The reality of relationships with young people in caring professions: A qualitative approach to professional boundaries rooted in virtue ethics

The rigidity of professional boundaries have been critiqued in previous work and alternative models and metaphors have been offered, however few are rooted in empirical research that highlights normative practices. In this article, professional boundaries are examined in light of an ethnographic study into youth work practice in the UK. The quasi-quantitative language around boundaries (e.g. someone is ‘too close’ to a client) can be considered unhelpful and fail to reflect the complex reality of youth workers' practice (and those of wider caring professions), where relationships between youth worker and young person are based on multiple interrelated aspects. It is suggested, therefore, that a qualitative approach to boundaries is adopted based on interactions that differ in kind rather than quantity. This approach to boundaries is then rooted in virtue ethics to provide a framework that makes the adoption of qualitative professional boundaries plausible.