Strengthening the working alliance between social workers and parents living in households with low income

Although a positive working alliance is important for creating changes for families and individuals, little is known about the various factors that improve the alliance between social workers and parents in vulnerable situations. The Norwegian Directorate of Labour and Welfare has developed a model for Holistic follow-up of Low-income Families (the HOLF model), where parents are followed up by dedicated family coordinators with low caseloads. In this one-year follow-up study, we compared parents’ assessments of the working alliance with their family coordinators to earlier evaluations of their social workers within ordinary services. Using multilevel regression analyses, the study also assessed whether and how the follow-up activities of the HOLF model were associated with changes in parents’ alliance ratings. The data are from surveys conducted among 29 family coordinators and 352 parents. The results demonstrate significant increases in the overall working alliance (WAI-SR) and the goal, task and bond subscales. Of the follow-up activities, creating a family plan with specific goals and clear deadlines shows weak positive association with improved working alliance. We conclude that a dedicated family coordinator with a low caseload seems to be the most important factor in strengthening the alliance.