ABSTRACT

Drawing on findings from a psycho-social qualitative doctoral study, this paper considers the intimate and extraordinary emotional intensity, ambivalence and pain associated with the experience of mother social workers engaging with mothers and their infants in the context of child protection work. In this yearlong study undertaken with a group of female Irish child protection social workers, their role as mothers was an unanticipated emergent theme and was found to be inextricably linked to their work and their capacity for realistic decision-making. We consider the wider contexts of societal ambivalence about motherhood, mothering and social work itself, as a way of locating these experiences as fully psycho-social. The work discussion seminars offered as part of the research study afforded a rare opportunity for workers to talk about predicaments, failures and worries, in conditions of containment for anxiety, support for their learning, and a confidential reflective setting.

摘要

根据一项心理社会定性博士研究的结果，本文考虑了与母亲社会工作者在儿童保护工作背景下与母亲及其婴儿接触的经历相关的亲密和非凡的情感强度、矛盾心理和痛苦。在这项为期一年的研究中，一组爱尔兰女性儿童保护社会工作者发现她们作为母亲的角色是一个出乎意料的新兴主题，并且被发现与她们的工作和她们做出现实决策的能力有着千丝万缕的联系。我们考虑了社会对母性、母性和社会工作本身的矛盾心理的更广泛背景，作为将这些经历定位为完全心理社会的一种方式。