Abstract

Children and young people in the UK face myriad challenges, which we characterize as colic¹: the deleterious impact of uncertainty, stress and precarity on their mental health and wellbeing, particularly in their social bonds and relationships. We present findings from studies in the North of England which used focus group, individual interview and experimental LEGO® modeling sessions with 23 child and youth professionals working in a variety of roles and settings, to determine how demonstrating love within their professional relationships with children and young people can scaffold their resilience to these challenges and enhance mental health and wellbeing. We use thematic analysis to make meaning from the data, and we relate the findings to our extrapolation of Page’s developmental steps in early years professional practice, highlighting the potential for the concept of Professional Love to enhance children and young people’s wellbeing.

摘要

英国的儿童和青少年面临着无数挑战，我们将其描述为绞痛¹：不确定性、压力和不稳定对他们的心理健康和福祉的有害影响，特别是在他们的社会纽带和人际关系方面。我们介绍了英格兰北部的研究结果，这些研究使用焦点小组、个人访谈和实验性乐高®建模课程，对 23 名在不同角色和环境中工作的儿童和青少年专业人士进行了研究，以确定如何在他们与儿童和青少年的专业关系中表现出爱。年轻人可以增强他们对这些挑战的适应力，并增强心理健康和福祉。我们使用主题分析从数据中获取意义，并将发现与我们对佩奇在早期专业实践中的发展步骤的推断联系起来，突出了专业爱概念的潜力以提高儿童和青少年的福祉。