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A case study is reported of a relationship-based early intervention (EI) service for children with complex needs in New Zealand. The purpose of this paper is to explore parent and professional views and perceptions about the key characteristics of a relationship-based EI service.

This qualitative study involved interviews and observations with 39 participants (10 children, 11 parents and 18 professionals).

Parents appreciated the knowledgeable, well-trained professionals who invested time in getting to know (and love) children and families and family practices, worked together in harmony and valued the contribution that parents made to their child’s progress and achievement. Professionals described the key characteristics of the service in terms of the range of therapies offered by the service, the focus on a strengths-based and family-focussed approach, play-based assessments, acceptance and value of family practices (including responsiveness to Maori and bi-culturalism), appropriate and respectful places to meet and greet families and work with children, and recruitment and retention of humble professionals who identified with the ethos of the model. Observable social processes and structures within the delivery of the model include respectful professional interactions and relationships with children and families, integrated professional working, effective and timely communication between professionals and families, pedagogy of listening, waiting and personalisation, engaged families and actively participating children.

This case study emphasises the significance of professional love and relational pedagogy to EI services and the value of this to improving parent-child relationships and children’s long-term outcomes.

This paper aims to describe the evaluation of an innovative pilot mental health service for asylum seeking mothers and their babies in their first year of life, and to highlight the challenges and possibilities when intervening with this group.

A mixed‐methods evaluation was designed based upon the participatory action research framework, viewing mothers and their infants as active participants in the research process. Evaluation comprised reflective infant‐led session evaluations, CARE Index video microanalysis, and reflective focus group discussions. CARE Index analysis was conducted by a trained Psychologist and an external coder to ensure reliability of findings. Focus group discussions were thematically analysed, and reflective infant‐led session evaluations scored for comparison.

Evaluation has highlighted the imperative of designing responsive service models able to adapt to cultural nuances and the realities of asylum seekers' lives. Qualitative data provide a rich narrative of the benefits of therapeutic interventions for this group, which are reaffirmed by CARE Index analysis and session evaluations.

As a pilot service the numbers involved in this evaluation are small. Furthermore, a paucity of measurement tools validated in languages other than English forced reliance upon self‐designed tools such as the reflective infant‐led session evaluation designed to complement a “keeping the baby in mind” ethos of the intervention. This has been complemented by CARE Index analysis and qualitative focus group discussions. The combination of measurement instruments and data analysis tools provides a comprehensive indication of the impact of this pilot intervention.

The benefits and challenges of establishing an early‐intervention therapeutic service for refugee and asylum seeking women and their infants are detailed and reflected upon. It is hoped that by chronicling the experience and findings an evidence base is being built to support development of future innovative service models.

Policy aspirations to meet the needs of refugee and asylum seeking women and their infants identify the need to provide rights‐based, humane and person‐centred services. The pilot model described here meets these aspirations and can be used as an adaptable and responsive model upon which other services can draw.

The paper provides a comprehensive service evaluation, highlighting key policy and practice implications to support the delivery of health and social care services targeting refugee and asylum seeking women and their infants.

This study examines whether recruitment of local managers helps foreign venture capital (VC) firms mitigate the liability of foreignness measured by cultural differences and improves their performance in relationship-based emerging markets such as China.

From a data set comprising 1,939 Chinese portfolio companies with first-round investments by 282 foreign lead VC firms during 2000–2015, the study tracks the outcome of each investment until the end of 2018 and collects the background information of partners of lead VC firms. A survival analysis using the Cox hazard model is conducted.

Cultural differences of the foreign VC's home country, when compared to China, positively influence the success of VC firms. Recruitment of local managers reinforces this positive influence. The influence of local manager recruitment is more pronounced for VC firms with politically connected local managers, during politically uncertain periods, in industries supported by the government, in provinces with high government intervention and in VC firms with decentralized decision rights given to local managers.

This research complements the international business literature on the advantages of hiring local managers and identifies the channels through which local managers help foreign VC firms obtain relationship-based resources. The findings also have practical implications for those foreign investors who intend to enter into relationship-based emerging markets.

This chapter charts the recent evolution of research focused on reflective supervision provided to practitioners delivering services to young children and their families through early intervention programs. The authors explore research focused on defining reflective supervision, identifying five essential elements or “active ingredients” of reflective supervision as a professional development model and demonstrating the impact on practitioners. The impact studies described in this chapter have produced empirical data demonstrating an increase in reflective supervision behaviors as a result of participation. In addition, the studies provide qualitative accounts of practitioners’ experiences, conveying positive effects on intervention practice and reduction of practitioner job stress.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship of leadership styles (paternalistic, authentic and democratic) with relationship-based employee governance and open service innovation.

Data were collected using a structured questionnaire from 422 medical professionals working in the Malaysian healthcare sector.

Results of several statistical analyses showed that the three leadership styles positively influence relationship-based employee governance and open service innovation. Results also confirmed the mediating role of relationship-based employee governance in the relationships between the three leadership styles and open service innovation.

This research used a cross-sectional study design; use of a longitudinal research design in future research can provide a better interpretation of the underlying causality. A policy insight can be drawn from this research to generate awareness about effective leadership styles and the role of relationship-based employee governance in the successful implementation of open service innovation in the Malaysian healthcare sector.

This paper contributes to leadership, open innovation, and organizational governance literature by highlighting how leadership styles affect relationship-based employee governance and open innovation. It also offers policy insights to practitioners in the Malaysian healthcare sector on how to enhance open service innovation outcomes.

Achieving meaningful participation and co-production for older people in care requires radical approaches. The purpose of this paper is to explore an innovation where learning interventions were introduced into care settings and older people matched to community-based learning mentors to develop partnerships. The authors explore how the concept of learning might be used as a paradigm to raise the quality of care in institutionalised settings using a co-productive and relationship-based approach to promote wellbeing.

A structured evaluation drew on qualitative data captured from interviews with older people (n=25) and learning mentors (n=22) to reflect on the potential benefits and challenges involved when introducing learning interventions in care settings. This was contextualised alongside data captured from stakeholders (n=10) including a care home manager, social care and education commissioners, trustees and project staff to assess the interdisciplinary contribution of lifelong learning to quality improvement.

Introducing learning interventions to older people within care settings promoted participation, advocacy and relationship-based care which in turn helped to create a positive culture. Given the current challenges to improve quality in care services, drawing on a paradigm of learning may encourage older people to retain their independence as care homes strive towards a person-centred approach. Promoting social activities and leisure using learning was found to foster closer working relationships between older people and the wider community. These had a levelling effect through reciprocity, using an asset based approach. There were benefits for the care provider as the partnerships formed enabled people to raise both individual and collective concerns about care and support.

Raising and sustaining the quality of support for older people requires input from the wider public sector beyond health and social care. Purposeful engagement with other disciplines such as learning and leisure offers the potential to realise a more sustainable model of user choice, person-centred support and user involvement. Being engaged through learning can nourish membership in the community for marginalised populations such as older people living in care homes.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the position of relationship-based practice in youth justice by looking at how “effective programmes” seem to have been given heightened importance over “effective” young person-worker relationships.

By critically reviewing the literature on the topic, the paper promotes debate on the position of relationship-based practice in youth justice.

It is argued that the young person-worker relationship is very important. A genuine and empathetic relationship can reduce the chances of re-offending and improve the child's personal, social and emotional development. By being respectful and listening attentively to children's “life stories”, barriers can be overcome, potentially resulting in lifestyle, social and behavioural change. However, although there is evidence that developing a trusting relationship is “effective” and that it is a key component of effective practice, what is less clear is how to practically secure the engagement of a child.

In comparison to the emphasis on effective programme intervention, there has been less research done on the “characteristics” of effective staff practice in youth justice.

This paper aims to investigate the socio-psychological systems in organizations that structurally support workplace aggression.

Using both a structural and contextual model of intimate partner violence (IPV), the factors supporting workplace aggression were analyzed. The narratives were provided from the participants’ lived experiences of workplace aggression, producing clear indications of where formal and informal power reside.

The methods of power and control used by workplace perpetrators parallel those illustrated in IPV. The inaction of management and the lack of social support enabled informal power asymmetries and the organizational norm of silence. The findings have implications for how workplaces view and intervene in relationship-based violence.

Workplace aggression has been studied from a conflict management perspective, without exploring the components that enable and support organizational abuse. As a result, organizational responses to workplace aggression have failed to address the complex relationship-based components and consequences. The primary contribution of this study is the disruption of the conflict-based perspective of workplace aggression into a more appropriate framework of violence, power and control.

The purpose of this paper is to report on findings from an evaluative research study which looked at a timed intervention model of practice comprising of up to 24 weeks of intensive meetings with adult service users set up by one local authority in England, to prevent and delay the need for care and support. A particular focus of this paper is on adults who hoard.

The study employed a mixed-methods design, consisting of interviews with service users (n=13), social workers (n=3), social work managers (n=2) and stakeholders from external services and agencies (n=6). It included a costing analysis of staff time and an analysis of goals of service users and “satisfaction with life” self-report questionnaires (n=20), completed at pre- and post-intervention stages.

There was evidence that social workers used strengths, relationship-based and outcome-based focused approaches in their work. The techniques used by social workers to engage, achieve change and assess effectiveness with service users varied. These techniques included the use of photographs to enable the service user to map and assess their own progress over time, encouraging hoarders to declutter and reclaim their living space. The service users valued the time the social workers spent with them and the way that they were treated with sensitivity and respect.

The study focused on one local authority in England; there was no comparison group. This, and the small sample size, means that statistical generalisations cannot be made and only limited conclusions can be drawn from the quantitative data.

The paper provides insights into the work undertaken by social workers with adults who hoard. It contributes to the body of knowledge on effective social work interventions with adults who hoard.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a commentary on Pytlowana and Stenfert Kroese’s article on the experiences of professionals working with parents with learning disabilities by exploring challenges and good practice in this area.

Key areas of practice were identified for further exploration by drawing on research studies with parents with learning disabilities.

While there is growing evidence of good practice around working with parents with learning disabilities, a number of challenges around communication and relationship-based practice remain. The paper recommends further training and education for those working in this complex area of practice.

The paper adds value by bringing together evidence from across a number of studies to highlight good practice.