Developing understanding of the role of empathy in child and family social work.

同理心在儿童和家庭社会工作中起着核心作用（Grant, 2014），因为社会工作者和家庭之间的关系具有重要的情感性质（Ferguson, 2017; Ruch, 2014； Lefevre等人，2017;Lefevre, 2018）。同理心的重要性体现在将其纳入制定社会工作政策和实践指导中（McNeish等人，2017），并得到家庭观点的支持（Ingram, 2018）。然而，移情是一个复杂的概念，因为它的情感和关系方面，以及不同的定义，方法和方法已经采用。到目前为止，对共情的定义还没有达成一致，因此关于是否最好将其理解为一个统一的概念、一种特征或状态，还是认知、情感和行为领域中的一系列单独组成部分的争论仍在继续（Bohart等人，2002；Gerdes和Segal， 2009）。社会工作中的移情行为维度已经在一个研究项目中使用定量方法进行了调查（Whittaker等人，2016；Forrester等人，2017）。总体而言，共情技能相对较低，另外的定性分析确定了共情技能的关键行为组成部分（Lynch et al, 2018）。然而，这项研究并不是为了探索假设来解释为什么同理心低，也不是为了探索同理心的任何非语言维度。本项目旨在了解移情是如何在研究中概念化、理论化和操作化的，以及社会工作者和家庭如何在他们的关系中构建和体验移情。该项目试图探索的首要研究问题是：“在社会工作者和他们工作的家庭之间的关系中，移情是如何被理解的？”研究项目将采用定性方法，包括全面的文献综述和实证数据收集。数据将包括直接实践的视频观察和对社会工作者和家庭的采访。从文献综述中构建的理论框架将为观察和访谈数据的分析提供信息。分析将探讨社会工作者和家庭如何在他们的关系中构建和体验移情，包括可能经历的障碍和支持移情社会工作实践所需的条件。预计项目的影响将跨越社会工作的学科和专业背景。学科影响将包括一个独特的贡献，以发展对社会工作者和家庭之间关系的共情概念的理解，以及对方法和理论发展的贡献。专业影响将包括影响社会工作实践和政策的发展，与移情定义的操作化和支持在社会工作实践中增强移情参与的工具的创建有关。通过面对面的活动以及制作和分发书面材料，与该部门的知识交流网络合作，包括在同行评议的学术期刊上发表，将使影响最大化。为了加深对社会工作中移情作用的理解，这个以实践为重点的研究项目将有助于改变社会工作者如何进行实践以及儿童和家庭的经验。

Empathy has a central role in child and family social work (Grant, 2014) due to the significant and emotional nature of the relationship between social workers and families (Ferguson, 2017; Ruch, 2014; Lefevre et al, 2017; Lefevre, 2018). The importance of empathy is reflected in its inclusion in developing social work policy and practice guidance (McNeish et al, 2017) and supported by views of families (Ingram, 2018).Empathy is, however, a complex concept to research due to its emotional and relational aspects and the varying definitions, approaches and methods that have been adopted. There is, as yet, no agreed definition of empathy, hence debate about whether it is best understood as a unitary concept, a trait or state or as a series of individual components within cognitive, emotional and behavioural domains persists (Bohart et al, 2002; Gerdes and Segal, 2009).The behavioural dimension of empathy in social work has been investigated within a programme of research using a quantitative approach (Whittaker et al, 2016; Forrester et al, 2017). Empathy skill was found to be relatively low overall and additional qualitative analysis identified key behavioural components of empathy skill (Lynch et al, 2018). However the research was not designed to explore hypotheses to explain why empathy was low nor to include exploration of any non-verbal dimensions of empathy.This project aims to develop understanding of how empathy is conceptualised, theorised and operationalised in research and how social workers and families construct and experience empathy in their relationships. The overarching research question that the project seeks to explore is:"How is empathy understood in the relationships between social workers and the families with whom they work?"The research project will adopt a qualitative approach and will include a comprehensive literature review and empirical data collection. Data will comprise video observations of direct practice and interviews with social workers and families. A theoretical framework constructed from the literature review will inform analysis of the observation and interview data. Analysis will explore how social workers and families construct and experience empathy in their relationships, including the barriers that may be experienced and the conditions necessary to support empathic social work practice.It is anticipated that project impact will be across both disciplinary and professional contexts of social work. Disciplinary impact will include a unique contribution to developing understanding of the concept of empathy as experienced relationally by social workers and families and to methodological and theoretical developments. Professional impact will include influencing development of social work practice and policy, linked to operationalising a definition of empathy and the creation of tools to support the enhancement of empathy engagement in social work practice. Impact will be maximised through face-to-face events and production and distribution of written materials, in collaboration with knowledge exchange networks in the sector, including publication in peer-reviewed academic journals.In developing understanding of the role of empathy in social work, this practice-focussed research project will contribute to making a difference to how social workers conduct their practice and to the experiences of children and families.