2018, Article / Letter to editor (Children and Youth Services Review, vol. 89, iss. June, (2018), pp. 171-178)A strong parent-professional alliance that increases over the course of care predicts positive outcomes of home-based parenting support. However, little is known about factors that influence the development or maintenance of the alliance in home-based parenting support, limiting professionals ability to optimize the parent-professional alliance and thereby the quality of care. Therefore, the present study examined whether voluntary versus mandated service involvement, previous involvement in similar services, parenting stress, child psychosocial problems, and care expectations were associated with early parent-professional alliance and predicted change in alliance during home-based parenting support services. Questionnaire data from 60 parents (M age?=?40.65?years, SD?=?6.81, range 23–55?years) and their professionals collected early and late in care were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results indicated that previous involvement in similar services was related to lower levels of early parent-reported alliance, whereas positive care expectations were related to stronger early parent- and professional-reported alliances. Moreover, care expectations predicted change in professional-reported alliance during care, with positive parent expectations predicting a decrease and positive professional expectations predicting an increase in alliance. Voluntary versus mandated service involvement, parenting stress and child psychosocial problems were not found to influence the alliance. These findings emphasize the need for professionals to discuss previous service involvement and care expectations as well as a need for future studies to identify other factors that influence alliance and alliance-building skills.
2018, Article in monograph or in proceedings (Keynote at the Social Work Master Programs Summer School 2018, "Social work and cooperation: two of a kind?")
2018, Article / Letter to editor (Kwalon: Tijdschrift voor Kwalitatief Onderzoek in Nederland, vol. 23, iss. 2 (juni), (2018), pp. 16-25)Samenwerken is een belangrijk onderdeel van het sociaal werk en manifesteert zich op verschillende niveaus, zoals met cliënten, collega’s en leidinggevenden. In de praktijk van sociaal werkers die werken met gezinnen met meervoudige en complexe problemen is behoefte aan inzicht in wat een sociaal werker doet (en nalaat!) om samenwerking te bevorderen en welke impact dat heeft op de ondersteuning aan een gezin. In dit artikel doen we verslag van een praktijkonderzoek waarin zes ambulant sociaal werkers die werken met genoemde gezinnen, intensief zijn gevolgd. Hierbij is gebruik gemaakt van beeldmateriaal en stimulated recall interviews om werkzame elementen in de samenwerking met deze gezinnen en andere betrokkenen zichtbaar en bespreekbaar te maken.
2017, Article / Letter to editor (Journal of Child and Family Studies, vol. 26, iss. 4, (2017), pp. 961-976)This review systematically explored research examining the relation between parent-professional alliance and outcomes of psychosocial treatments provided to children, and their parents and families. Study findings and methodological characteristics were reviewed to investigate the evidence linking the alliance between parents and professionals to outcomes of child, parent, and family treatment as well as to identify factors that may influence the alliance-outcome association. A systematic review of the literature was conducted that included a search of three electronic databases using specified search terms, followed by a hand search to identify relevant studies. A total of 46 studies (37 published articles and 9 unpublished dissertations) met inclusion criteria. Overall, the findings indicated that higher levels of parent-professional alliance were significantly associated with improved clinical outcomes and stronger treatment engagement. However, some studies found that the parent-professional alliance was not significantly related to clinical outcomes or treatment engagement, and a few studies showed that higher levels of alliance were related to less positive clinical outcomes and lower levels of treatment engagement. Several theoretical (problem type, child age, parent sex) and methodological (source and timing of alliance measurement, alliance-outcome informants, outcome domain, timing of outcome measurement) factors were identified that could influence the alliance-outcome association. Together, our findings emphasize the importance of alliance awareness when working with parents as well as a need for future studies to investigate factors influencing the quality of the parent-professional alliance and alliance-outcome association in child, parent, and family treatment.
2017, Article / Letter to editor (Vakblad Sociaal Werk, vol. 18, iss. 3, (2017), pp. 25-27)Wat weten we over het belang van een goede samenwerkingsrelatie tussen ouders en hulpverleners in de hulp aan jeugdigen, ouders en gezinnen? Om hier zicht op te krijgen verzamelden en analyseerden collega’s van de Hogeschool van Arnhem en Nijmegen, de Radboud Universiteit, Praktikon en de Virginia Commonwealth University alle studies over dit thema. In dit artikel beschrijven de onderzoekers de belangrijkste bevindingen van deze overzichtsstudie om deze kennis toegankelijk te maken voor professionals in het sociaal werk.
2014, Article / Letter to editor (Maatwerk, vol. 15, iss. 5, (2014), pp. 25-27)Hoe goed is de samenwerking tussen cliënten en hulpverleners? In Noord-Brabant werken twee organisaties voor jeugd- en opvoedhulp met een instrument waarmee ouders expliciet feedback kunnen geven op de alliantie met hun hulpverlener. Juist omdat daar niet vanzelfsprekend ruimte voor is.
2013, Article / Letter to editor (British Journal of Social Work, vol. 2013, iss. 43, (2013), pp. 1-18)The complexity of the daily practice of social workers in the Netherlands has increased, while the social appreciation for their work has decreased. Stakeholders involved in social work practice agreed that a masters programme for social workers could be an important step to improve the quality of social work and enhance the professionalisation of social workers. However, stakeholders disagreed considerably on the objectives of this new programme. Hence, there was no focus for the programme or for its evaluation. In order to assess the purpose and intended goals of the masters programme in social work, a retrospective plan evaluation was conducted, consisting of a document analysis and concept-mapping procedure with thirty-nine stakeholders. The study resulted in a consensus-based conceptual framework in which practice development is considered the key domain of the programme. Practice development seems to fit the open domain of social work and meets the various and often ambivalent demands on social workers and their profession. It is regarded as a method in which the social worker with a masters degree has a new role and position in the interplay between clients, stakeholders and professionals.
2012, Article / Letter to editor (Maatwerk, vol. 2012, iss. 5, (2012), pp. 18-20)Vroeger was autonomie verbonden met sociale rechtvaardigheid: in emancipatiebewegingen streed men immers voor vrijheid en beschikkingsrecht. Nu lijken het twee verschillende waardensystemen van waaruit het sociaal werk een andere opdracht krijgt. Een groep studenten van de master Social Work pleit voor verbinding. ‘Juist het sociaal werk is noodzakelijk voor burgerkracht.’ Dit artikel is het voortvloeisel van een discussie tijdens een les over beroepshouding en ethiek van de masteropleiding Social Work aan de Hogeschool van Arnhem en Nijmegen.