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1. 1 Using Theories in Social Work I
Lecture 1
Introduction to the Unit
Why Are Theories and Methods Important to Social Work?
Nigel Horner
(with grateful acknowledgements to the work of Phil Lee)
2. 2
3. 3 What has changed in 50 years? Indeed we have only the most general ideas of what we are trying to produce, what constitutes the essential skill of the social worker, and consequently still more varied ideas of how to set about it (Younghusband, 1959:28)
Plus Ca Change?
4. 4 Why Does all this matter? What Are We Meant to be Doing? “The Social Work profession promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well –being. Utilising theories of human behaviour and social systems, social work intervenes at the point where people interact with their environments. Principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work”
International Association of Schools of Social Work and International Federation of Social Workers, 2001
5. 5 The Key Concepts………… The goal: Social Change……Problem Solving…… Empowerment and liberation……….but how?
The process:
Making Sense of “What’s Going On”? (Theories of Explanation), leading to:
Ideas of “What Are We Going to Do About It?” (Methods of Intervention) and then to:
Ideas of “How are We Going to Do It?” (Practice Techniques in your toolkit)
6. 6 So, why does this matter?
As practitioners, you will constantly be confronted with scenarios of complexity and confusion.
An Example: George is aged 82, a widower, a black British citizen, born in Jamaica, and now in hospital following a stroke. He needs a discharge plan.
So, the big question: What’s Going on?
7. 7 We might have thought about…….. UK’s ageing population, black elders; expectations of older people, of older men; theories of the life course, gerontology; loss and bereavement, or psychological risk and old age; or people in shock, in crisis, about institutionalisation and disempowerment; of fear and anxiety
What about values; about social v. medical models of making sense of need; talk about social policy contexts: Health Targets, Delayed Discharges, about Independence, Well-being and Choice and other policy perspectives.
THIS IS ALL THEORY OF EXPLANATION
8. 8 2 So what is theory?
Surely in social work it’s just common-sense what to do?.............is it?
Think of a friend/work colleague whom think may have a ‘problem’ – he / she seems dishevelled; looks worn out; seems withdrawn, distracted.
You feel you need to try to help – offer advice – on what basis?
You try to enquire – ask a few questions – listen to the answers
You reflect – somewhat like researchers have to - to be a human is to engage in research!
9. 9 Understanding/Action – like Action Research?
You will enter a process which could be diagrammatised like this:
Hypothesis
I
Action
I
Monitoring Reaction
I
Revising Hypothesis
I
New Action
I
Verification
10. 10 What Resources are you drawing upon for your initial hypothesis and subsequent advice?
Is it simple common-sense – how to understand a person who is ‘depressed’ – if that is what they are?
Is your advice simply based on common-sense – on your own experiences?– you may never have been in any such similar situation
If it is simple common-sense – the role of the social worker is simple and straight-forward
11. 11 THEORY(IES) You may or may not be aware of it
BUT
You are drawing on various concepts and theories
Possibly not very well formulated ones – but theories and concepts nonetheless
This module will help you possibly be more systematic in thinking which theories are the most appropriate and which methods of intervention an be applied
12. 12 Another Reason why it’s not common-sense
What counts as common-sense changes dramatically e.g. it used to been as common sense, and indeed a moral duty, that teachers should cane and physically chastise children…..not even for “bad” behaviour but because they got something “wrong”
Consequently, theories change too
We – YOU – need to understand the content of certain theories that are used conventionally in social work
13. 13 3Theory and Practice in Social Work In social work we need to comprehend theory not just in a distanced sense in order to be able to understand the world and people’s problems.
BUT also to be able to DO SOMETHING about those problems
So let us go back to our example of the work colleague whom we think might be ‘depressed’
14. 14 DEPRESSED ? A recent article in the Guardian estimated that large sections of the UK’s working population were drinking excessively to mask underlying depressions.
This is a quite common type of media claim at the present time – becoming a kind of “common-sense” if endorsed and repeated
So we might, by reading this article and attaching its meaning to our friend, begin to attribute the symptoms of depression to his /her appearance, and link this to a concern about alcohol consumption.
We developed a hypothesis, a THEORY OF EXPLANATION
15. 15 Methods of Intervention
Public Services are just that…they offer a service, they respond, they INTERVENE
So if our Hypothesis is linking our friend’s presentation to alcohol use, caused by underlying depression, then what intervention would be appropriate? Medication? Talking Therapies? Group Therapy? Exercise? Change of Diet?
What Works? What is Most Effective?
But our hypothesis may be completely wrong! Our THEORY OF EXPLANATION may be misguided!
We are now at the core of this Module – we hope to supply you with an overview of the types of theories and methods that social workers have conventionally claimed to utilise in their practice
16. 16 Rest of this lecture will be an attempt to examine how previous thinkers and contemporary text books have classified social work theories Various Classifications by commentators of theories in social work
A simple continuum of interventions
Howe’s Classification
Payne’s Classifications
Healy’s Classifications
17. 17 i) A simple continuum
Individualistic Socio- Institutional Structural
cultural
Individuals Families; networks Schools; Communities Social orders
Helpful as a guide but simplistic
Need to recognise that problem maybe structural but social workers often HAVE to work with individuals, families etc
18. 18 ii) Howe’s Classification
19. 19 Commentary on Howe
This is an interesting classification although:
The majority of immediate ways of working with users is in the bottom sections
Categories are OK if not regarded as exclusive – need to accept that some social work theory will contain aspects of more than one
In Fixers there are some very odd bed-fellows – with quite dramatically different understandings of what needs to be worked with and how
20. 20 iii) Payne’s Classifications (1) The Nature of Social Work:
i) Reflexive-Therapeutic – therapeutic helping; personal development – emotions
ii) Socialist/Collectivist - transformational or emancipatory practices
iii) Individualist/Reformist – maintenance of order practices
See page 8-12 of Payne for discussion
21. 21 iii) Payne’s Classification/Analysis of Social Work Theories
22. 22 Evaluation of Payne’s Contribution
This makes some real sense to me – inclusive theories allowing the INCLUSION of elements of other theories
It allows us to get some grasp as to both what social work is and what people who call themselves social workers – or their purse holders – believe they are doing
We should not assume that these categories are exclusive though – one might largely be influenced by a socialist-collectivist understanding of the world – but recognise that people have emotions and interpersonal needs – so therefore INCLUDE elements of other theories – see point one above
23. 23 iv) Healy’s Contribution
To understand this we need to understand the concept of discourse
Healy suggests that to understand modern social work we need to understand three different types of discourse
Discourse are “structures of knowledge, claims and practices through which we understand, explain and decide things…frameworks or grids…that make some actions possible while excluding others.” (Parton, 1994, p 13)
These three are 1) overall societal; 2) service and 3) alternative service discourses
24. 24 1 Overall Societal Discourses
Overall societal discourses – presently these are biomedicine; economics and the law – affecting for example, how we see ‘who the client is’ and why they are in a client status e.g. are they competent?; sane?; socially deprived, etc?
These discourses do not just influence social work but all aspects of our social order, and the social work profession is generally subservient to activities of the medical, legal and policy making professions.
Large parts of your degree are concerned with unpacking the influence of these discourses on the contemporary activities of social workers and related professionals.
25. 25 2 Service Discourses
Service discourses – these are concerned more with how social workers make sense of, and work with, the issues they are legitimated to tackle
Such discourses are largely derived from psychology and sociology – although they are influenced also by other social science disciplines. This unit will explore the most important of these discourses/theories
It is these that Payne and Howe have attempted to classify
26. 26 3 Alternative Service Discourses
alternative service discourses – social work has also been influenced by discourses derived from social movements – such as the consumer rights movement - the recent importance of user involvement and anti-oppressive practice. A recruit entering the profession 25 years ago or more would never have been informed about such matters!
In this category of alternative service discourses, we can also discern the influence of religious and spiritual concerns. This unit will also explore some of the major impetuses behind such discourses as well as their contemporary form, content and impact.
27. 27 Evaluation of Healy
This is a hard but very instructive and helpful contribution
For it allows us to see what influences/effects social work from the outside – the law; bio-medicine – and how this will necessarily have implications for the theories social workers will have to use as well as may want to
By also using the concept of discourse it also allows to be fully aware why some theories have become popular with contemporary social workers whilst others have faded in their influence e.g. importance of anti-oppressive theories, and decline in use of psycho-dynamic
28. 28 Conclusion
This lecture has:
introduced the unit ;
examined what theory is and how social workers necessarily use it and need to understand various theories to inform their practice;
has introduced the idea of methods of intervention that shape practice; and
in doing this we have begun to explore how each of us understands what social work is and what it is we are, or are trying to, do within it
