Social Work Theory Research Articles

Theories in Māori social work: Indigenous approaches to working with and for indigenous people

Māori social work practice has been developed upon a strong foundation of indigenous knowledge, theories and values. Theories can be used to validate social work practice and to build and enhance the engagement between workers and whānau. This article describes some Māori social work theories and how they have developed both within the social work world and that of neighbouring professions. A number of theories have been described by Māori social workers from across Aotearoa as the foundations for their social work practice. Theoretical discourse in the world of Māori social workers enables one to grow and develop their practice, leaning on ancestral knowledge and valuing the skills that are gained through understanding tikanga in a contemporary context. Through enhancing one’s knowledge of Te Ao Māori and evidence-based practice, social workers can use, develop and create Māori theories in a social work context for the benefit of Māori whānau and communities.

‘Care is not a dirty word!’ Enacting an ethic of care in social work practice

ABSTRACTWhile ‘care’ has been positioned as a core value of the social work profession since its inception, the increasing influence of neoliberal rationalities have placed care on the periphery of social work theory and practice. Social work scholars have promoted the incorporation of ethic of care theory into direct social work practice as a means of countering the effects of a context that is antithetical to caring practice. I present findings from my Australian study, providing an original contribution by presenting concrete understandings of how social workers enact care in everyday direct social work practice. The study was guided by a grounded theory approach. Fifteen social workers were interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule. The interviews were analysed using constructivist grounded theory techniques. ‘Meeting needs’, ‘just being there for clients’, ‘building relationships with clients’, and ‘going the extra mile’ were some of the ways that participants demonstrated care in their practice. Constraints on care were challenged and resisted by ‘taking a stand’, ‘bending the rules’, ‘picking battles’, ‘justifying care’, and ‘taking risks’.

日本のソーシャルワーク実践 : 理論の継承と創造的発展(大会校企画シンポジウム,大会テーマ:日本のソーシャルワーク実践・理論の本質を探る-専門職(プロフェション)としてのソーシャルワーク再考-,第31回大会報告)

日本のソーシャルワーク実践 : 理論の継承と創造的発展(大会校企画シンポジウム,大会テーマ:日本のソーシャルワーク実践・理論の本質を探る-専門職(プロフェション)としてのソーシャルワーク再考-,第31回大会報告)

Critical Reflexivity beyond the Classroom: Social Work Students' Perspectives of Communities in Kwazulu-Natal

Social work students are expected to adopt a critical reflexive approach in dealing with the development challenges facing communities in contemporary South Africa. As an epistemological position that merges postmodernist thinking with the radical humanist goals of structural social work theory, the concept of critical reflexivity is often conflated with critical reflective competencies in the application of learning. Using qualitative methodology, the authors present 74 students’ experiences of profiling communities in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Three themes emerged from the data distilled through profile reports and interviews: reflexivity and conceptualising community in practice, reflexivity in community profiling, and reflexivity and community needs. The authors conclude that a critically reflexive stance is fundamental for students to adopt in community work practice, and to recognise how their own social and cultural influences contribute to the process of knowledge creation and the promotion of social justice and human rights in communities.

Exploring Use of Self: Moving Beyond Definitional Challenges

ABSTRACTUse of self is a central concept throughout social work history and theory, yet no unified definition and little empirical research exist. Thus, a qualitative exploration was required. Three focus groups (n = 10) were conducted with experienced BSW educators. Participants defined use of self in the context of their students’ beginning social work practice. The findings suggest that use of self incorporates personal self qualities such as openness, self-reflectiveness, attunement to others, commitment, and emotional maturity, and results in professional capacities such as nurturing the social worker–client relationship, reflective practice, and practice wisdom. Use of self is the integration of theory and practice embodied in the social worker and enacted in the worker-client relationship.

Ethics of Care and Statutory Social Work in the UK: Critical Perspectives and Strengths

Definitions of ethics of care are provided and key features outlined. Critical perspectives on ethics of care are explored such as ambiguous meanings, the neglect of surveillance roles in statutory social work, work with reluctant service users, the lack of detailed purpose and goals when considering the relationship between ethics of care, social workers and service users, the possible reinforcement of dependency rather than independence and autonomy. However, ethics of care offer several positives in enabling statutory social work to reclaim its individualistic, ‘care’ roots, and also in emphasising roles in influencing policy, politics and the struggles for equality at individual and institutional levels. They act as a possible alternative to ‘scientific’, bureaucratic, organisational procedures, by concentrating on genuine, human relationships that emphasise care. Common, mutual, interdependent bonds between social workers and service users are highlighted, with a focus on caring practices and activities, accompanied by a potential reduction in professional power and role distance. Finally, consideration is given to some implications for social work theories, statutory social work organisations and the importance of care for social workers themselves.

Inspiring hope through social work practice

Hope has dynamic features that look to the future and motivate people. Yet despite being synonymous with social work, psychological terms have tended to define hope’s perimeters. Its role in social work is often heralded, yet its unique, critical and temporal role has not been well mapped in social work theory. This article explores the use of hope in social work practice. A conceptual framework highlights the richness of hope, its application in social work practice and its position in social work relationships. The implications for direct practice, further research and professional education are also discussed.

Current Trends in Social Work Theory Subjects in Australian Social Work Education

Current Trends in Social Work Theory Subjects in Australian Social Work Education

The Practice Pyramid: A model for integrating social work values, theory and practice

The Practice Pyramid is a learning tool that supports social work students’ ability to integrate their understanding of personal and professional values, theory and practice during field placements. Although it has been used by practice educators in Scotland for over 20 years, it is not well known elsewhere and has yet to be evaluated. This paper, written by a practice educator and a student social worker, describes the Practice Pyramid and provides a case example to illustrate how it contributed to one student’s learning during a practice placement. Four factors that appear to contribute to its success are proposed: its model of pedagogy, the visual and accessible nature of the tool, flexibility and the support it gives to collaborative learning processes. It is suggested that the Practice Pyramid may usefully support learning in a range of social work and non social work contexts, and would benefit from more extensive evaluation of its role in supporting practice - theory integration.Keywords: Practice Pyamid; social work students; field placements; Scotland; collaborative learning

Poverty and the political: wresting the political out of and into social work theory, research and practice

ABSTRACTThis article explores the relations between social work theory, research and practice in regard to poverty, arguing for the need to bring the political back into these three dimensions of the discipline/profession. Throughout the last decades, social work has been treating practice as a discrete technology, and left outside questions stemming from different theoretical approaches regarding the desired relationship between social workers and service users. This trend has divorced practice from its political dimensions. In this article I suggest to bring the political into social work, and specifically to exemplify the implications of using the context of power imbalance as an analytical framework for theory, research and practice with people in poverty. This move is illustrated through the example of a developing paradigm – ‘Poverty Aware Social Work Paradigm’.

James Forte, Skills for using theory in social work: 32 lessons for evidence-informed practice

James Forte, <i>Skills for using theory in social work: 32 lessons for evidence-informed practice</i>

“What Have Animals to Do With Social Work?” A Sociological Reflection on Species and Social Work

Abstract The contributors to Thomas Ryan’s Animals in Social Work offer a challenge to anthropocentrism in social work theory and practice. Because this challenge resonates with the “zoological connection” that confronts anthropocentric sociology, this review article offers a sociological examination of key points raised. In focusing on conceptualizations of the human animal binary, personhood and selfhood, property, ethics, and welfare, this article concludes that nonhuman animals ought to matter to social work. Ryan is right: One day social workers will be incredulous that social work could have overlooked nonhuman animals for so long. Sociologists will be similarly incredulous about anthropocentric sociology.

Using social work theory to engage with gatekeepers in researching the sensitive topic of intra-familial homicide

In approaching the topic of intra-familial homicide with a view to prevention, it is important to understand the long-term patterns of behaviour in families pre-existing the offence. This article explains why it is appropriate for social workers to undertake researching this sensitive issue. It describes a method of using social work theory to engage with gatekeepers to access data and to overcome some of the difficulties that may be encountered in researching closed systems. It concludes by emphasising the need for social work researchers to be creative by incorporating theory in methodology to explore ways of navigating complex systems and enhancing data collection.

Lessons from the Late Erich Fromm

The field of social work is currently wrestling with a number of divergent theories and concepts as it seeks to discover ways of thinking about social issues, client worlds, and best practices. Yet many of those eclectically gathered theories are not aligned logically or philosophically. This has led to a disjointed, ad hoc, and disunited theoretical basis within the field that has, arguably, weakened its collective effectiveness, reputation, and impact. Erich Fromm (1900-1980), a German-born psychoanalyst and philosopher, offers a number of theoretical ideas, stances, and directions that may improve social work’s theoretical underpinnings and perhaps even provide some foundational elements useful for the creation of a unified theory of human functioning in the world. This article explores Fromm’s body of work with the intention of applying a selection of his ideas to social work theory, policy, and practice. Remedies to resolve the bifurcation of psyche-based and society-based theories are discussed. Following this is a presentation of Fromm’s concept of “social character” as well as implications for social work practice.

Toward a Radical Model of Social Work in Rural Communities

ABSTRACT“Rural” areas as distinct from “urban” continue to be defined by greater personal interactions and less emphasis on formal systems of support. This reality rests in contradiction to the overwhelming majority of social work scholarship and theory development which takes place in an urban context. As such the present-day act of being a “social worker” in a rural community can, in many ways, feel like a bad fit, back-applying the model of an urban generalist into an environment whose organic community ties the social work model itself was originally designed to substitute for. In recognition of this, it is necessary to develop a “combined” model of practice for social work with rural communities and peoples. The fundamental distinction to be made is that rural social work, in its most radical form, is less concerned with adapting persons to the Gesellschaft than it is with strengthening the capacity of the Gemeinschaft to provide the kind of support capacity it historically has, taking into account changes and challenges resulting from factors such as globalization, urban sprawl, and cultural change.

Applying critical social work theory in practice

Applying critical social work theory in practice

Epistemology and social work: Integrating theory, research and practice through philosophical pragmatism

Debates regarding theory and practice in social work have often avoided detailed discussion regarding the nature of knowledge itself and the various ways this can be created. As a result, positivistic conceptions of knowledge are still assumed by many to be axiomatic, such that context-dependent and practitioner-oriented approaches to knowledge creation and use are assumed to lack epistemological rigor and credibility. By drawing on epistemology, this theoretical paper outlines the case for a renewed approach to knowledge definition, creation and use within social work by reference to pragmatism. Pragmatism has the potential to act as an organizing theoretical framework, taking account of the role of both ontology and epistemology, acting as a functional methodology for the further enhancement of practice-based knowledge.

Poverty‐aware social work practice: service users' perspectives

AbstractIn recent years, there has been an increase in scholarly writing on the theory and practice of critical social work with people living in poverty. Yet there is a lack of research on the experiences and perspectives of service users regarding this kind of practice. This paper presents a qualitative study that explored the practice of a special poverty‐aware social work programme in Israel, through the experiences of women who took part in it. Using an interpretative interactionist approach, in‐depth interviews with nine women were held three times over a 2‐year period. Findings reveal a high degree of satisfaction with the programme on the part of the women. The satisfaction was derived from four main experiences: the experience of visibility, the experience of the active partnership in the fight against poverty, the experience of close, hierarchy‐challenging relationships, and the experience of responsiveness to material and emotional needs. The findings are discussed in terms of three principles of practice: intervention in a real‐life context, relationship‐based intervention and the focus on both the material and emotional needs and their fulfilment.

Social work, contradiction and belief: The liminal space between faith and fact

ABSTRACTThis article considers a commonplace aspect of conversation as a marker of spiritual experience with significance for social work theory and practice. Working from the notion of spirituality as an active construction of meaning in which sectarian belief and practice play a non-essential role (if any), data from a series of interviews with bereaved research participants are used to explore statements denoting a problematization of linear rationality through their assertion of consciously unresolved paradoxicalities. Specifically, this involves statements regarding the meaning and significance of the dead body and its connection to the personhood of the deceased. The position thus delineated, it will be argued, is irreducible to psychological, emotional, or cognitive dysfunction requiring intervention; rather, it may fruitfully be considered as an assertion of a spiritual reality. Social work, through its occupation of an epistemologically liminal space, is ideally positioned to engage with the practical implications of what amounts to a nuanced but profound contestation of empirical dominance.

Human Growth, Behaviour and Development: Essential Theory and Application in Social Work, Alistair Gibson and Neil Gibson

Human Growth, Behaviour and Development: Essential Theory and Application in Social Work, Alistair Gibson and Neil Gibson