Finding Common Ground Between Human Service Seekers, Providers,and Planners: A Re-authoring Conversations Approach
MARGARET FIERST SAX
Dear readers,
My PhD thesis applied a reauthoring conversations approach within a participatory action research design to explore “common ground experiences” between parents of children with special needs, family therapists, early childhood care and education providers and state & federal human service planners.The research project began with a parent’s provocative statement: How can people check their power at the door and just bring their knowledge.” From different perspectives, participants described common ground experiences as relationships that express friendship skills and contradict established practices of professional distancing. The study took place in Vermont, USA. In my literature review, I cross pollinated three social emancipatory movements: narrative ideas and practices, reinventing human services, and participative inquiry as a research methodology. On this site, you will find the abstract, the table of contents, and the first two chapters. Please contact me directly at peggys@middlebury.edu if you are earnestly interested in hearing more.
Thank you for the opportunity to share my work.
Peggy Sax
ABSTRACT
This participatory action research project applied the ideas and practices of narrative therapy to investigate common ground experiences between human service seekers, providers, and planners. From the perspective of different roles, co-researchers told stories and consulted with each other about effective help-giving relationships and meaningful parent participation in the planning and delivery of human services. The context was Children’s Upstream Services, a Vermont statewide initiative to strengthen community-based systems of care for families and children aged 0-6 who are at high risk or already experiencing emotional and behavioral challenges. Seventy-five participants within 20 interviews included parents of children with special needs, early childhood care and education providers, family therapists, and state and federal planners.
Michael White’s “reauthoring conversations” (White, 1995) guided the narrative research methodology, interviewing practices, and critical analysis of power relations. The narrative metaphor, social constructionism, and poststructuralism oriented the interpretive lens. Research participants identified the skills and knowledges that inform common ground experiences, externalized the constraints that can interfere, and deconstructed implicit cultural and professional discourses. This includes an exploration of professional privilege, meetings as professional constructs, confidentiality, and the rules of engagement. Partnership accountability was a central organizing construct, in which people are mutually accountable to each other, while those with more power take responsibility to amplify the voices less likely to be heard and hold themselves accountable to the people most affected by their actions (Tamasese & Waldergrave, 1993).
The research findings point to the need for safe conversational contexts in which service seekers can speak and be heard about what they have learned through their life experiences. Common ground experiences&emdash;ally-to-ally support, effective help-giving, and meaningful parent involvement– all are based on relationships that express friendship skills and which contradict the established practice of professional distancing. This poses implications for systems change and training to integrate theory and practice, professional and family training, and partnerships between parents and professionals. As reflective practitioners (Schon, 1983), service providers and planners need safe contexts in which to explore their personal accountability, so that they can take professional risks to question their assumptions and established practices.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter Page
1. Introduction—— 1
Research Question 2
Relevance of Research 6
A Narrative Lens 11
Research Context 12
Research Design 16
Language 23
Dissertation Outline 28
2. The Play Metaphor 32
Vermont Context 32
Ethnicity and Socio-Economic Class 35
Research Cast of Characters 36
“Who’s Who” 39
Sensitivity of Research Topic 50
3. Reinventing Human Services 54
Current situation 55
Parent-Professional Relationships 58
Review of the Literature 60
Community Development 61
Family Centered Practices 62
Family Support Movement 65
Children’s Mental Health 67
Reinventing Vermont Human Services 70
Family-Centered, Community-Based Services 71
Early childhood mental health 73
4. Narrative Ideas and Practices 76
Philosophical Foundations 76
Social Constructionism 76
The Narrative Metaphor 78
Poststructuralist Inquiry 82
The Ideas and Practices of Narrative Therapy 83
Reflecting Teamwork 88
The Ethics of Collaboration 90
Power Relations 90
Partnership Accountability 95
Applications of Narrative Ideas and Practices 96
Organization and Community Change 96
Narrative Research Methodology 101
5. Participative Inquiry 103
Action-Oriented Research 105
Organizational Learning 108
Theories of Action 109
The Reflective Contract 111
Literature Review Summary 114
6. Research Design and Methodology 116
Action-Oriented Research Design 116
Narrative Research Methodology 121
Narrative Interviewing Practices 121
Facilitating Change 123
Narrative Analysis 124
Data Collection 126
Data Analysis 129
Research Reflexivity 133
7. Designated Roles 139
Role Distinctions 140
The Role of the Service Seeker 142
Anger 147
Self-Confidence 149
Friendship 149
The Role of the Provider 150
Professional Agenda 150
Professional Impatience 152
Professionals are Human 153
Professionals as Extended Family 155
The Role of the Planner 156
Power Relations 158
Straddling Multiple Roles 161
8. Narrative Practices 167
The Narrative Interview 167
Practices of Acknowledgement 169
Communal Acknowledgement 172
A Spirit of Inquiry 174
Documentation of Alternative Knowledges 177
Letter Writing 178
Outsider Witness Practices 180
Reauthoring Conversations 181
Building Community 182
Experiencing Oneself as Knowledgeable 183
Real Effects on Lives and Relationships 185
9. Power Relations 190
The Rules of Engagement 191
Deconstructing Cultural and Professional Discourses 196
Confidentiality as a Professional Discourse 199
Narrative Rules of Engagement 201
Two-Way Accounts 202
Decentering Practices 206
Skills of Resistance 210
Challenge the Power Imbalance 210
Acknowledge Constraints 213
10. Relationship Building 215
Common Ground Relationships 216
Meaningful Parent Involvement 217
Ally-to-ally Services 221
Effective Help-giving Relationships 224
Friendship Skills 226
Women’s Friendships 231
Relevance for the Help-giving Relationship 233
11. Partnership Accountability 236
Remember to Ask the Cook! 237
Invitation to Professional Responsibility 240
Professional Privilege 243
Meetings as Professional Constructs 245
Taking Professional Risks 247
Walking the Talk 252
Personal Accountability 256
Transforming Frustration 262
12. Steps Toward Action for Systems Change 267
Systems Change 268
Ally-to-ally Support 268
Partner with Parents 269
Integrate Professional and Family Training 273
Integrate Practice and Theory 273
Support Change from Within 276
Paperwork and the Professional Agenda 279
Learning Opportunities for Effective Help-giving Practices 282
Technical Knowledge 283
Help-giver Traits and Attitudes 284
Participatory Practices 291
13. Discussion 298
Participatory Action Research 299
Narrative Ideas and Practices 301
Parent-Professional Relationships 303
Systems Change 306
Collaborative Learning Opportunities 307
The Power of Conversation 310
Implications of Findings 311
Personal Reflections 312
Theoretical Significance 313
Directions for Future Research 317
Limitations of Study 319
Epilogue 321
References 323
Appendix A: Michael White Video Edit (data set #1) 339
Appendix B: Letters to Communities 343
Appendix C: Letters from Participants 383
List of Tables Page
Table 1: Data Sets 127-129
Table 2: Coded Transcript Case #1 Video Edit (Appendix A) 132
Table 3: PAR Action-Reflection Quadrants 300