Editorial

Fabio Folgheraiter

Catholic University of Milan, Italy

I’m glad to present the new issue of our online journal Relational Social Work. In this issue, we can read interesting theoretical and research papers focusing relational approach.

As first article we have the honor to host a paper of professor Pierpaolo Donati, the founder of the «Relational Sociology». Professor Donati reflects on a methodological framework for relational research in sociology and social work. The author proposes a general framework based on five rules that explain how to do «relational analysis» using the AGIL relational scheme. We would like to thank professor Donati, with his studies on relational sociology he inspires important reflections to researchers and social workers practitioners.

With the second article, Rees and colleagues present results from a qualitative research conducted on the topic of relationships and their impact on education from children and young people in state care. The research involved children, in or having left care. The study identifies some of the unintended conflicts, consequences and challenges of well-meaning practice interventions, and highlights the importance of working with and listening to the experiences of children and young people in care, with particular attention to relational well-being. This study suggests that engaging with and listening to the accounts of young people can allow to move towards developing more informed and effective strategies that can improve both policy and practice.

The issue continues with another research article. Calcaterra presents results from a study on young people’s participation in community work projects with the support of advocates. Results show that youth participation in the definition of social interventions within local communities is helpful to identify concrete initiatives of genuine interest to young people living in those areas, and it is an opportunity to experience a process of empowerment generating further interest in participating, active citizenship and social capital. The research highlights the importance of offering young people advocacy support to encourage their participation.

After that Oliver and her colleagues offer a reflection on the issue of the secrets in social work. Using the theoretical framework of social construction, the paper explores the intersubjective meaning-making of secrecy in social work in order to explore the perception of secrets from the service user’s and the social worker’s points of view, as well as exploring the impact this has on the behavior of all concerned. The article clearly demonstrates how complex the issue is in practice and offers insights into how this dilemma can be solved.

Sabah and Lawental move our attention to outcomes measurement in social services. With their paper the authors call for the incorporation of a relational perspective in the measurement of social services outcomes. The article delineates this approach main premises and then examines a 12 years long initiative to promote outcomes measurement that in many ways encompass the relational approach premises. The article calls for more implementation of the relational approach in the measurement of social services outcomes and for further research in order to understand the advantages and the limitations of this perspective in different areas of practice and in different contexts.

To conclude we have a contribute about social work education. Matutini proposes a reflection on the value of social worker-trainee relations in time of Covid-19 pandemic. The paper presents results of a survey carried out within the framework of a degree course in Social Sciences. The research involved university traineeship tutors, supervisors and students engaged in in-person practical training during the second and third Covid-19 pandemic waves in Italy. By reading this paper we can understand processes through which the relational dimension of social work was reformulated during the health emergency while retaining its central role.

I sincerely thank all the authors for their interesting and stimulating contributions, as well as for their commitment in improving Relational Social Work studies and reflections.

Milan, October 2022