Relational Caring and Presence Theory in Health Care and Social Work

Three decades of neoliberal efficiency thinking about caring and care systems have resulted in a greater need for relationality in healthcare and social work than ever before. These support services extend beyond the giving of care and support to include the development of relationships between caregivers and their care recipients in their socio-institutional contexts.

The culmination of over 30 years of research, this book provides an extensive and critical introduction to relational working in care, education and welfare. It explains what relational work is and proposes a new, human-orientated theory beyond the simple needs provision model. Demonstrating the kind of professionalism required for such work, it explores why it is as important to be present with and for people, especially those in precarious conditions, as it is to give care.

This is essential reading for researchers, educators, quality officers, policy makers, students and practitioners interested in understanding the growing scholarship related to both care theory and presence theory.

CONTENT
Prologue: ‘Somewhere between a scream and silence’
Chapter 1 Introduction
PART I: PRESENCE, PRACTICE AND THEORY
Chapter 2 Presence: the concept
Chapter 3 Presence: the practice
Chapter 4 Presence: the theory as originally formulated and its reception
Chapter 5 Constructing knowledge (1): care ethics and the empirical turn
Chapter 6 Constructing knowledge (2): complex theorising and the practice turn
Chapter 7 The presence theoretical perspective on relational caring
PART II: MAJOR TOPICS IN RELATIONAL CARING
Chapter 8 The socio-political consequences of presence
Chapter 9 Opening oneself up and staying open to the other or others
Chapter 10 Relational caring: relationality and finality
Chapter 11 Practically wise professionals
Interlude: A note on technology
Chapter 12 Cultivating quality awareness
Chapter 13 The continuing formation of relationally caring professionals
Chapter 14 Epilogue: Meta-theoretical and political background theories