Using Action Research to Enhance Resilience in a Children's Home: An Exploration of Need, Experience and Role

This paper describes an action research project aimed at enhancing resilience in young people in a residential children's home. Two core areas were explored, namely: the needs of the young people as captured through a resilience framework; and the experiential and role-related issues arising from the attempts to enhance the young people's resilience. The findings showed that the young people faced a number of intrapersonal and interpersonal challenges. Yet, despite a number of organisational and role limitations, the residential social workers were able to respond resourcefully to these challenges by engaging in practices that simultaneously met agency imperatives, therapeutic goals and instrumental needs. (Contains 2 tables.)