Exploring supportive challenge in Scottish residential children's care homes
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Strathclyde
Department Name: Social Work and Social Policy
Abstract
Overview
How residential childcare staff respond to children's behaviours, requests and distress significantly shapes care home cultures (Anglin, 2002; Ward et al., 2003). Care home cultures can become ameliorative environments where children feel safe, loved and respected (Steckley, 2020a, 2020b). Conversely, abusive cultures can develop, with traumatic consequences (Frizzell, 2009; Kent, 1997). The protection of children and development of ameliorative cultures are dependent on the degree to which individual staff effectively challenge substandard practice which is, in turn, influenced by organisational cultures. Yet 'supportive challenge' (Anglin, 2002), defined here as questioning or confronting practice in a constructive, developmental fashion, is poorly understood in residential childcare research, theory and practice. The aim of this research, then, is to explore how cultures of supportive challenge are facilitated and/or inhibited through an examination of the dynamics, experiences and effects of staff's peer-to-peer-level challenge (or lack thereof) in residential childcare settings.
Main research questions:
-To what extent are residential childcare staff reporting practice encounters that inhibit or facilitate supportive challenge? (RQ1)
-How do residential childcare staff respond when they encounter practice they perceive as falling somewhere on a spectrum ranging from substandard care to abuse? (RQ2)
-What influence does the culture of a children's care home have on residential childcare staff actions or inactions, when they encounter practice that falls on a spectrum of substandard care (including their perceived ability to identify and supportively challenge where appropriate)? (RQ3)
-What influence do inquiry and review reports, statutory legislation and non-statutory legislation have on residential childcare staff thinking, actions or inactions when they encounter practice that falls on a spectrum of substandard care? (RQ4)
How residential childcare staff respond to children's behaviours, requests and distress significantly shapes care home cultures (Anglin, 2002; Ward et al., 2003). Care home cultures can become ameliorative environments where children feel safe, loved and respected (Steckley, 2020a, 2020b). Conversely, abusive cultures can develop, with traumatic consequences (Frizzell, 2009; Kent, 1997). The protection of children and development of ameliorative cultures are dependent on the degree to which individual staff effectively challenge substandard practice which is, in turn, influenced by organisational cultures. Yet 'supportive challenge' (Anglin, 2002), defined here as questioning or confronting practice in a constructive, developmental fashion, is poorly understood in residential childcare research, theory and practice. The aim of this research, then, is to explore how cultures of supportive challenge are facilitated and/or inhibited through an examination of the dynamics, experiences and effects of staff's peer-to-peer-level challenge (or lack thereof) in residential childcare settings.
Main research questions:
-To what extent are residential childcare staff reporting practice encounters that inhibit or facilitate supportive challenge? (RQ1)
-How do residential childcare staff respond when they encounter practice they perceive as falling somewhere on a spectrum ranging from substandard care to abuse? (RQ2)
-What influence does the culture of a children's care home have on residential childcare staff actions or inactions, when they encounter practice that falls on a spectrum of substandard care (including their perceived ability to identify and supportively challenge where appropriate)? (RQ3)
-What influence do inquiry and review reports, statutory legislation and non-statutory legislation have on residential childcare staff thinking, actions or inactions when they encounter practice that falls on a spectrum of substandard care? (RQ4)
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Ben O'Farrell (Student) |
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ES/P000681/1 | 30/09/2017 | 29/09/2028 | |||
| 2744491 | Studentship | ES/P000681/1 | 30/09/2022 | 29/09/2026 | Ben O'Farrell |