Mutuality and reciprocity in relationships: Generalist social workers’ considerations and strategies for managing their relationship with clients
Date
2013-09-23
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Abstract
Social work has struggled with the relational experience of mutuality and reciprocity since its early development as a profession (Addams, 1902; Reynolds, 1934; Biestek, 1957; Perlman, 1979; Kadushin, 1983). As social work professionalized it adopted objective and scientific approaches to work with clients and attempted to exclude expressions of mutuality and reciprocity from the relationship (Maidment, 2006). Social workers vary in their approach to this aspect of relational practice (Alexander, 2005). As the profession moves to re-examine the qualities and importance of relationship-based practice (Coady, 1993; Dybicz, 2012; Maidment, 2006; Morrison, 2007; Ruch, 2005, 2010), it is important to understand how mutuality and reciprocity are experienced in the field and how generalist social workers manage these elements of practice within the context of their work. The purpose of this study was to investigate how social workers negotiate variations in closeness and limits to mutuality and reciprocity in their relationships with clients.
The methods are based on grounded theory methodology. Nineteen generalist social workers from a variety of fields of practice were asked about their methods of negotiating openness and limits to mutuality and reciprocity. Analyses of the interviews indicated that the social workers main concern was being uncomfortable. The core category of managing relationship emerged from the study. Managing relationship captures the actions, feelings, efforts, and range of possible success and struggles that the social workers experienced in their interactions with clients.
The results of the study include the identification of six factors of these social workers’ relational practice: confidence; authentic self; professional maturity; self-regulation; practice skill and knowledge; and systemic perspective. The six factors are a part of the process of managing relationships, and are explained and illustrated by participants’ examples.
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Social Work
Citation
Alexander, C. E. (2013). Mutuality and reciprocity in relationships: Generalist social workers’ considerations and strategies for managing their relationship with clients (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/27045