The process, benefits and challenges of providing psychological consultation in adoption services

Draper, Rachel, Waters, Cerith ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7049-9906, Burns, Gemma and Shelton, Katherine ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1311-5291 2022. The process, benefits and challenges of providing psychological consultation in adoption services. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry 27 (4) , pp. 1170-1183. 10.1177/13591045211058326

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Abstract

Psychological consultation is one way of reaching a greater number of families with limited resources, yet little is known about the benefits and challenges of this intervention in adoption. We qualitatively explored consultations provided to adoption social workers by clinical psychologists. Six social workers and four clinical psychologists participated in semi-structured interviews. Five themes with supporting sub-themes were identified: (1) A context of highly emotive work with scarce resources; (2) consultations draw on Dyadic Developmental Practice and systemic thinking and involve goal-oriented and interpersonal processes; (3) consultations experienced as valuable despite challenges; (4) consultations facilitate learning for both social workers and psychologists; and (5) a collaborative focus and the ‘expert role’. Our findings suggest consultation is experienced positively by social workers and psychologists, that it successfully facilitates the transfer of psychological knowledge, and has the potential to enhance multi-agency working. Future research needs to better understand the impact of consultation on adoptive families.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Psychology
Publisher:	SAGE Publications (UK and US)
ISSN:	1359-1045
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	20 October 2021
Date of Acceptance:	19 October 2021
Last Modified:	07 Nov 2023 23:18
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/144952

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