The social worker's experience of an interprofessional community of practice within safeguarding adults– an exploratory case study

Previous ways of working continue to shape the landscape of social work practice in a dynamic environment including how professionals work together. This view is supported by local, national, and international perspectives and a clear message in the Care Act 2014 that safeguarding adults necessitates effective interprofessional working, however, abuse continues and the response by professionals remains under scrutiny. This study is underpinned by the need for social work education to inform and be informed by contemporary practice. Within a constructivist paradigm, the research utilises a single context case-study methodological approach using the lens of Communities of Practice to explore the reports of social workers lived experience of IPW. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 10 social workers with responsibility for safeguarding adults to inform the pedagogic decisions for social work education. The three modes of identification were used as a framework to understand and present the story of the participant’s experiences. The first engagement described IPW as a relational and proactive experience within a challenging environment; but it was from the repeated enactment of participation that professionals developed authentic relationships; a sense of personal connectedness. The second, alignment, reflected the construction, negotiation of practice and how sharing understanding, and knowledge can influence the alignment of a joint body of knowledge and practice and knowledgeability within a wider IPW community. The final theme of imagination shed light on how social worker’s experience of practice can inform social work pedagogy, highlighting the importance of professional identity, supporting resilience through supportive leadership, reflective spaces that enable the development of personal connectedness and knowledgeability, supporting students to practice courageously and to challenge respectfully in a complex environment. The original contribution to knowledge of this study highlights a need for a shift in our understanding of IPW to an interconnected understanding of individuals and their relationship to others and their wider environment occurring at three levels: the intra-personal, inter-personal and wider level. While there is a boundary between each, they are permeable, and interact. Understanding IPW in this way provides an opportunity to explore the professional discourse underpinning the role of social work focusing on IPW within safeguarding adults; by exploring the tensions of policy and practice and reviewing practice in an active, professional sense and question how we practice, why we do what we do and how to be a social worker. This paradigm does not provide the answer, rather it provides a tool for social work educators, practitioners and students that can help foster a conversation about the tensions and complexities of IPW within safeguarding adult practice.