Sponsor
Portland State University. Social Work and Social Research Ph. D. Program
First Advisor
Ben Anderson-Nathe
Term of Graduation
Summer 2026
Date of Publication
8-7-2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Social Work and Social Research
Department
Social Work
Language
English
Subjects
Intersubjectivity, Lived experience, Relational practice, Social work, Transgender
Physical Description
1 online resource (ix, 366 pages)
Abstract
Lived experience is increasingly understood as a critical resource for social work research, education, and practice. However, it is often positioned as external to the profession, implicitly excluding social workers themselves as holders of lived experience. This erasure is particularly consequential for transgender social workers and others who occupy marginalized identities. This dissertation sought to challenge that erasure by engaging hermeneutic phenomenology as methodology to explore transgender social workers' experience of intersubjectivity in their everyday practice. By exploring moments of relational connection and rupture, this project sought to illuminate how implicit assumptions about who social workers are become visible in practice.
Findings highlighted three key dimensions of intersubjective experience: authenticity, connection, and fracture. Authenticity was foundational, creating the "breathing room" that allowed trans social workers to engage their practice in a different way. This capacity for authenticity in practice allowed for deep intersubjective connection, particularly between transgender social workers and transgender clients. These connections created therapeutic relationships grounded in protection and care. Finally, intersubjective fractures — disorienting relational "fault lines" — created disconnection in relationships and revealed institutional constraints, at the same time as they illuminated new spaces for a different kind of social work practice.
Together, these findings illustrate that lived experience is an essential element of all social workers' practice, structuring how they orient themselves within their work. The experience of transgender social workers specifically describe how experiences of disorientation in intersubjective relationships can form an important epistemic base for social work practice. This type of dis-epistemology suggests that an authentic not-knowing may offer different possibilities for social work education, practice, and research.
Rights
© 2026 A.P. Spoth
In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/45125
Recommended Citation
Spoth, AP, ""Family Takes Care of Family": Transgender Social Workers' Experience of Intersubjectivity in Practice" (2026). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 7195.