An exploration of how forum theatre can be used to support trainee social workers' resilience

Abstract

Background
The social work profession continues to experience retention and recruitment difficulties and issues with sustainability within the workforce (McFadden et al., 2024). Trainee social workers need to be supported in terms of traversing the contemporary challenges in practice and need resilience-building skills and opportunities during their social work education.

Aim and Objectives
The aim of this interdisciplinary study was to explore the potential of Forum Theatre and how it might support undergraduate student social workers’ resilience. Forum Theatre is an applied drama method from Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed (Boal, 1979). In this research, Forum Theatre workshops were used to examine real, complex practice issues along with veteran experienced practitioners and students in Northern Ireland.

Methodology
This was qualitative ethnographic research using workshops, observations, video recordings and semi-structured interview methods (Creswell, 2006). An established theoretical framework was used to test the hypothesis and efficacy of the Forum Theatre techniques with the participants. The data was analysed using thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2022), a coding framework applied and themes synthesised from the qualitative data (O’Connor and Joffe, 2020).

Results
The findings suggest a positive evaluation of this technique and nuanced knowledge exchange between participants. In the workshops there was experiential learning and reflection in and on action (Schon, 1983). The findings identified precursors for resilience in relationship building, critical thinking, empathy and metacognition. There were opportunities for sharing tacit knowledge, embodied learning and praxis. This was a small-scale qualitative study and not knowing the long-term efficacy of this method for resilience is a limitation.

Conclusion
The study supports the value of interdisciplinary learning using drama, and particularly Forum Theatre, in social work education. This is consistent with other disciplinary research findings using this method and the results contribute to the growing empirical data emerging in this field.

Thesis is embargoed until 28th February 2027

Date of Award	Feb 2025
Original language	English
Sponsors	Atlantic Technological University
Supervisor	Paula McFadden (Supervisor) & Tom Maguire (Supervisor)