Theorising Social Work Sense-Making: Developing a Model of Peer-Aided Judgement and Decision Making

• Published in: The British journal of social work 2022-06, Vol.52 (4), p.2329-2347
• Main Author: Helm, Duncan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Decision making; Peer relationships; Professional practice; Sensemaking; Social work
• ISSN: 0045-3102; 1468-263X
• DOI: 10.1093/bjsw/bcab178

Abstract This article addresses the challenges of sense making in social work practice and presents a descriptive model of peer-aided judgement to facilitate critical debate and knowledge creation. The model is founded in Hammond's Cognitive Continuum Theory and developed in direct application to social work practice. It seeks to expand currently available models of social work judgement and decision making to include processes and outcomes related to informal peer interaction. Building on empirical studies and multiple contemporary literatures, a model of peer-aided judgement is hypothesised, comprising four distinct and interacting elements. By modelling these fundamental aspects of the processes and outcomes of peer-aided judgement, this article provides a tool for illuminating the everyday unseen value of peer interaction in practice and a framework for critical debate of dilemmas and propositions for professional judgement in social work practice. This article concludes by examining some of the implications of the model and its potential use in the further development of theory, methodology and practice. This article looks at how social workers make judgements and how the colleagues that they work with may influence those judgements. It starts with a review of research that has previously explored this area, including the author’s own studies, and uses these to highlight some elements of this judgement process that still need to be understood more fully. This article then sets out some of the factors that are thought to influence the judgement process in a simplified model to help to explain them and encourage other people to discuss and explore them. This article considers some of the limitations of the model and concludes by noting that these kinds of judgement processes need to be understood better and that the model may help researchers and practitioners to:   Explore these processes systematically.   Recognise the important role they play in practice.   Consider their role in making judgements in uncertainty.   Understand how interactions with colleagues may influence the way that intuition and analysis are combined.