Upcoming activities
CA online data sessions
We run regular online data sessions where we collaboratively analyze social work interaction from different institutional and national settings. If you want to participate in data sessions, please contact SAJO@ucsyd.dok to be added to the data session email list in order to get invitations to sessions and the possibility to sign up for presentations of data.
Members’ meeting
The next members’ meeting will be on the 24th of April (online). Information will be sent in advance to everyone on the members’ email list.
CASW online conference
We look forward to the 4th online conference of Conversation Analysis and Social Work (CASW)! The conference will take place on the 20th of November, 2025. Confirmed keynote: Marie Flinkfeldt. More information, including a call for abstracts, will follow soon.
Past activities
Members’ meeting 14th of November
We met online on the 14th of November for a regular members’ meeting. This is a summary of what was discussed:
Agenda
1. Welcome and introductions
2. Agenda setting
3. Updates, successes, celebrations
Eve & Steve: published re: praise in probation practice, and doing KEI workshops based on the CARM method. Have done the first one in Jersey (with original team involved in the research).
Mullins, E., Kirkwood, S., & Raynor, P. (2024). Positive reinforcement in probation practice: The practice and dilemmas of praise. Probation Journal. https://doi.org/10.1177/02645505241241587
Elin: Have been running CARM workshops with care managers in more municipalities. Participants are really interested in being involved, and requested to be involved. Also have published an article:
Nilsson, E., & Olaison, A. (2023, July). “I See What You Mean”—A Case Study of the Interactional Foundation of Building a Working Alliance in Care Decisions Involving an Older Couple Living with Cognitive Decline. In Healthcare (Vol. 11, No. 15, p. 2124). MDPI.
Madeleine: Analysis of adoption assessment interviews, combination of content analysis and conversation analysis. Nordic social work research.
Wirzén, M. (2024). Performing the ideal adoptive parent in Swedish adoption assessment interviews. Nordic Social Work Research, 1-22.
Clara: Publication on social robots:
Iversen C, Persson M, Redmalm D. (2024) Playful framings of social robots in dementia care: reconsidering the principle of transparency in interactions with robot animals. Ageing and Society. Published online 1-22. doi:10.1017/S0144686X24000539
Jon: On a funding application for a project around training professionals on engaging fathers, building from Jon’s PhD.
Marie & Clara: Published a paper on racism (responses to callers making racist comments) that was first presented at ECSWR:
Iversen, C., Flinkfeldt, M., & Hamed, S. (2024). Dealing with callers’ racialised talk in suicide preventive helplines: Accomplishing (anti) racism in the context of unconditional support. Sociology of Health & Illness. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1467-9566.13789
a. Book update: The editorial group is working on the proposal, have range of abstracts, they all look great. Hoping to submit this side of Christmas to Policy Press.
Proposed title: Unpacking Core Concepts in Social Work: A Conversation Analytic Approach
Chapter outline:
b. CASW conference
20th November 2025
Call for abstracts/ save the date to go out twice. Before Christmas and in the Spring to accommodate people internationally.
Keynote speaker is confirmed: Marie Flinkfeldt
c. Data sessions:
Going really well, handful of people each time and supportive group
Need to set dates for the next year – waiting for members meetings to align the dates.
5. Next meetings
24th April 2025 2-3pm UK time
ACTION:
Jon to set up Teams meeting
Clara to email invitation to member mailing list
6. AOB:
a. ESWRA: a few people have submitted abstracts for this.
ESWRA seminar 3rd of September 2024
The CASW SIG ran an online ESWRA seminar on the 3rd of September (15:00 CEST), giving insight into what CA can contribute to social work practice and research.
This seminar showcased the valuable contribution that Conversation Analysis (CA) offers to understanding social work interactions. CA's focus on in-depth exploration of actual instances of interaction makes it highly relevant for practice, providing insights into how social problems are addressed on an interactional level in social work settings. Furthermore, its collaborative approach to analysis can contribute to the promotion of collaboration between researchers and practitioners. The seminar first introduced CA as a research method in social work and shared findings from current conversation analytic research by members of the CASW SIG team on warmth, respect, and trust as interactional phenomena in social work encounters. Finally, we discussed the contributions, prospects, and challenges of CA research in social work.
Introduction to conversation analysis as a research approach in the field of social work/Jon Symonds, University of Bristol.
Presentation 1: Warmth and respect in social work practice/Steve Kirkwood, Eve Mullins, University of Edinburgh.
Presentation 2: Trust as an interactional phenomenon in social work encounters/Sabine Ellung Jørgensen, University of Copenhagen.
Discussion of the contributions, prospects, and challenges of CA research in social work
More information about this seminar and others is available on the ESWRA website: https://www.eswra.org/seminars.php
Book workshop 26th of March
The CASW SIG steering committee has started planning for a joint book that takes a Conversation Analytic approach to some of the core concepts in social work. In doing so, we hope to make a distinctive contribution to the literature by showcasing the insights of a CA approach in the field of social work. In this online book workshop (Tuesday 26th March at 2.00pm UK / 3.00pm CET), we discussed some of the key concepts that will be included, as well as participants’ views and ideas on these and other concepts, and gathered interest in contributing chapters about any of the concepts that will be included in the book. If you have further ideas for a potential contribution to the book, please get in touch (by emailing SAJO@ucsyd.dk).
SIG event at ECSWR in Vilnius, Lithuania 17th of April: Social Work Communication Training Using Conversation Analysis
We were delighted to host our very first conference event as a Special Interest Group at the European Social Work Research Association, which went on for a full day as part of the SIG events programme on the 17th of April. The event was hybrid.
Our theme for the day was Social work communication training using conversation analysis. This event focused on teaching of communication skills in social work, and how conversation analysis can be a useful foundation for research-based teaching. In providing detailed and tangible data-driven knowledge about how social interaction between social workers and clients works in practice, conversation analysis is an approach that is naturally fitted to communication skills training in social work programs. This year’s CASW SIG event offered the possibility to share ideas and experiences about how to develop research-based teaching of communication skills, and discuss how we use CA in this area.
This was the schedule for the day:
9.30–10.00 Welcome and introductions – Jon Symonds, Chair
10.00–10.20 Title tbd (Topic: Using CA in social work communication training) – Justin Canty
10.20–10.40 Using CA in social work communication training: The Linköping experience – Elin Nilsson
10.40–11.00 Attempts to use apply conversational sequences in the teaching of communication and interviewing skills – Jon Symonds
11.00–11.20 From role-play to analysis: Using CA in communication skills training with first year students – Clara Iversen & Marie Flinkfeldt
11.20–12.00 Joint discussion: Experiences and ideas on the applicability of CA in teaching – led by Marie Flinkfeldt
12.00–1.00 Lunch break
1.00–2.30 Data session: Communication training in practice – led by Sabine Jørgensen & Clara Iversen
2.30–3.30 Special interest group members’ meeting, chaired by Jon Symonds
3.30 Finish – Jon Symonds, Chair
Thanks to everyone who joined us!
