Research on out-of-home child care has revealed that foster care programmes focused on educational attainment and reading have the potential to improve the academic outcomes of children in care. However, no studies have examined which elements of these programmes positively benefit children's emotional well-being. This article presents evidence of the positive effects of implementing a successful educational action, dialogic literary gatherings, in a children's residential care institution. A qualitative study using a communicative-oriented methodology was conducted and involved five participant observations and eight daily life stories with children in out-of-home care in Catalonia (Spain). The children's reflections demonstrated that reading classic books, such as Dickens' Oliver Twist, deeply influenced their feelings and self-conceptions and created new and exciting meaning in their lives. KEYWORDS academic skills, classic literature, dialogic literary gatherings, emotional well-being, out-of-home child care

No abstract

Since the beginning of Social Work, the importance of research as a tool to achieve its objective has been stressed: social change based on the defense of human rights and social justice. However, a gap between research and professional practice persists. Given this situation that limits its capacity for transformation, Social Work has not remained static, but has sought ways to overcome it. This article presents the Communicative Methodology and its already demonstrated social impact, as a way to contribute to the reduction of the gap between research and practice. Although the first study based on it focused on the Roma people, it is currently being carried out in almost all the contexts in which Social Work intervenes. Given the importance of respecting the principles of Social Work to achieve its objectives, the article explores the fit of the Communicative Methodology in research in this discipline. For this, the principles and objectives of Social Work established by the IFSW are related to those of this methodology.

No abstract