How personal constructs about “professional identity” might act as a barrier to multi‐agency working

Abstract

This paper describes a research study that examines how professionals in a multi‐agency Family Support Team (FST) construe their role and the role of the team. The team comprised social workers, assistant social workers, a family therapist, a clinical psychologist and an educational psychologist. The aims of the FST included promoting better family relationships and preventing children being taken onto the care of the local authority; providing timely and culturally sensitive services; reducing the number of children excluded from school; and improving outcomes for excluded children. The use of personal construct psychology and repertory grids enabled team members to give their views about multi‐agency working through sorting tasks involving similarities and differences, discrimination and selection. Differences in ratings of elements for particular constructs produced dilemmas and possible barriers to multi‐agency working, such as whether professional identity should develop as the team evolved or when the team was established.

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