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

移情在儿童和家庭社会工作中具有核心作用(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 et al，2017；Lefevre，2018)。移情的重要性反映在它被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，因为它是一个情感和关系方面的问题，以及已经采用的不同定义、方针和方法。到目前为止，移情的定义还没有达成一致，因此，关于移情是作为一个单一的概念、一种特质或状态，还是被理解为认知、情感和行为领域中的一系列个体成分的争论一直存在(Bohart等人，2002；Gerdes和西格尔，2009)。社会工作中移情的行为维度已经在一个研究计划中使用定量方法进行了调查(Whittaker等人，2016；Forrester等人，2017)。共情技能被发现总体上相对较低，额外的定性分析确定了共情技能的关键行为成分(Lynch等人，2018年)。然而，这项研究的目的并不是为了探索假说来解释同理心低的原因，也不是为了探索同理心的任何非语言维度。本项目旨在加深对同理心是如何在研究中概念化、理论化和可操作性的理解，以及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。该项目试图探索的首要研究问题是：“如何在社会工作者和他们工作的家庭之间的关系中理解同理心？”该研究项目将采用定性的方法，并将包括全面的文献综述和实证数据收集。数据将包括对直接实践的视频观察以及对社会工作者和家庭的采访。从文献回顾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建立和体验共鸣，包括可能经历的障碍和支持共鸣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。纪律方面的影响将包括对社会工作者和家庭亲身经历的同理心概念的独特贡献，以及对方法和理论发展的独特贡献。专业影响将包括影响社会工作实践和政策的发展，与将同理心的定义付诸实施有关，以及创建工具，以支持加强社会工作实践中的同理心参与。将通过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文章，通过面对面的活动和编写和分发书面材料来最大限度地发挥影响。在加深对同理心在社会工作中的作用的理解方面，这项以实践为重点的研究项目将有助于改变社会工作者的做法以及儿童和家庭的经历。

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.