Behavioral social work: Where has it been and where is it going?

Abstract

Many people outside of social work are surprised to learn that social workers have been employing behavioral methods for nearly 40 years to address individual, couple, family, community, and social issues, and that social workers have been important contributors in the field. In 1987, Jon Bailey wrote in an editorial comment: I had a stereotype of social workers as do-gooders who stood in the way of effective behavioral treatment.... As it turns out, a significant core of academicians, researchers, and practitioners in social work supports a behavioral approach. Their literature substantial and centers of behavioral training in social work exist around the country. (Baily, 1987, p. 207) Today the contributions and efforts of behavioral social workers are still not widely recognized. The purpose of this review to describe the history of behavioral social work, its current status, and future directions. HISTORY OF BEHAVIORAL SOCIAL WORK Behavioral methods were first introduced to social work by Edwin J. Thomas (1967), a professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work, in a book titled The Socio -Behavioral Approach and Applications to Social Work. The publications of this work coincided with a growing demand in social work for more empirical research and offered a nice fit with the scientist-practitioner model of practice which was becoming increasing popular. In addition, the behavioral approach was consistent with two key values in social work (Gambrill, 1995). The first emphasizes the importance of the person-in-environment perspective, i.e., the idea that treatment needs to address environmental issues that impede a person's ability to improve their life. The behavioral approach provided a framework and a technology to do this. Second, social workers talk about starting where the client is and the importance of individualized assessment and treatment. This also was consistent with the newly emerging behavioral approach. Soon other faculty at the University of Michigan adopted a behavioral approach and a cohort of social work doctoral students interested in behavioral treatment were drawn to study in Ann Arbor (Gambrill). The infusion of behavioral methods into social work occurred quickly. A survey conducted in 1978 indicated that social learning theory, which forms the basis of behavioral social work practice, was the preferred theoretical orientation for one third of the social workers sampled (Jayaratne, 1978). Courses on behavioral treatment were added to social work curricula (Thyer & Bronson, 1981), textbooks emphasizing behavioral methods appeared (Rose, 1977; Wodarski & Bagarozzi, 1979), and articles by behavioral social workers were published in key social work journals. The emphasis during this time was clearly on how to transfer the knowledge from applied behavior analysis to typical social work practice environments. For example, guidelines on the use of behavioral methods in practice settings were developed (Gambrill, Thomas & Carter, 1971; Thomas & Walter, 1973). Efforts were directed at using behavioral methods to treat marital difficulties (Thomas, 1977; Stuart, 1980), child management concerns (Dangel & Polster, 1984, 1988), teen pregnancy (Schinke, 1984), smoking cessation/prevention (Doueck, Schinke, Gilchrist, & Snow, 1988), obsessive-compulsive disorders (Steketee, 1987), and caring for the elderly (Pinkston & Linsk, 1982). In 1987 a special issue of the Journal of Social Service Research edited by Bruce Thyer and Walter Hudson presented an overview of the empirical research in behavioral social work. Some of the topics included treating chronic psychiatric and obsessive-compulsive disorders, parenting difficulties, treatment compliance problems, sexual dysfunction, drug and alcohol abuse, and urinary incontinence in the elderly. The excitement of the early years of behavioral social work reflected in the hundreds of similar articles authored by social workers (Thyer, 1981), the election of a social worker to serve as president of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy (i. …