Aoife Shannon

Nationality: Irish

Working title of PhD: Exploring the role of supervision in sustaining perinatal social work careers – the potential of an attachment theory lens.

Description of Research: The research sets to explore the role supervision may have on the retention of social workers within the area of perinatal social work (medical social work in a maternity setting), while also considering the impact attachment theory may have on the supervisory relationship.
Perinatal social work is an area where there is limited research despite there being an increasing number of hospitals in Ireland employing social workers in this area. They are at the forefront of dealing with complex areas of social work including domestic violence, substance use, and children being placed in care from birth. It can also be a very triggering area of work for practitioners depending on their own experiences of maternity care.
This study sets to interview 15-20 perinatal social workers to look at this in more detail, while considering what role attachment theory may have had on their experiences of supervision. A qualitative approach will be applied through the use of in-depth interviews. These interviews set to allow for a narrative style approach to explore people’s experiences of supervision, attachment styles and what they feel sustains them in being able to stay in the profession.

Publications:

Wilson, E, Jackson, K and Shannon, A (2020) ‘Perinatal social work during the Covid-19 pandemic: Reflecting on concepts of time and liminality’ in Qualitative Social Work, Volume 20, Issue 1-2: 443-448. https://doi.org/10.1177/1473325020973306