Relational caring and presence theory in health care and social work : a care-ethical perspective / Andries Baart, Guus Timmerman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Baart, A. J., author.

Timmerman, A. B., 1961- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Caregivers.

Social service--Philosophy.

Social service.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 263 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Bristol, England : Policy Press, 2025.

Summary:

This extensive and critical introduction to relational working in care, education and welfare explains what relational work is, proposing a new, human-orientated theory. It demonstrates the kind of professionalism required for such work, exploring why it is important not just to give care but to be present for people.

Contents:

Front Cover

Relational Caring and Presence Theory in Health Care and Social Work: A Care-Ethical Perspective

Copyright information

Dedication

Contents

List of figures, tables and case fragments

About the authors

Acknowledgements

Preface

Prologue: 'Somewhere between a scream and silence'

Case description

Some feature

Relationship first

Sharon, a mother

The professional as Sharon's spare self

Sharon in the lead

Her concerns, not just society's problems with her

Objections

Some features

1 Introduction

In search of good care

Puzzles of good care

Relational caring

Structure of the book and how to read it

Part I Presence, practice and theory

2 Presence: the concept

Why presence?

Meaning, origin and relation to other concepts

Presence in scholarly literature

Missionary pastoral care

Nursing

Psychotherapy

Other domains

Telepresence: technologically mediated presence

Presencing: leading from the emerging future

Conclusion

3 Presence: the practice

Qualitative research into neighbourhood chaplaincy in the 1990s

The practising of presence

Exposure as the beginning of presence

presence as the continuation of exposure

The working principles of presence

Practising presence and Tronto's caring process

4 Presence: the theory as originally formulated and its reception

A theory of practice with five subtheories

Social redundancy

A typology of practices

Attunement to lifeworld and life course

The reception of the professionals

A critique of distantiation.

Normative-reflective professionalism

The ninefold offer in response to social redundancy

Premises, underlying philosophy and its relation to care ethics

Appreciation and criticism

5 Constructing knowledge (1): care ethics and the empirical turn

The turn to everyday life

Care ethics as a political, intradisciplinary ethics

Empirical research

Empirical research and ethical reflection

Empirical research and theory development

The connection: political phenomenology

Phenomenological, theory-oriented 'N=N case studies'

6 Constructing knowledge (2): complex theorising and the practice turn

Evaluative social science

Constructing knowledge

Empirical material

Research results

Ethical reflection

Conceptual framework

Practices and practice theory

Complexities and complex theorising

Does practice theory suffice or do we need complexity theory?

7 Presence: the presence-theoretical perspective on relational caring

Qualitative presence-theoretical research since 2001

Presence-theoretical theorems as heuristic devices

Unbiased, careful perception

Relational handling

Staying-with

Restraint

Attentiveness

Professional power or powerlessness

Quality awareness

Part II Major topics in relational caring

8 The socio-political consequences of relational caring

Background: care ethics as political theory

From concrete involvement to policy and politics

Presence as a counter-programme

Social redundancy and precarisation

9 Opening oneself up and staying open to the other or others

Perceiving and imagining - for a purpose

Faithfully staying with the other

Regardful attentiveness

Permanent inquiry

The letting mode

10 Relational caring: relationality and finality.

First point of reference: relationality

Four dimensions of relational caring

Strong and weak relationality

Functions of strong relationality in relational caring

Connecting with and attuning your practice to the person or persons in need of care

Response, mismatch and relational programming

Three additional functions of relationality in relational caring

Second point of reference: finality

Raising the finality question

Relational caring, defined by relationality and finality

Two relational issues

Relational autonomy

Relational bounding

11 Practically wise professionals

Phronetic professionalism

Muddling through

Practical wisdom in late modernity

Practical wisdom in general practice: a study

End-of-life care by general practitioners

Reconstructing a complex process

Attentiveness, metaphorical positioning and taking a leap

Practically wise professionals, communities and organisations

INTERLUDE A note on technology

12 Cultivating quality awareness

Assessing quality of care

Stagnation in quality thinking

Cultivating quality awareness

The Care-Ethical Model of Quality Enquiry (CEMQUE)

The dimension of the care receiver

The dimension of the caregiver

The dimension of the care facility

The dimension of society with its societal, legal, scholarly and financial frameworks of care

13 The continuing formation of relationally caring professionals

A formation process

The domain of the relational caring approach

The domain of perception

The domain of knowledge

The domain of interpretation

The domain of practical wisdom

Formational resources

Exposure

Inquiry

Deep learning

Learning communities

Case-based learning

Quality deliberation, cultivating quality awareness

Art

Conclusion.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 11 Apr 2025).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-4473-7575-0

1-4473-7574-2