Prerequisites for Maintaining Emotion Self-regulation in Social Work with Traumatized Adolescents: A Qualitative Study among Social Workers in A Norwegian Residential Care Unit

Abstract

Many adolescents in residential care have a history of traumatization, often with consequences on regulating emotions, thoughts, behaviors, as well as on establishing healthy relationships. Such evidence-based knowledge has paved the way for various trauma-informed models of care that emphasize the adolescents’ need to be other-regulated through caring adults. Being a “regulating other” requires the ability of self-regulation, which may be challenging for staff faced with intense emotional and behavioral expressions from the adolescents. In this qualitative study, fifteen social workers at a residential care unit for adolescents in Norway were individually interviewed on themes addressing what they perceived as necessary prerequisites for maintaining a regulated state in their context of work. Descriptions were analyzed in accordance with principles for thematic analysis. The informants regarded self-reflection and self-acceptance as essential prerequisites for self-regulation. Other salient themes were associated with having a regulating work environment and a trustworthy theoretical model to be guided by. These findings are important for institutions involved in offering competence building in residential care units and academic institutions that educate social workers, as to include systematic training in self-reflection and self-acceptance skills, to strengthen the ability to be a mature regulating other.

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