Observation in Health and Social Care: Applications for Learning, Research and Practice with Children and Adults

One of the key skills in effective health and social care is accurately identifying and assessing the client's needs. This theoretically informed guide will show you how to enhance and apply these pivotal observation skills in a variety of challenging health and social settings with children, families and adults.

Foreword - Gillian Ruch. 1. Introduction. Observation for our times - Clare Parkinson, Lucille Allain and Helen Hingley-Jones. PART I: Observation, Learning and Teaching. 2. From observation, via reflection, to practice: psychoanalytic baby and young child observation and the helping professions - Helen Hingley-Jones. 3. 'To know', 'to do' and 'to be': Learning through observation in medical training, teaching, midwifery and social work - Lucille Allain. 4. 'How does it feel?' Best Interests Assessors observe adult group care - Clare Parkinson. 5. The Sociological Turn- Observations on a broader canvas - Patricia Cartney, Manchester University. PART II: Observation and Practice. 6. Work with troubled adolescents: observation as a key skill for practitioners - Stephen Briggs, University of East London. 7. Observation, attention and awareness: emotional states and bodily clues - Graham Music, Tavistock and Portman Clinics. 8. Applied psychoanalytic observation in practice with younger people affected by dementia - Claire Kent, Tavistock Centre. 9. The use of observation in developing parenting capacity - Duncan McLean and Minna Daum, Anna Freud Centre. PART III: Observation and Research. 10. Soft Eyes: Observation as Research - Andrew Cooper, Tavistock Centre and University of East London. 11. Conclusion - Lucille Allain, Clare Parkinson and Helen Hingley-Jones.