An exploration of social worker and parental communication concerning parental capacity to change

研究问题：父母和社会工作者如何看待关于父母改变能力问题的沟通？探讨社工如何及何时与家长讨论家长改变的能力。识别社会工作者在讨论父母改变能力时使用的语言和推理。探讨父母如何看待和体验关于他们改变能力的讨论。考虑影响社会工作者和父母之间意义解释的因素背景人们普遍认为，受到伤害的儿童在对其未来的照顾做出及时、积极的决定时，会有更好的结果，这一点得到了《公法大纲》（DfE, 2014）的认可。为了做出这些决定，重要的是要考虑父母在孩子的发展时间尺度内实施任何必要改变的可能性，即他们改变的能力。父母改变的能力是“一系列的属性、能力、动机、背景因素等等，这些因素可能使父母为了孩子的利益而做出改变”（Platt & rich 2016 p.142）。关于社会工作者评估父母改变能力的少量研究表明，虽然大多数社会工作者认为这是他们角色的一个重要因素，但这并没有反映在书面评估中。在最近一项考虑复杂儿童与家庭评估的研究中，126项评估中只有11项明确评论了父母的改变能力（Macdonald et al, 2017）。这表明在实践和实践方法方面存在重大和实质性的差距。如果没有明确和适当的指导来彻底探索改变的能力，社会工作者可能会依赖基于先前获得的风险评估信息的启发式方法，并结合有关父母参与的专业意见（Ward et al . 2014）。在进一步投资于结构化的评估方法之前，有必要探索一下社会工作者如何将各种新方法与他们与父母交谈时的实践智慧结合起来。拟议的研究将侧重于评估父母在地方当局日常社会工作实践中改变能力的评估，这是尚未被研究探索的，并增加对日常实践现实的新兴研究，这对于更好地理解社会工作者和父母之间关系的动态至关重要。方法准备：人种学观察将首先用于调查社会工作者在何时何地以及如何探索父母的改变能力。在开始第一阶段之前，将对观察结果进行主题分析和编码。第一阶段：招募十对社工/家长进行观察和记录，讨论家长改变的能力。数据收集将包括父母、社会工作者的关键特征以及可能影响沟通的更广泛的关系背景。对话录音将按主题进行分析和编码。将比较准备阶段和第一阶段的数据集。第二阶段：与家长和社工进行反思性访谈，探讨第一阶段讨论的意图和感知意义。详细的方法将在博士培训的第一年制定，同时制定适当的分析计划，以及传播和最大化影响的计划。

Research QuestionHow do parents and social workers perceive communication regarding the issue of parentalcapacity to change?Objectives:1. To explore how and when social workers discuss parental capacity to change with parents2. To identify language and reasoning used by social workers and when discussing parentalcapacity to change3. To explore how parents perceive and experience discussions about their capacity to change4. To consider factors that influence interpretation of meaning between social workers andparentsBackgroundIt is widely accepted that children who have suffered harm have better outcomes when timely,proactive decisions are made about their future care, as recognised by the introduction of the Public Law Outline guidance for care proceedings (DfE, 2014). To inform these decisions, it is important to consider the likelihood of that parents will implement any required changes within the child's developmental timescale i.e. theircapacity to change. Parental capacity to change is "the range of attributes, capabilities,motivations, contextual factors and so forth that may enable a parent to make changes for thebenefit of the child(ren)" (Platt & Riches 2016 p.142).The little research available on social workers assessment of parental capacity to change suggeststhat, while the majority of social workers feel it is an important element of their role, this is not reflected in written assessments. In a recent study which considered complex Children & Families assessments, parental capacity to change was explicitly commented on in only 11 of 126 assessments (Macdonald et al, 2017). This indicates a significant and substantial gap in practice and practice methodologies.Without clear and appropriate guidance to explore capacity to change thoroughly, social workers are likely to rely on heuristics based on previously obtained risk assessment information, combined with professional opinions about parental engagement (Ward et al 2014). Before further investment in structured approaches to assessment it is worthwhile exploring how social workers are combining the variety of new approaches with their practice wisdom in conversations with parents.The proposed study would focus on the assessment assessment of parental capacity to change in routine Local Authority social work practice, as yet unexplored by research, and add to emerging research on the everyday reality of practice that is vital to better understanding the dynamics of relationships between social workers and parents.METHODOLOGYPreparation: Ethnographic observation will first be used to investigate where, when and how social workers explore parental capacity to change. Observations will be analysed thematically and coded before beginning stage 1.Stage 1: Ten pairs of social workers/ parents will be recruited for observation and recording of aroutine session where parental capacity to change is likely to be discussed. Data collection will include key characteristics of the parent, social worker and wider context of the relationship that may influence communication. Recordings of conversations will be thematically analysed and coded. Datasets from the preparatory stage and Stage 1will be compared.Stage 2: Reflective interviews with the parent and social worker to explore the intended andperceived meaning of the stage 1 discussion. The detailed methodology will be developed in Year 1 of the doctoral training, together with an appropriate analysis plan, and a plan for dissemination and maximising impact.