Susan Gair

Feeling Their Stories Contemplating Empathy, Insider/Outsider Positionings, and Enriching Qualitative Research

Empathy is a very familiar term in the helping and caring literature. What appears to link empathy in the helping literature to the aims and goals of qualitative research and, in particular, to the argument underpinning insider/outsider debates, is a discernible common quest. That quest is to be able to hear, feel, understand, and value the stories of others and to convey that felt empathy and understanding back to the client/storyteller/participant. When relevant, the quest also includes conveying that felt understanding to a broader audience. In this article, I highlight commonalities between empathy in professional practice and empathy in qualitative research processes, including the shared experiences and understanding informing research relationships that are discussed as “insider/outsider” status. I review, discuss, and critique relevant literature, and I conclude by suggesting that cultivating empathy in qualitative research training could contribute to facilitating more enriched, insightful research encounters.

RECONCILING INDIGENOUS AND NON-INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGES IN SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION: ACTION AND LEGITIMACY

This article describes an action research project undertaken in Australia to confront Eurocentrism in our social work curricula. Our aims, action, and reflections are discussed. Further, we explore the legitimacy of non-indigenous teachers taking action to reconcile indigenous knowledges in curricula. The findings have relevance for international social work education.

Inducing Empathy: Pondering Students' (In)Ability to Empathize With an Aboriginal Man's Lament and What Might Be Done About It

Empathy is a familiar term in social work education, although how to teach and learn empathy is not well documented. Equally, how non-indigenous Australian practitioners learn empathic regard for indigenous peoples living with the crippling legacies of colonialism is not commonly described in the literature. The primary aim of the classroom-based inquiry described here was to explore and reflect on the concept of empathy with social work students at a regional Australian university using selected real-life vignettes. These findings suggest greater cultivation of empathy is needed for respectful social work intervention by non-indigenous practitioners working with Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and, by implication, with indigenous peoples worldwide.

In the Thick of it: A Reflective Tale from an Australian Social Worker/Qualitative Researcher

Engagement in qualitative research incorporating feminist principles means that researchers must view themselves within the research boundaries and actively render transparent their own research experiences. This researcher explored motherhood with 50 adoptive mothers across Queensland, Australia. This article describes in detail her motivation for undertaking the study and some of her personal thoughts about, and experiences with, qualitative, feminist, women-centered research.

Creating spaces for critical reflection in social work education: learning from a classroom-based empathy project

‘Empathy’ is a familiar term in social work education and it is understood to be a foundational ingredient in therapeutic engagements. Yet critical reflection by educators about how to both teach and model empathy seems minimal in the literature. This paper begins by reviewing the pioneering work by early empathy researchers, followed by identification of more contemporary research and understandings. That context, and a description of a classroom-based inquiry into empathy that I undertook in 2009, provide the backdrop for deeper reflection on my teaching and students’ learning. The notion of a ‘liminal’ space helped to position this student/teacher engagement. In particular, I illuminate my efforts to cultivate empathy for improved classroom learning and skill development for social work practice, and I highlight my own struggles on the road to being a more empathic, reflective educator.

Racism Unmasked: The Experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students in Social Work Field Placements

Abstract Attracting more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to the social work profession is an important strategy in responding to Indigenous disadvantage. The literature suggests that the inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, knowledge, and skills in social work is impeded by racism and white privilege. This article reports on a research project that aimed to explore the field education experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social work students. Interviews were conducted with 11 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and graduates and their narratives were analysed through a collaborative process. Findings reveal experiences of subtle and overt racism as every day features of their placements. The findings highlight the need to address racism, the value of cultural mentors, and the necessity to increase the employment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander academic staff in social work education.

The psychic disequilibrium of adoption: stories exploring links between adoption and suicidal thoughts and actions

Abstract Past literature has identified mental health issues for adopted people. Equally, research reveals that birth parents have ongoing mental health issues related to adoption grief that increases rather than decreases over time. Limited literature explores links between adoption and suicidal thoughts and behaviours. This exploratory study aimed to provide a space for narratives describing perceived links between adoption and suicide to be aired. Narratives from a purposive sample of 20 participants revealed six themes in relation to the study focus: reality denied, prescribed self, powerlessness, suicidal logic, suicide and turning points. A theoretical discussion is developed in relation to the findings, drawing on Girard’s concept of sacrificial violence, Butler’s notion of performativity, and Kierkegaard’s notion of pathology of spirit.

Adoptive Mothers' Attitudes to Contact: Highlights from an Australian Study

The topic of contact and reunion can be a complex and emotional one for birth parents, adopted people and adoptive families. While the perspectives of birth parents and adopted people regarding contact are evident in the literature, the range of possible attitudes taken up by adoptive parents are not extensively discussed. In this paper Susan Gair explores coping positions or attitudes taken by adoptive mothers in Queensland on the topic of contact. The larger research project from which these findings are drawn was concerned primarily with using qualitative research methods to explore the mothering experiences of Queensland women who have adopted children. The research findings suggest that adoptive mothers may be better understood by considering a number of factors which impact on the taking up of certain attitudes, and by recognising the transitory rather than assuming the static qualities of such positions.

Australian Social Work Students Balancing Study, Work, and Field Placement: Seeing it Like it Is

ABSTRACT Completing tertiary studies can involve personal and financial sacrifices for some students. Equally, past and more recent research has highlighted financial pressures for students undertaking courses with compulsory field placements, although larger national Australian studies appear to be limited in number. In a recent study, a sample of 2,320 social work students from 29 Australian universities completed an online survey on the impact of low levels of income on students’ lives and study success. Here students’ qualitative responses reveal the burden of compulsory field placement, including significant financial constraints and changes to paid work hours that, in turn, adversely affected students’ wellbeing and jeopardised the completion of their degree. The purpose of this article is to illuminate social work students’ complex study realities in order to help inform future education, policy, and practice. IMPLICATIONS These findings provide insight for national bodies, universities, educators, practitioners, sector partners, and researchers into the study realities of Australian social work students. Reviewing policy, practice, and education in light of the findings can help contribute to a healthier, diverse social work profession.

Unspeakable stories: when counter narratives are deemed unacceptable

Purpose – Qualitative researchers embrace insider narratives and affirm an environment where stories of lived experiences are acceptable and welcomed. Equally, subjective narratives often are presented for publication with an assumption that they will reach a readership, after a rigorous but empathic review process. Such assumptions and expectations underpin Indigenous, postmodern, feminist, critical and narrative research and writing approaches, all of which seek to foreground non‐dominant stories, and expose untold lived experiences through publications. However, this paper aims to challenge the somewhat implicit narrative that “lived experiences would always be welcomed”.Design/methodology/approach – The authors discuss qualitative researchers and narratives, including excluded stories, and then reveal their own experiences of trying to publish less common, confronting, adoption narratives.Findings – The authors find that stories that do not meet the authorized or conventional version of a social trans...