Caring presence - with Andries Baart and Guus Timmerman

What does it mean to 'practise presence' in caring for others? How did the theory of presence develop from research on everyday care practice? And what are the professional, organisational and political implications of presence theory and relational caring?

These are some of the questions we explore in this episode, with Andries Baart and Guus Timmerman.

Andries is Extraordinary Professor in the field of ageing and generational dynamics at North-West University in South Africa. He is also a former visiting professor at the Department of Psychiatry of the University Medical Centre Utrecht, and Professor Emeritus of the University of Humanistic Studies, Tilburg University, and Catholic Theological University Utrecht – all in the Netherlands. Andries has been one of the leading figures in the development of care ethics in the Netherland and in 2004, with others, he founded Stichting Presentie - the Presence Foundation.

Guus has worked as a care ethicist and qualitative researcher at the Presence Foundation since 2014 and has published widely on relational caring and presence in healthcare and social work, and on the methodology of qualitative research. Guus has undertaken research on the care and practical wisdom of general practitioners at the sick- and death-beds of their patients; the life-world of people in Rotterdam who use the bed-bath-bread provision for irregular migrants and rejected asylum seekers; and what it is like to be a person with advanced dementia. His current research is on narrative accountability in care for older persons: giving insight to relevant interlocutors through stories.

Andries and Guus have collaborated on a new book, Relational Caring and Presence Theory in Health Care and Social Work: a Care-Ethical Perspective, which was published in December last year by Policy Press, and which forms the main focus of our conversation in this episode.

We discuss the following topics in this episode:

Andries' personal and professional journey to his work in care ethics (03:45)

Guus' personal and professional journey (09:15)

The life, work and influence of Frans Vosman (14:20)

The aims of Andries' and Guus' new book (19:55)

The key elements of relational caring and presence theory (23:35)

The origins of presence theory in Andries' study of outreach pastoral care (27:11)

The religious inspiration and secular relevance of presence theory, and the importance of 'exposure' in practising presence (31:18)

The theoretical roots of presence theory (34:53)

Comparing the presence approach with Joan Tronto's five-phase caring process (43:34)

The distinctiveness of the presence approach to care practice (50:07)

The relationship between presence theory and care ethics (46:55)