edged Sword

AbstractThis article draws on the lived experiences and perspectives of young people and practitioners in therapeutic residential care to examine what constitutes relationship-based practice. Eight young people and twenty-six practitioners across three residential care services in Australia participated in this qualitative study. Framework analysis identifies that personalised engagement, a delicate balance between care and control, and perseverance through turbulent times are conducive to relationship-based practice in therapeutic residential care. Relationship-based practice is also found to be employed in a unique historical and relational context that demands mindful navigation through three specific professional boundary issues including self-disclosure, over-identification and physical contact. Against this context, relationship-based practice in therapeutic residential care is considered a ‘double-edged sword’, offering practitioners copious opportunities to build connections with young people in informal environments whilst needing to mitigate multiple ethical ambiguities. Implications for practice include the need to safeguard the ‘do no harm’ priority whilst resisting defensive or detached practice. Contextualising relationship-based practice within an ethical practice framework to embed ethics work in day-to-day practice becomes paramount.

‘Keeping the ‘heart’ in practice: the importance of promoting relationship-based practice in practice learning and assessment’.

Abstract: This article will explore the importance of sound relationship-based practice in the supervision and assessment of social work students in practice learning. It will consider the origins of relationship-based practice and explore and analyse the literature and most notable theorists in this area. It will go on to explore the links between attachment theory and relationship-based practice in order to demonstrate its pivotal importance to social work practice. It will draw parallels between good relationship-based practice in the supervision of social work students and the formation of successful and meaningful working relationships between the students and the people they support on placement, giving attention to the theoretical concept of parallel process. It will provide practice examples from student supervision sessions to model how sound relationship-based practice compliments the assessment process with students, and leads to good partnership working and shared goals on placement. By providing practice examples it will demonstrate that good relationship-based practice between student and supervisor can lead to successful outcomes for students on placement which, in turn, can lead to successful outcomes for the people the students go on to support. It will argue that good relationship practice is the basis for all good social work practice and its foundations should be laid early within the practice teaching relationship between supervisor and student. Keywords: relationship-based practice; social work students; practice teaching; supervision; assessment

Relationship-based practice and the creation of therapeutic change in long-term work: social work as a holding relationship

ABSTRACT Relationship-based practice has become an influential theory through which social work practice is understood. However, much more critical attention needs to be given to the kinds of relationships involved. This paper is based on an ethnographic study of long-term social work that spent 15 months observing practice with service users and organisational life to find out how social workers establish and sustain long-term relationships with children and parents in child protection cases, or don’t. The paper introduces into the literature the concept of a ‘holding relationship’, which was present in several of the cases we studied, especially where therapeutic change occurred. The aims of the paper are to document the nature of a holding relationship and to develop it as a concept. A ‘holding relationship’ involved social workers being reliable, immersing themselves in the service user’s day-to-day existence and developing their life-skills, getting physically and emotionally close to them, and practicing critically by taking account of power and inequalities. The concept of a ‘holding relationship’ draws on psycho-dynamic and sociological theory to provide new ways of thinking that can help make sense of the practical and emotional relating involved in social work and promote the development of such helpful relationships.