Conversational Democracy: Facilitating Children's ‘Unprompted Talk’ in Social Work Dialogues

Kristina Edman

doi:10.1111/cfs.13318

journal article Open Access Jul 17, 2025

Conversational Democracy: Facilitating Children's ‘Unprompted Talk’ in Social Work Dialogues

Kristina Edman

Child & Family Social Work Vol. 31 No. 2 pp. 892-903 · Wiley

View at Publisher Save 10.1111/cfs.13318

Abstract

ABSTRACT
In child and family social work dialogues, social workers address topics that are relevant to children's well‐being and safety. In doing so, they inevitably prioritize one conversational direction over another. This means that while one topic is being addressed, other possible topics are put on hold or are simply never developed. To mitigate the risk of overlooking important issues and thereby safeguarding children's well‐being and safety, it is essential that social workers create conditions that encourage children's unprompted talk, allowing them to express their views freely. Thus, this study seeks to identify and characterize social workers' conversational contributions that facilitate children's ‘unprompted talk’ in child and family social work dialogues. The dataset consists of 22 extant audiovisual recordings of child and family social work dialogues at social services departments and mental health clinics. Following microanalysis of face‐to‐face dialogues, five conversational contributions emerged as significant: (1) challenging, (2) appreciating, (3) elaborating, (4) providing space and (5) advocating. The results may be used to facilitate children's unprompted talk in child and family social work dialogues, thereby safeguarding their well‐being and safety, while also fostering their intrinsic right to express their views freely in all matters affecting them, in other words, conversational democracy.

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Details

Published: Jul 17, 2025
Vol/Issue: 31(2)
Pages: 892-903
License: View

Authors

K

Kristina Edman

Department of Social Work Malmö University Malmö Sweden; HØKH Department of Health Services Research Akershus University Hospital Nordbyhagen Norway

Cite This Article

Kristina Edman (2025). Conversational Democracy: Facilitating Children's ‘Unprompted Talk’ in Social Work Dialogues. Child & Family Social Work, 31(2), 892-903. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.13318

Conversational Democracy: Facilitating Children's ‘Unprompted Talk’ in Social Work Dialogues

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