Care relationships: an ethnographic study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Care relationships between support staff and adults with a learning (intellectual) disability in social care residential settings in England: an ethnographic study
IRAS ID
324755
Contact name
Georgios Mamolis
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Kent
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 1 months, 13 days
Research summary
This study draws on previous research conducted in the context of this project and uses immersive ethnographic methods to further our understanding of care relationships between support staff and residents in learning disability long-term social care residential settings in England. By doing so, this research aspires to enrich care practice, highlight the impact that good care relationships can have on the lives of residents and support staff, and provide directions for future research.
This study explores the following research questions:1) How are care relationships between support staff and adults with a learning disability being understood and defined?
2) What processes and practices underlie good relationships?
3) What factors serve as barriers and facilitators to positive care relationships?
4) What impact do positive relationships (or lack thereof) have on support staff and residents?
5) How can care relationships that have been disrupted or challenged, be restored?Lay summary of study results:
I used reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2022) to analyse my data and upon completion of the analysis I generated four themes to address the study’s aim and research questions. Below, I am providing only a very short summary of each theme.Theme 1 is called -“I feel more towards them than just my clients” Care relationships betwixt and between- and it talks about how people understand the care relationship as somewhere between the professional and the personal and how balancing the two can build positive relationships.
Theme 2 is called -The care, the home, and the care
home- and it talks about how the house is a home to the residents, but it is also a care setting where professional care is provided, and what all this means for care relationships.Theme 3 is called -“They also see us as much as we see them”
The connection- and it talks about the ways that staff and residents connect as well as about moments that connection happens and does not happen and what this means for care relationships.Finally, Theme 4 is called -“How the people treat you and you feel treated” The power of relationships- and it talks about the impact that positive care relationships have on the lives of staff and residents and how staff and residents feel if positive relationships are missing.
REC name
West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/WM/0164
Date of REC Opinion
5 Sep 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion