What does empathy sound like in social work communication? A mixed‐methods study of empathy in child protection social work practice
dc.contributor.author | Lynch, Amy | en |
dc.contributor.author | Newlands, Fiona | en |
dc.contributor.author | Forrester, Donald | en |
dc.date.accessioned | 2018-09-19T09:57:50Z | |
dc.date.available | 2018-09-19T09:57:50Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2018-07-12 | |
dc.identifier.citation | Lynch A, Newlands F, Forrester D. (2018) 'What does empathy sound like in social work communication? A mixed‐methods study of empathy in child protection social work practice', Child and Family Social Work, 24 (1), pp.139-147. | en |
dc.identifier.issn | 1356-7500 | |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1111/cfs.12591 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10547/622861 | |
dc.description.abstract | It is widely accepted that empathy is important for social work practice, yet there are multiple dimensions of empathy and comparatively few studies of empathy as a component of social work skill. To date, published studies have been quantitative, and as a result, we know little about how social workers demonstrate empathy in practice or what skilled empathic practice in child and family social work might sound like. This study contributes to the development of understanding of empathy as a social work skill through a mixed‐methods analysis of 110 audio recordings of meetings in a child protection service between workers and parents, applying a coding framework for analysis. Findings indicate that workers who demonstrate higher levels of empathy skill use more open questions and reflections in their communication with parents. Further, they demonstrate curiosity about and make efforts to understand parents' often difficult experiences, including a focus on emotions. That the majority of workers were found not to demonstrate a high level of empathy skill presents concerns to be considered by the social work profession. A deeper understanding of empathy presents an opportunity for an increased focus in organizations to enable workers to demonstrate empathy towards families they work with. | |
dc.description.sponsorship | Department for Education | en |
dc.language.iso | en | en |
dc.publisher | Wiley | en |
dc.relation.url | https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cfs.12591 | en |
dc.rights | Yellow - can archive pre-print (ie pre-refereeing) | |
dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ | * |
dc.subject | child protection | en |
dc.subject | empathy | en |
dc.subject | mindfulness | en |
dc.subject | face-to-face communications | en |
dc.subject | child and family social work | en |
dc.title | What does empathy sound like in social work communication? A mixed‐methods study of empathy in child protection social work practice | en |
dc.type | Article | en |
dc.contributor.department | University of Bedfordshire | en |
dc.contributor.department | University of Cardiff | en |
dc.identifier.journal | Child and Family Social Work | en |
dc.date.updated | 2018-09-19T09:29:28Z | |
dc.description.note | Hi, if this is to be eligible for REF it needs to have a full text file of the article attached - this publisher doesn't allow use of the final published version but the post-print (ie final draft post-refereeing) would be OK. RVO 5/7/18 | |
html.description.abstract | It is widely accepted that empathy is important for social work practice, yet there are multiple dimensions of empathy and comparatively few studies of empathy as a component of social work skill. To date, published studies have been quantitative, and as a result, we know little about how social workers demonstrate empathy in practice or what skilled empathic practice in child and family social work might sound like. This study contributes to the development of understanding of empathy as a social work skill through a mixed‐methods analysis of 110 audio recordings of meetings in a child protection service between workers and parents, applying a coding framework for analysis. Findings indicate that workers who demonstrate higher levels of empathy skill use more open questions and reflections in their communication with parents. Further, they demonstrate curiosity about and make efforts to understand parents' often difficult experiences, including a focus on emotions. That the majority of workers were found not to demonstrate a high level of empathy skill presents concerns to be considered by the social work profession. A deeper understanding of empathy presents an opportunity for an increased focus in organizations to enable workers to demonstrate empathy towards families they work with. |