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

加深对同理心在儿童和家庭社会工作中的作用的理解。

• 批准号: 2259128
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Sussex
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2259128
• 关键词: Developing; understanding; role; empathy; child

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.

移情在儿童和家庭社会工作中发挥着核心作用（格兰特，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（弗格森，2017;鲁赫，2014; Lefevre等人，2017; Lefevre，2018）。同理心的重要性体现在它被纳入制定社会工作政策和实践指导中（McNeish et al，2017），并得到家庭观点的支持（Ingram，2018）。同理心是，然而，由于其情感和关系方面以及不同的定义，方法和方法，研究是一个复杂的概念。到目前为止，还没有一个统一的移情定义，因此，关于它是最好理解为一个单一的概念，一种特质或状态，还是作为认知，情感和行为领域内的一系列个体成分的争论仍然存在（Bohart等人，2002年;格迪斯和西格尔社会工作中的同理心的行为层面已经在一个研究方案中使用定量方法进行了调查（Whittaker等人，2016; Forrester等人，2017）。移情技能总体上相对较低，额外的定性分析确定了移情技能的关键行为组成部分（Lynch等人，2018）。然而，这项研究的目的并不是为了探索假说来解释为什么同情心低，也不包括探索任何非语言层面的同情心。这个项目的目的是发展理解如何同情心是概念化，理论化和操作化的研究，以及社会工作者和家庭如何构建和体验他们的关系同情心。该项目寻求探索的首要研究问题是：“如何理解社会工作者与他们工作的家庭之间的关系？发言人说：“研究计划将采用质性研究方法，并会包括全面的文献检讨及收集经验数据。数据将包括直接实践的视频观察以及与社会工作者和家庭的访谈。从文献回顾构建的理论框架将通知观察和访谈数据的分析。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同理心，包括可能经历的障碍和支持同理心社会工作实践的必要条件。预计项目的影响将跨越社会工作的学科和专业背景。学科的影响将包括一个独特的贡献，以发展理解的概念，共情经验丰富的社会工作者和家庭关系，方法和理论的发展。专业影响将包括影响社会工作实践和政策的发展，与操作移情的定义和创建工具，以支持在社会工作实践中增强移情参与。将通过面对面的活动以及与该部门的知识交流网络合作制作和分发书面材料，包括在同行评审的学术期刊上发表，最大限度地发挥影响力。这一以实践为重点的研究项目将有助于改变社会工作者开展实践的方式以及儿童和家庭的经历。