Does knowing translate to doing? Practitioners’ experiences of Circle of Security‐Parenting (COS‐P) training and implementation

This study sought to understand how practitioners perceive and experience the Circle of Security‐Parenting (COS‐P) training, and further, how they integrate and implement it into practice, and how these experiences influence their use and understanding of the program and its underlying model. A thematic analysis of semistructured interviews at two time points (shortly after training and 3–6 months after training) was used to explore 12 practitioners’ experiences of COS‐P training and subsequent implementation. Three main themes were identified; clinical salience, personal salience, and partial use of the program. The findings reflected participants’ common perception that the model is relevant and generalizable to a wide variety of contexts. It also highlighted potential barriers to implementation, particularly practitioners’ experiences using only components of the COS‐P program in isolation. The results suggest practitioners’ assumptions about client complexities, vulnerabilities, and/or incapacities, can prompt practitioners to withhold the use of COS‐P (in part or whole), thereby potentially neglecting key components required for client change. The only participants who implemented the COS‐P training in full had additional training in Circle of Security.