Researcher in charge: Professor Kirsi Juhila
Research group: Doctoral Researchers Henna Aalto, Tuuli Kalari & Elli Kurkikangas, Associate Professor Suvi Raitakari, University Lecturers Johanna Ranta & Jenni-Mari Räsänen
Research period and funding: 1.9.2024–28.2.2027, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health
Towards effective adult social work interaction supporting participation and agency (KOHTAAVA) research project asks what kind of adult social work interaction supports the client’s participation and agency effectively. The project applies the method of qualitative interpretative meta-synthesis by reviewing previous studies of naturally occurring interaction between professionals and clients as well as studies focusing on clients’ experiences of interaction with workers. Furthermore, the results of the synthesis are refined with interaction and interview data. The project aims to make visible how well-functioning client-worker interaction that manages to change clients’ problematic life situations and strengthen their agency and participation creates the basis for social work that manages to change clients’ problematic life situations and strengthen their agency and participation. This is done by focusing especially on how epistemic rights, empathy, advice-giving and resistance are present and accomplished in client-worker interaction, and furthermore how it constructs the basis for effective social work.
Through the research results, the project builds evidence on how functional client-worker interaction creates the basis for more cost-effective, systematic adult social work both in grassroots-level client work and planning, management, and decision-making in well-being service counties. The aim is 1) to scrutinise and make visible the functional client-worker interaction in adult social work as a prerequisite for effective social work; 2) to examine effective interaction from the point of view of how it enables clients’ participation and agency in dealing with issues related to their own lives; 3) to analyse how such interactions can be identified through epistemic rights, empathy, advice-giving, and resistance. The research question relying on these goals is: what kind of adult social work interaction supports the client’s participation and agency effectively?