Reaching families effectively in heterogeneous contexts (FamHeKon)
Family concepts and models of social work professionals
The interdisciplinary FamHeKon project uses a mixed-methods design to examine the family concepts and models of social work professionals and their clients, and thus the question of a (better) accessibility for families. The project focuses on family-related services characterized by voluntary participation of the parents. These services encompass family education, family centres, parenting and family counselling, and early childhood intervention. In cooperation with the University of Applied Sciences Landshut, FamHeKon is embedded in the joint project “Family Life in Bavaria – Empirical Insights into Transformations, Resources, and Negotiations” (ForFamily[2]).
Due to the increasingly complex structures of and conditions for families, family life must and will be actively organized and created in line with the concept of "Doing Family" (Jurczyk 2020). In order to continue to be able to reach families well in professional practice, attitudes and family-related services must also adapt to this complexity and heterogeneity. Family models and concepts play an important role here: they provide orientation in the implementation of services and the associated accessibility (Wittke 2010, Bird/Hübner 2013), offer normative comparison horizons with regard to the design and legitimization of professional action (Bauer et al. 2015) and have an impact on the political and public media level, as well as the professional discourse on family (Kessl et al. 2015). Despite the high level of attention already paid to family models and concepts (BIB 2013) and their impact on pedagogical action, there has been a lack of systematic research (Bauer/Wiczorek 2017).
The aim is to highlight addressing processes and transfer them into practice in order to initiate a discussion of prevailing models and concepts and the diversity of family situations and living conditions, as well as their consideration in services. The focus will be on the following key areas:
- Identification of prevailing family models and concepts of social work professionals and addressees (families) of family-related services
- Significance of these models and concepts for addressing and reaching families
- Development potential for better outreach, especially to groups or individuals considered difficult to reach
- Addressing in existing (online) family education and counselling services
The sub-project is carried out in a mixed-methods design, whereby the DJI is primarily dedicated to the quantitative part of the project in the form of standardized online surveys of professionals and parents in family-related services of social work, as well as a secondary data analysis of the DJI AID:A survey (Growing up in Germany: Everyday Lives). This involves close cooperation with the qualitative part of the project at HAW Landshut. The results of the data analysis and interpretation are brought together again in the course of the process, jointly determined and enriched. The joint output will be, besides journal papers and participation at national and international conferences, a handout for social work professionals and teaching materials for students based on the results. These are to be tested and implemented at HAW Landshut.
Bauer, Petra, & Wiezorek, Christine. (2017). Familienbilder zwischen Kontinuität und Wandel. Analysen zur (sozial-)pädagogischen Bezugnahme auf Familie. Beltz Juventa.
Bird, Katherine, & Hübner, Wolfgang. (2013). Handbuch der Eltern- und Familienbildung mit Familien in benachteiligten Lebenslagen. Barbara Budrich.
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