Relational Caring and Presence Theory in Health Care and Social Work: A Care-Ethical Perspective

Three decades of neoliberal efficiency thinking about caring and care systems have resulted in a greater need for relationality in healthcare and social work than ever before. These support services extend beyond the giving of care and support to include the development of relationships between caregivers and their care recipients in their socio-institutional contexts.

The culmination of over 30 years of research, this book provides an extensive and critical introduction to relational working in care, education and welfare. It explains what relational work is and proposes a new, human-orientated theory beyond the simple needs provision model. Demonstrating the kind of professionalism required for such work, it explores why it is as important to be present with and for people, especially those in precarious conditions, as it is to give care.

This is essential reading for researchers, educators, quality officers, policy makers, students and practitioners interested in understanding the growing scholarship related to both care theory and presence theory.

Andries Baart is Extraordinary Professor of Intergenerational Care at North-West University and was Visiting Professor at the University Medical Center Utrecht. He founded the Presence Foundation in 2004, a knowledge institute for presence and relational caring. He is Emeritus Professor of Presence and Care at the University of Humanistic Studies, Tilburg University and Catholic Theological University Utrecht.

Guus Timmerman is Senior Research Fellow at the Presence Foundation. He was educated as a physicist, theologian and ethicist and worked as postdoctoral researcher at The Presence Foundation.