Abstract
This article examines how knowledge gathering is organized when interviewing a client and designing a treatment plan. When the focus of social work practice is upon adaptation (e.g., achieving a goodness-of-fit), knowledge gathering is organized by the presenting problem or need and the social worker’s expertise on human functioning. When the focus of social work practice is upon identity formation (as advocated by postmodern approaches), knowledge gathering is organized by the client’s dreams/goals and the client’s preferred identity (of who she or he would like to be). Within these postmodern approaches, practice falls into three much different broad phases, encapsulated by the terms “confront, generate, solidify.”
Highlights
This article examines how knowledge gathering is organized when interviewing a client and designing a treatment plan
What is the nature of these differences, and are they significant? Postmodern social work practitioners assert a paradigm shift in understanding is necessary in order to understand these differences and successfully apply the above approaches (De Jong & Berg, 2008; Weick, Kreider, & Chamberlain, 2006; White & Epston, 1990)
One reason concerns over identity gain such prominence in postmodern practice is because the humanities offer us a much different theory to explain the fundamental causes of human action than Newtonian notions of cause-effect
Summary
There is no “problem-solving” phase in the generalist process steps. The social worker gathers information concerning possible impediments to this level of functioning once the client is to return home (e.g., stairs, lives alone, etc.) and seeks remedies to address these impediments This hospital social work case example may serve to illustrate the notion of “starting where the client is” within a modernist context when developing goals with the client. Drawing upon the work of Foucault (1991/1975, 1994a/1963, 1994b/1966) and his notion of a discourse that shapes knowledge generation, the postmodern critique argues that the dominant discourse circulating within a societal setting (in this case, themes of adaptation and cause-effect) will shape the knowledge generation of all the parties involved: clients and the social worker are affected According to this critique, when “starting where the client is,” the client is starting within the dominant discourse and his/her goals will reflect this. As will be elaborated shortly, postmodern practice consists of examining this discourse, and confronting it when it acts to disempower the client
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