What do children think about their social worker? A Q-method study of children's services

Stabler, Lorna, Wilkins, David ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2780-0385 and Carro, Hester 2020. What do children think about their social worker? A Q-method study of children's services. Child and Family Social Work 25 (1) , pp. 118-126. 10.1111/cfs.12665

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Abstract

Understanding how children experience social work interventions is an important part of gauging whether what is provided is genuinely helpful. In this paper, we describe the findings from a research project using Q‐method, aimed at understanding what children involved with statutory services think about their social workers and how they experience the time they spend together. Using a pre‐existing practice framework, we explored skills including empathy, collaboration, and purposefulness from the point of view of children and young people. The participants in our study (n = 22) were insightful observers of social work practice, able to describe not only how they experienced time spent with their workers but also inferring differences in motivation and approach. In addition, workers who were described in similar terms by different young people were nevertheless experienced differently. This suggests not an archetypal “good social worker”—instead, there are skills that are good for specific children at specific times within the context of specific relationships.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education) Children’s Social Care Research and Development Centre (CASCADE)
Publisher:	Wiley
ISSN:	1356-7500
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	7 August 2019
Date of Acceptance:	4 July 2019
Last Modified:	06 Nov 2023 19:47
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/124765

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