Practising Reflexivity in Health and Welfare

"This promises to be a very important and influential book...The authors write well and deal with difficult and complex ideas in an accessible way and in a way that makes their implications for practice available to practitioners...There has been much discussion in recent years of the notion of the reflexive practitioner but as yet there are few texts available to help practitioners both understand the concept and integrate it directly into their practice. This is thus likely to be a core text for some years to come." - Professor Nigel Parton, University of Huddersfield In recent years, professional practice in health and welfare has come under increasing scrutiny. The dominant response to this has been technical and procedural, as epitomized by the evidence based practice movement. This book offers an alternative, and equally rigorous approach to helping trainers and professionals to understand and analyse their practice. Drawing on a hitherto under-utilized literature about argument and persuasion, originating in qualitative research, ethnomethodology, conversation analysis and discursive psychology, the book provides a new and original perspective on the concept of professional reflexivity. It explores, not only how knowledge is used in professional practice, but how it is made and generated in everyday encounters. It will be a valuable resource for practitioners in health and welfare as well as students in health and social science disciplines.