building resilient practitioners

7/28/2019 Building Resilient Practitioners

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Building resilient practitioners:

constructing research out of practice

Dr Carole Adamson

University of Auckland

30.11.12

[email protected]


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Outline of webinar

Resilience in social work

Theoretical perspectives on resilience

Why research resilience?

Designing research on resilience

Implementing the research Findings and future activity


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i. Employer perspectives

ii. Workplace, employee and wellbeingperspectives

iii. Best practice Competency, service user

and quality perspectives

Resilience in social work


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i. Employer perspectives

[Social work graduates need to demonstrate] independent

critical judgement, alongside the facility to work in much

more innovative ways, for example through a fully

developed capacity to take responsibility for the use of

reflection and critical analysis and through the ability towork creatively and effectively in a context of risk,

uncertainty, conflict and contradiction.

GSCC, 2005:1920

The employing environment (state, society and the

employer) requires social workers to be robust and

emotionally sophisticated


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ii. Workplace, employee

and wellbeing perspectives

Emotional resilience has clear implications forindividuals adaptive capacities under conditions of

environmental stress, conflict oruncertainty

(Klohen 1996:1068, in Collins, 2007:256)

Organisational implications:

recruitment, retention, sustainability of

standards/knowledge transfer

Occupational health implications:Morale, stress levels, burnout, workplace relationships(Occupational Safety & Health Service, 2003)


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iii. Best practice

Competency, service user and quality perspectives:

focus on quality of service delivery and the consumer

experience professional standards (e.g. ANZASW Code of Ethics; SWRBCode of Conduct and competency & registrationrequirements)

Link between resilience and competence is of course notlineal: lack of resilience may inhibit, erode or compromisecompetence, but resilience does not create competence


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Theoretical perspectives on resilience

Historical development

Individually focused,

psychologically based

Ecological

Narrative/Strengths

Community

development

theoretical emphasis has

shifted from resilience assolely individual traits to

notions of adaptation despite

multiple and cumulative risks

and to understanding

protective factors for bufferingor mediating effects of

adversity.

Bottrell (2009:323)

Resiliency theories strongly resonate with best practice in current

social work, e.g. Strengths-based practice and a recovery focus;Tangata Whenua knowledge and practice, etc.


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Theoretical perspectives on resilience (2)

Personal, relational and environmental elements: Resilience is not just an individual trait but an

adaptation and response to complexity (Luthar & Cicchetti,2000; Ungar, 2004 & 2008).

Environmental supports for resilience - commitment toexamining underlying processes that affect

vulnerability and protective factors (Bottrell, 2009).

Emphasis on strengths as well as deficits shift from

pathogenic to salutogenic stance (Luthar & Cicchetti, 2000). Resilience not a static concept coping with adversity

means dynamic planning for the unpredictable in social

work.


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Why research resilience?

Significant research on service user resilience

not yet matched by focus on ourselves

Potential to strengthen arguments forsupervision and other professional supports

Opportunity to assist ongoing curriculum

design for developing robust social workgraduates, around use of self, reflection and

mindfulness (etc)


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Designing research on resilience

Importance of qualitative research:

Peoples own experience and narratives

Unpacking the personal, professional, relational

and contextual complexities of resilience Hearing the voice of practitioners in health rather

than other often dominant fields in workforce

research


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Implementing the research

Literature review

Research design and ethical approval

Searching for participants through natural networks

Mental health, physical health and social workstudent supervisors

Semi-structured interviews (27)

Self-defining of the concept of resilience

Transcription and thematic data analysis

Pulling it together as journal articles

Using research findings


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Findings and future activity

Literature review and research findings bothsuggest a three part framework of self, contextand mediating factors

Linking feature is awareness and ability to reflect

Clinical/practice focus of professionals thinkingabout the other

Importance of supervision as a space to reflectand process

Resilience as a fluid & dynamic, contextually-dependent process - not a trait, maybe anoutcome?


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Professional identity

Coping behaviours& relational skills

Supervision & peer

support

Attributes

Personal

history &

sensitisation

Moral &

ethical code

Organisational

structures

Political &

legal

frameworks

Mediating factors

Work-life balance

Developmental learning

Knowledge, education &

theory

Self Practice Context


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Supervision, reflection

& resiliency theories

Effective supervision [] can delay or mitigate the

effects of detrimental factors and can contribute to

positive outcomes for workers in social service

organizations.Mor Barak et al(2009:25)

Supervision as a mediating factor

Supervision as a site for facilitating reflection forindividual development within a relational space

e.g. managing emotions and uncertainty, kindling

hope Beddoe 2010


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What holds me firm [is] client-centredness andtransparency of practice ... buttressed by thestrong connection that I have with social workvalues and my legitimacy in terms of the socialstructures around me. So in my job description,the organisation I work for, the legislation that

has certain expectations of me, [these] orientme in terms of not only my professional identitybut my personal one as well and its that strongsense of ethic ... [that allows me] to go home

and feel like despite a lot of the messages Ivereceived on that day, that on a cognitive level Ican say well,Ive done a goodjob.

Chris, Mental Health


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References

Adamson, C., Beddoe, L., & Davys, A. (2012). Building Resilient Practitioners: Definitions andPractitioner Understandings. British Journal of Social Work. doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcs142

Beddoe, L. (2010). Surveillance or Reflection: Professional Supervision in the Risk Society. BritishJournal of Social Work. doi: doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcq018

Beddoe, L., Davys, A., & Adamson, C. (2011). Educating Resilient Practitioners. Social WorkEducation, 1-18. doi: 10.1080/02615479.2011.644532

Bottrell, D. (2009). Understanding Marginal Perspectives: Towards a Social Theory of Resilience.Qualitative Social Work, 8(3), 321-339. doi: 10.1177/1473325009337840

Collins, S. (2007). Social workers, resilience, positive emotions and optimism. Practice, 19(4), 255 -269. doi: 10.1080/09503150701728186

General Social Care Council (2005). Post-Qualifying Framework for Social Work Education andTraining. London: GSCC

Luthar, S. S., & Cicchetti, D. (2000). The construct of resilience: Implications for interventions andsocial policies. Development and Psychopathology, 12(04), 857-885.doi:10.1017/S0954579400004156

Mor Barak, M., Travis, D.J., Pyun, H. & Xie, B. (2009). The Impact of Supervision on WorkerOutcomes: A Meta-analysis. Social Service Review, 83(1), 3-32. doi: 10.1086/599028

Ungar, M. (2004). A Constructionist Discourse on Resilience: Multiple Contexts, Multiple Realitiesamong At-Risk Children and Youth. Youth Society, 35, 341-365

Ungar, M. (2008). Resilience across Cultures. British Journal of Social Work, 38(2), 218-235. doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcl343

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