“It is vital that person-to-person relationships are acknowledged and valued in every interaction as a fundamental aspect of health and wellbeing. We want people to share their own experiences of their working environments to aid our understanding of the important elements of workplace relationships within this sector."

Dr Maeve Hurley

Relationships in Practice Trainer and Founder of Ag Eisteacht

Since then, the Relationships Matter Working Group has been exploring how we can support practitioners’ relationships with each other. Working with Dr Sinéad Hanifan, we have gathered a panel of health and social care professionals in community settings in Ireland to facilitate further research into how we can support practitioners’ relationships with each other.

Using the Delphi research technique, we have designed a scientifically robust measurement tool – the Workplace Relationship Scale – to provide an objective assessment of the quality of work-based relationships.

This is now ready, and we are planning the next steps in this project.

Our goal is to enhance our understanding of the impact that interpersonal relationships in the workplace can have on the health and wellbeing of both service providers and users of their services.

The Workplace Relationships scale includes 51 items across three stakeholder subscales (co-worker, supervisor, manager).
Each subscale can be used separately if required.
Statistical analysis shows that this scale has both construct and content validity and has a high-reliability value as measured by Cronbach’s alpha (ranging from 0.876 to 0.964).

If you are interested in learning more about the Workplace Relationship Scale, please contact Fern Higgins Atkinson on: fern.higginsatkinson@relationshipsinpractice.ie

"Workplace RElationships Matter" - Poster Presentation at University of galway health promotion conference (22nd June 2023)

Our programme manager, Fern Higgins Atkinson and Dr Maeve Hurley, trainer and founder of our programme, attended the University of Galway’s Health Promotion Conference on the 22^nd June 2023 in Galway to present information on our Workplace Relational Scale.

The Workplace Relational Scale measures workplace relationships to inform the development of responsive health and social care interventions. This project has been developed over several years, led by Dr Maeve Hurley and Dr Sinéad Hanafin.

Maeve and Fern had an opportunity to display a poster and explain to delegates the methodology, the results and the impact of the scale on health and social care interventions in practice.

This annual conference provides a platform to highlight cutting-edge research and innovative initiatives, as well as to expand links between knowledge and action, and to broaden connections among a diversity of researchers, policymakers  and practitioners.

It is a great opportunity for Relationships in Practice to share our work and input into relational-based research and practice.

If you are interested in learning more about the Workplace Relationship Scale, please contact Fern Higgins Atkinson on: fern.higginsatkinson@relationshipsinpractice