Generalist Practice and Introductory Theory

1. Generalist Practice and Introductory Theory Chapter 4

2. Introduction • The profession was actually founded on a generalist premise that social workers needed to consider and work with both the individual and the environment as they attempted to improve the life quality and functioning of individuals, groups, and communities.

3. Introduction • When a person comes into a social worker’s office requesting help or when the social worker visits an individual in a homeless shelter, the purpose of the meeting is to enhance the person’s well-being or social functioning. • When the social worker meets with a state legislative committee or a local school board, the professional purpose is to help them design programs that will alleviate poverty and oppression and meet the basic human needs.

4. Introduction • Social workers don’t pick and choose what problems and issues they would like to address. They see a problem, even a very difficult problem, and try to help people solve it. They must prepare themselves to help people with individualized personal problems on the one hand and very broad problems that affect whole organizations and communities on the other. (Kirst-Ashman and Hull)

5. Need for a Theoretical Framework • CSWE has required that schools teach a series of classes under the title of Human Behavior and the Social Environment (HBSE). • HBSE sequence has been a basic mechanism to help the professional focus on the perspective of the person and the environment with a proper understanding of the important interaction that goes on between people and the context in which they live.

6. Need for a Theoretical Framework • Dual perspective: assists the social worker to incorporate theories into practice that explain how individuals grow and develop socially, biologically, emotionally, and spiritually. • The dual perspective has encouraged an understanding of social structures, systems, and cultural norms that play such an important part in the lives of all people.

7. Framework • In the early days of social work the interactive perspective was evidenced in the Charity Organization Societies (COS) and the Settlement House Movement (SHM). • The COS focused on changing the individual, while the SHM chose to change social systems. • An important shift occurred when social work adopted Freud’s psychodynamic model placing a greater emphasis on the individual (medical model approach).

8. Framework • Since the l970’s the profession has added the systems and ecological models as a way of again stressing the importance of balancing the focus of social work practice between the “person” and the “environment”. • Systems theories addresses the impact that organizations, policies, communities, and groups have on individuals. • Ecological theory is a subset of systems theory that makes some important contributions to social work, (micro, mezzo, macro perspectives).

9. Introductory Inner and Outer Forces Paradigm • The inner and outer forces paradigm attempts to explain why people seem to act at times in strange and unpredictable ways. • The basic assumption in the inner and outer forces model is that there are forces developed both within the person and from the person’s environment that cause them to behave in certain ways. • The real origin of the forces may never be identified, but the recognition that the forces exist and continually interact to produce behavior is significant.

10. The framework can assist in assessing and treating problems of a troubled person. • Another use of the inner and outer forces framework is in prevention. • A third use of the inner and outer forces framework is creating a classification system for the new theories that are developing in the area of human behavior.

11. Life Cycle and the Inner and Outer Forces Model • An important addition to the inner and outer forces model is the life cycle concept. • It is recognized that there are stages of human development that seem to be universal. • Erik Erikson, who adapted his formation of a life cycle from basic Freudian theory, developed an eight-stage classification .

12. Eight Stages of the Life Cycle • Trust (0-1 years) • Autonomy (1-3 years) • Initiative (4-6 years) • Industry (7-11 years) • Identity (12-17 years) • Intimacy (18-22 years) • Caring (23-45 years) • Integrity (45 + years)

13. Social Functioning • The inner and outer forces framework is a tool to help the social worker explain some of the reasons why individuals may not function well in their environment. • The aim of social work is to improve and enhance social functioning. • Social work has determined that “social functioning” is its central purpose.

14. Levels of Social Functioning • Social work places its primary attention on an individual’s relationship with other human beings. • It focuses on how and with what effectiveness the person performs various social roles. • Threats to, or actual impairment of, role function are the situations to which the profession addresses itself.

15. Levels of Social Functioning • Social work assumes humanity’s worth and preeminence and takes the position that people inherently have the potential for dealing with their problems. • Social work is not antiseptic. It does not aim to make life free from stress-producing problems or to relieve people of their responsibilities. • Problems can be building blocks. Crises are frequently the mainspring of adaptive behavior.

16. A Base for Generalist Social Work Practice • Generalist social work practice requires the worker both to be able to explain human behavior and to decide on a course of intervention to improve social functioning. • Since the generalist social worker must work with the micro, mezzo, and macro systems, it is important the each new social worker be grounded in the traditional social work methods.