Transcript Document
Theories, values, and
perspectives
UTA SSW: Practice III
Professor Dick Schoech
Suggest printing slides for class using: Print | Handouts | 3 slides per page | grayscale options
Copyright, Not to be used without permission
Overview of Class
Values
Perspectives
Theories, specifically Systems Theory
Theories of behavior change
Social Work Change Process (in group)
Introductions, discuss condition, community,
roles, discuss vision and principles if time
Next week= Further explore condition
Values
*What are social work value?
* What are social work values & how are they defined?
How do they affect macro practice?
* How can we tell if we need additional information on values?
* Review items: These should have been covered in other courses.
What are Social Work Values?
A value is a belief or principle to which the social
work profession adheres and which guides practice
Core social work values are:
Service: all seek to improve humankind
Social and economic justice, human rights
Dignity & worth of person ($ exercise)
Importance of human relationships
Integrity and competence in practice CSWE EPAS p6
Diversity: understand, affirm, respect differences
Democratic participation
Value:
Diversity
Systems definition: A system with a variety of inputs
can survive better than one with fewer inputs
(requisite variety)
Relevant terms for cultural diversity
Race (biological concept not very useful in human services,
except for genetic predisposition)
Culture (symbols by which we structure reality)
Ethnicity (socio-history) useful concept in human services
HSOs must value and manage diversity like other
resources ($s, facilities, information)
Include diversity in self-assessment, strategic plans, policies
and procedures manuals
Match the diversity of clients, staff, and board
Institutionalize cultural knowledge, e.g., celebrations, respect
Diversity Principles
Diversity is a strength, not a weakness. It becomes a
weakness if extremely high or low
All cultures are valid but some cultural practices are not
People’s opinions and actions are influenced by their
concept of race, e.g., Racism exists
Theories and values are not culturally neutral
Understanding culture helps understand human situations
Source: Wright, R. Jr., Saleebey, D., Watts, T., & Lecca, P. (1983) An introduction to the transcultural perspective, in
Transcultural Perspectives in the Human Services, Springfield, IL: Thomas, pp. 3-25.
Why is Diversity Important?
Improve practice if we understand our/client’s
values & culture
Helps to understand the environment of
conditions/problems
Helps eliminate “group think” and narrow
perspectives
Do I need more on Diversity?
Do I understand the influence of my culture on my
values, work practices and clients?
Do I understand the influence of the dominant culture
on myself, my clients, and my work?
Do I have friends from various cultures so I can learn
about and understand their culture?
Do I make attempts to enhance my understanding of
cultures?
No to these questions indicate more diversity training is needed
Value:
Democratic Participation
Democratic
The will of the majority influences most heavily
The rights of the minority are protected
Participation
People have a right to be involved in decisions that
affect them
People have a right to information that affects their
lives
People, if presented with options and supporting
information can make good decisions for their lives
Arnstein’s Ladder of Participation
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Manipulation
Therapy
Informing/training/educating
Consultation
Placation
Partnership
Delegated power
Consumer/Citizen control
Note: ranked from lowest to highest participation
Source: Arnstein, S.R. (1971) Eight Rungs on the ladder of citizen participation, in E. S. Cahn &
B. A. Passett, Citizen Participation: Effecting Community Change, NY: Praeger.
Value:
Social/economic Justice
People have a right to the necessities of life: food,
shelter, health care, and protection from violence
Where people live without options, social and
economic justice does not exist
The well being of people belongs before profits, e.g.,
selected/elected governments control businesses
Earth’s resources and the environment should benefit
all rather than a few
Access to resources and options based on religion,
age, gender, disability, political opinion, and sexual
preference is wrong
Perspectives
Strengths
Empowerment
Win/Win
Evidence Informed Practice
Strengths Perspective: Concepts
People/communities are resilient (relatively healthy despite
exposure to a variety of severe risks and stresses)
People are doing the best they can
It’s as wrong to deny potentials (protective factors) as it is
to deny the problem (risk factors)
Every crisis contains an opportunity
Better to focus on gains than on problems
Assessments, taxonomies, etc., must include capacities and
interventions must build on capacities
Note: can we learn from the psychic
Strengths Perspective: Principles
Focusing on needs disempowers, focusing on
capacities/strengths empowers
Even the most distressed person/program has
strengths and successes on which to build
Find a strength, no matter how small, and begin
building on that strength (horse whisperer)
Strengths are found more in histories, stories,
dreams, hopes, and myths than in data/research
Source: Saleebey, McKnight and Kretzman, and others
Empowerment Perspective: concepts
Power = capacity of individuals/groups to act on their
own behalf and control their destiny. Implies a
transformation of ‘definition of self’ as having power and
the capacity to bring about change
Process more than product, e.g., show how to fish than
to give them a fish
Expands the personal to the interpersonal & then to the
political
Parsons, R.J., Gutierrez, L.M., & Cox, E.O., (1988). A model for empowerment practice.
Staples, L. H. (1990) Powerful Ideas about Empowerment, Administration in Social Work, 14(2), 29-41.
Empowerment Perspective: Principles
People must empower themselves, but we can guide/help
Implies change agent and client are egalitarian partners.
Contrast with authoritarianism or paternalism
Recognizes all forms of inequity/oppression and respects
diversity
It is hard to remedy collective inequity with individual
empowerment
Group empowerment is more powerful than individual
empowerment
Group empowerment leads to individual empowerment,
rarely vice versa
Win/Win Perspective: Concept
Definition: perspective that assumes resources
are not limiting and disagreements can move
from lose/lose or win/lose to win/win
Benchmarks
Both sides feel like they are a winner
Both sides feel negotiations were fair
Both will enjoy future work with the other
Both feel other side kept commitments
Win/Win Perspective: Principles
Differences between win/win vs. lose/lose views
Losers narrow differences to one issue
Losers feel they have the weaker position
Losers jump to conclusions about other side’s needs
Losers lack information about needs of the other side
Losers are unwilling to understand/appreciate others
positions
Losers never offer the opposition a ‘face saving’ way out
Source: Dawson, R. (1985). How both sides can win, Ch. 12 from You Can Get Anything You Want,
NY: Simon & Schuster, pp. 224-233.
Evidence Informed Perspective: Concept
First do no harm
There is not such thing as common sense
(what’s common to me makes sense)
Some social work practices work better than
others and we can determine those
Organizational learning strategies help
address the issues of turnover & lack of
specific expertise
Measurement and feedback are powerful
http://www.talkingcure.com/reference.asp?id=100
EBP Perspective: Process
Asking answerable questions about the
decision/situation
Tracking down the best evidence to answer the
questions
Appraising the validity, impact, applicability of
evidence
Determining if something needs to or can be done
Informing those involved, considering their opinions,
values, and expectations
Integrating all evidence into an action plan
Monitoring and evaluating processes and outcomes
Evidence Based Practice
EBP conceptually
Link: http://www2.uta.edu/ssw/trainasfa/
http://www2.uta.edu/ssw/trainasfa/ebpconcept.htm
EBP applied to Child Protective Services
Link: http://www3.uta.edu/sswtech/test/
EBP Resources
Link: http://www3.uta.edu/sswtech/6371/EBP.htm
Example of Good Evidence
What increases chances of success for abused
kids
1. A strong significant person in their life
2. Strong belief that things will be better
3. A significant partner in adult life who is
understanding
4. Giving back to the community in some way
Source: CWLA Research Group, Tools that Work Conf, Nov03
http://www3.uta.edu/sswtech/6371/EBP.htm
Theories
What are theories and why are they important?
Systems Theory
Definition
Types
Concepts
Application
Theories and their importance
A theory is a set of assumptions or principles
that have been repeatedly tested to explain
or predict facts or phenomena
Theories:
Provide a conceptual framework
Provide a common vocabulary
Guides action
Assists comprehension or judgment
Challenge practice wisdom
Provide framework to evaluate
interventions
Systems Theory Definition (Review)
Systems are elements in interaction
Systems thinking vs. traditional thinking
Characteristic
Overall view
Key processes
Type of analysis
Focus of investigation
State during investigation
Basic assumption
Problem resolution
Operation of parts
Traditional thinking
Systems thinking
Reductionistic, focus is on the parts Holistic, focus is on the whole
Analysis
Synthesis
Deduction
Induction
Attributes of objects
Interdependence of objects
Static
Dynamic
Cause and effect
Multiple, probabilistic causality
A static solution
An adaptive system or modeling
Optimal
Suboptimal
Systems concept:
Open vs. Closed
An open system interacts with its environment.
A closed system receives no inputs from its
environment & entropy or decay sets in.
Systems have different levels of being open or
closed.
A variety of inputs is required to help a system to
remain open.
Systems Concepts: Hierarchy
Systems are nested in a hierarchy, that is,
systems consist of subsystems and systems
operate within environments (e.g., Russian
Nesting Dolls)
Systems Concepts:
Boundaries
Boundaries are the interface between a
system and its subsystems or a system and
its environment.
Friction occurs at the boundaries of a system,
e.g., Where rubber hits the road, when planes
take off and land, between an agency and its
client.
By examining the boundaries of a system, we
can often isolate the friction and its causes.
Systems Concepts:
Goal Seeking
Systems tend to be goal seeking, that is, they move
in the direction of goal achievement.
Systems without well defined goals often go in many
different directions.
The primary goal of a system is survival.
All goals will be sacrificed in order for a system to
survive.
Systems Concepts:
Inputs-process-output
All non-random functioning systems have:
Inputs
processes
output
feedback loop with criteria
By identifying and mapping the cycles of
inputs, processes and outputs, we can define
a system better and learn a lot about how it
behaves
Systems Concepts:
Cybernetics
For a system to work properly, it must have
feedback and control mechanisms
Feedback and control mechanisms
Accept information about system outputs
Evaluate information using goal related criteria
Use evaluative information as additional inputs
Cybernetics is the study of feedback & control
Systems Concepts:
Equilibrium
Systems tend toward a state of non-change
called homeostasis or equilibrium
Thus, we should assume that no system will
change unless it receives new inputs
Systems that are most amenable to change
are those that are failing (survival is
threatened) and successful and can take
risks without threatening survival
Systems Concepts:
Elaboration
When systems change, they tend to move in
the direction of differentiation and
elaboration
Systems like change only if it allows them to
become larger entities like themselves
Systems Concepts:
Synergy
Systems working well experience synergy
where the total system output are greater
than the sum of all inputs.
For synergy to occur, subsystems must not
optimize, but cooperate for the good of the
overall system, e.g., Teamwork.
Synergy is also called nonsummitivity
Systems Theory Application: Discussion
SSW system, subsystems, environment,
inputs, processes, outputs, feedback loops &
criteria
(coursepack)
Analysis
Results of the analysis
Resulting capacities (strengths)
Resulting needs
Options for change (intervention)
What is the goal of a community??
‘New’ Systems Thinking
It is more important to do the right job than to do the job right
Innovation is more importation than optimization
To discover the unknown, must abandon the successful known
Things more plentiful are more valuable (fax machine)
Wealth follows things that are free (shareware, open systems)
Abandon a product/occupation/industry when it is at its best
Seek sustainable disequilibrium to keep things in “churn”
Seeking opportunities is more important than solving problems
Source: Kevin Kelly, Wired Magazine, Sep 97, p. 140+
Ecological Systems Theory
Applies systems to living systems and focuses on
people interacting with their environment
Entities must stay in ecological balance with their
environment for functional adaptation;
Imbalances result in dysfunctional adaptations
Social sciences should formulate the laws of
functional adaptation (person in environment)
Source: Theorist = William Sumner, folkways (See Brueggemann)
Theories based on the
Behavior Change Process
and
Community Change
Change Process Theory
Change of any client, from individual to
community, follows a similar process
3 step process=unfreeze, change, refreeze
8 step generic social work change process
Completing and documenting all change steps
increases chance for success
Many strategies, skills, and tools are needed
along the way
Implementing change is usually not intuitive but
learned
Theories or Models of Health Promotion (gray triangles)
http://www.cancer.gov/PDF/481f5d53-63df-41bc-bfaf-5aa48ee1da4d/TAAG3.pdf
Change focusing
on the individual
alone will not be
as successful as
those involving
family, peers,
school/work, and
the community
(NIDA, n.d.).
Source: Peng B. W. & Schoech D. (2008). Grounding online
prevention interventions in theory: Guidelines from a review of
selected theories and research. Journal of Technology in
Human Services, 26/2-4, 376-396.
Change must focus on
attitudes, norms, and
perceived abilities as
well as knowledge
(Ajzen & Fishbein,
1973)
The Transtheoretical Model-- self-changers
cycle through the five stages:
precontemplation, contemplation, preparation,
action, and maintenance. Identifying and
understanding stages can help predict change
success (DiClemente, et. al.1991).
Questions and Comments