Does a Practice Learning Opportunity increase a Student Social Workers Emotional Intelligence? Robby Nelson South Eastern Health & Social Care Trust Senior Social Worker – Learning and Improvement Friday 14th June 2019 1 1

My Role Work closely within both regional universities in relation to preparing social work students for practice – QUB and UU Work as Practice Teacher, supervising social work students on placement within the South Eastern Trust Lead professional responsible for Newly Qualified Social Workers within the South Eastern Trust undergoing their Assessed Year in Employment Work with professional social workers within the post qualifying framework including IPD, Specialist awards and Individual Assessment Route This provides me with the opportunity to work with social workers through the continuum of their learning and development – to understand the skills they have and those they need to develop as they strive to become competent and confident professionals 2 2

Social Work and Emotional Intelligence In Croisdale-Appleby’s review of Social Work education (2014) he stated that social workers required both intellectual and emotional intelligence to successfully carry out their professional roles. He concluded from his findings that there was a need to include ‘structured learning’ within the social degree that enabled social work students to develop skills in self-awareness, self- confidence and self-reflection.

Factors under the umbrella of Emotional Intelligence Factors which support resilience are:- Enhanced self-awareness Emotional regulation Knowledge of personal value principles Ability to access sources of support Individual characteristics and traits do predict different levels of resilience under pressure – but what is it and can we teach it? In considering if we can teach resilience – we first need to understand if we can teach the factors that support its development Factors under the umbrella of Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence is…. ‘one of the strongest predictors of resilience in social work students’ (Grant et al 2014)

main message from the review Systematic Narrative Review ‘The effectiveness of Structured Learning in the development of Emotional Intelligence in Social Work Education’ main message from the review EI was a key protective factor for social workers EI contributes to resilience and stress management EI supports relationship building and communication skills EI supports the development of self-awareness in social workers

Findings Emotional Intelligence and Resilience are not fixed attributes and as such can be taught/developed There is a clear need to develop interventions in the social work degree pathway to enhance emotional intelligence and resilience Planned interventions can enhance the development of EI and reflective ability What exactly is Emotional Intelligence and how could we develop it?

Components of Emotional Intelligence Self-awareness Managing emotions Motivating Oneself Empathy Social Skill (Goleman 1998)

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Practice Learning Opportunity The Research Question There were a number of identified ‘interventions’ within the systematic review – to consider the impact of these interventions for my research I needed to focus on one... Practice Learning Opportunity This was the opportunity for social work students to work alongside experienced professionals in a variety of social work positions – providing them with direct exposure to service users and their individual issues 10 10

Method Pre- and Post-questionnaires for RGR students who were going on PLO for the 1st time (QUB and UU) Hypothesis – there will be a measurable increase in the emotional intelligence of RGR students after PLO Control Group – UGR students (QUB and UU) who had not been on PLO and during the measurement period would only receive classroom teaching

Questionnaire Based on Goleman’s 5 components 50 questions 5-point Likert scale Time scale 10-15 minutes to complete Matched pairs - pre results with post results Data analysed using SPSS

RGR = 56 students took part Matched Pairs RGR = 56 students took part UGR = 22 students took part (control group) 13 13

Findings

Discussion There has been a median value increase across the majority of components in both RGR and UGR students UGR – ‘managing emotions’ decreased RGR – ‘motivating oneself’ remained the same Importantly – after completing SPSS Data analysis it was found that the ‘empathy’ component of the RGR students had demonstrated a statistically significant increase after the PLO intervention

Findings RGR students – exposure to service user issues and opportunity to work with experienced practitioners UGR students – engaged in modules which included psychology and preparation for practice Both interventions appeared to have resulted in an increase in students emotional intelligence!! 16 16

Future development Need for further longitudinal research in relation to elements of PLO, such as the placement setting – client group, adults/children the practice teacher skills – how much do these differ? the strength of the supporting relationship between the student, on-site supervisor and the practice teacher the practice opportunities offered to the student within the PLO.

Future development Is there a need or an opportunity to standardise PLO opportunities, supervision processes and practice sites? NISCC determine that all PLO’S meet the required standards for social work students – but some placements offer a ‘better’ experience than others – child protection vs adult residential

Future development Practical Interventions have proven to be successful in developing emotional intelligence through the degree program – could there be the opportunity to introduce standardised ‘interventions’ such as SHADOWBOX™ or the PREPaRE™ model – could we measure the impact of these interventions to determine which has been the most successful?

Future development Follow up on current research findings being undertaken in relation to the STEEP program (Dr Andrew Whittaker) and determine how these findings can be incorporated into the current curriculum. Also there is a need to consider other demographics within the research - such as age, gender, previous trauma, adverse childhood experiences, social circumstances, etc.

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