The application of a cognitive and affective interviewing model in social work supervision

This project starts from a concern with the quality of social work thinking and assessment. Inquiry reports following high profile child death cases have repeatedly highlighted shortcomings in social workers' analytical and assessment skills and exercise of professional judgement. Recognition of these limitations highlights the need to explore what might help practitioners to 'think about their thinking'. Practitioners frequently encounter complex, emotionally charged and sometimes dangerous situations and these encounters provide the 'evidential base' on which decisions are made; so the nature and quality of information that practitioners draw from them is of vital importance. A number of writers have drawn attention to the connection between the nature and quality of thinking and the emotional content and context of childcare practice. Supervision provides a key forum in which thinking processes and practices can be explored, so has a critical role to play here in providing a safe space where practitioners can identify the emotional content of their experience and reflect on its meaning.
Given the centrality of the supervision-practice feedback loop for sound practice it is important that staff providing supervision have the competence to do this to the highest standards. To support their work, they need accessible and reliable methods and resource materials that can be readily used in practice. The proposed project involves collaboration with one local authority to develop and trial a new approach, based on Cognitive Interviewing (CI), for use in supervision. CI is an approach that has been developed to promote the accuracy and completeness of eyewitness accounts of events. Initially devised for use with witnesses or victims of crime, it draws on psychological understandings of memory and recall, and uses a particular set of questioning techniques to improve retrieval of information from the memory of a witness or victim. It has been chosen as a starting point here as it offers a tested approach to support the collection of information. Working closely with social work practitioners in the partner organisation, the project team will adapt the CI framework for use in supervision, developing an approach - the Cognitive and Affective Supervisory Approach (CASA) - that homes in on cognitive understandings of practice but in so doing also heightens practitioners' awareness of the affective dimensions of practice and of their thinking.
Dr Turney, the principal investigator (PI) and Professor Ruch, the co-investigator (Co-I), have extensive experience in both practice and research in relation to critical and analytical thinking in assessment and the role of emotion in practice, and of developing resource materials for practice. The partner organisation, a local authority in the South West of England, will work with the principal and co-investigator, providing staff time for the collaborative development of the CASA protocol and, after appropriate training, for its use in an agreed number of supervision sessions over an 8-month period. During this implementation phase, the PI and Co-I will provide monthly group consultation sessions for the supervisors, to allow them to reflect on the use of the CASA and the extent to which it assists the expression of both 'event' and 'emotion' information, and how this information has been used in supervision to inform case management.
Data gathered through the course of the project will be reviewed to assess the usefulness and impact in/for practice of the CASA framework. Drawing on participants' feedback during and at the end of the implementation phase, the project team will revise the CASA materials as necessary. A range of outputs including an executive summary of project findings, model guidance and protocols, workshop template and curriculum guide will be developed collaboratively by the project team for use by academic and practice audiences and disseminated.

The impact of this research directly addresses the ESRC strategic objective 'Influencing behaviour and informing interventions', by examining how cognitive and affective factors influence social work assessment and decision-making practices. Whilst located in an English child care social work setting, the shared common concerns regarding the quality of thinking and decision-making and the paucity of supervision across social work sectors and national contexts suggests that the project findings will be of relevance for policy and practice across the social work sector, both nationally and internationally.
KEY BENEFICIARIES
Supervisors and supervisees in the host organisation and across the national and international social work sector; children and families in receipt of social work services; local, national and international policymakers responsible for developing and promoting effective practice; social work academics delivering qualifying and post-qualifying social work programmes, nationally and internationally; the general public.
IMPACT ARTEFACTS:
Model guidance and protocols
Practice workshops
Workshop template
Executive summary
Curriculum guide
Conference papers and presentations (academic and professional)
HOW BENEFITS ACCRUE:
Enhanced skills in critical analysis and decision-making:
The project emphasis on the co-creation of knowledge will ensure immediate direct benefit to its participants who will acquire enhanced knowledge of and skills in critical analysis and decision-making. The host organisation will benefit from the practice improvements emanating from the findings. At a national and international level and across the social work sector the findings will enhance the quality of thinking in professional practice, leading to more accurate assessments and better targeted service provision for vulnerable people. The project team has excellent track records in engagement with practitioners at local, national and international levels and dissemination will occur through practitioner forums, from local authority training events to national/international conferences.
Indirect benefits will accrue to children and families in receipt of social work services who will be assisted by more accurate assessments and decision-making processes, contributing to the development of more effective services to safeguard vulnerable children and to support their families. The dissemination of the findings via service user organisations and national newspapers will maximise their reach and impact and enable service users and the wider public to have a more informed understanding of social work practices.
Professional Development Materials:
The creation of professional development materials for implementing the CASA will enable the widespread national dissemination of the project findings across the social work sector. Conduits for dissemination via workshops and electronic artefacts include: The College of Social Work, the Higher Education Academy, SCIE (all in England), Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services (Scotland), the Care Councils in Northern Ireland and Wales.
Conferences and national workshops:
Conference presentations/workshops in academic and practice settings e.g BASPCAN and JSWEC conferences and employment-based conferences, will be collaboratively delivered by the researchers and participants and promote the project resources.
Peer-reviewed academic and professional journal articles:
Co-authored papers will be submitted to peer reviewed academic journals, e.g. British Journal of Social Work, Child and Family Social Work, Journal of Social Work Practice, alongside professional journals/in-house publications associated with the professional bodies e.g. Community Care, Children and Young People Now, Social Work Matters. Articles in national newspapers e.g. the Guardian, will inform the public of the complexities of social work practice and help promote trust in the profession.