Social Work and Reflective Communication SWP22REC

1
Social Work and Reflective Communication SWP22REC

• Lecture Three
• Part One
• Social work communication in the post-modern
  era
• Slides prepared by Dr Trish McNamara

2
The pluralistic knowledge base of direct social
work practice

• Psychology
• Sociology
• Anthropology
• Biology
• Political science
• Linguistics
• Philosophy

3
Theory and practice

• Our practice is impoverished without
  reference to those theories that attempt to bring
  together a range of explanations , including
  current research findings, because these have a
  bearing on the strategies or interventions that
  we might choose or wish to learn about in order
  to help
• Trevithick (2000) p.10

4
Meaning

• it is psychologically impossible not to have
  theories about things. It is impossible at a
  basic perceptual level, at a cognitive and at an
  emotional level. The search for meaning as a
  basis for predicting behavioural success and
  avoiding danger, appears to have been wired into
  our brains by evolution.
• Sheldon (1995) cited in Trevithick (2005) p. 26

5
Communication, theory and meaning

• Communication is always underpinned by theory
• Communication does not happen in a void
• Meanings are always ascribed to communication
• Professional communication draws upon a wide
  range of knowledge
• This knowledge is manifest in action through
  practice skills

6
Practice wisdom

• Skills based on personal experience of what
  works in practice
• See Scott (1985), Hardiker and Barker (1991)
  Dominelli (1998) and Schon (1983)

7
Areas of practice can get ahead of theory

• Past Examples
• drug abuse (Odyssey House)
• solvent abuse (Berry Street example)
• sexual abuse (CASAs)
• many more to come in the future!!

8
Three areas of knowledge

• Theoretical knowledge (or theory)
• Factual knowledge
• Practice knowledge (or knowledge in practice)

9
Theory can illuminate our understanding of people

• Observation it tells us what we see and what we
  can look out for
• Description it provides a conceptual vocabulary
  and framework within which observations can be
  arranged and organised
• Explanation it suggests how different
  observations can be linked and connected it
  offers possible causal associations between one
  event and another
• Prediction it indicates what might happen next
• Intervention it indicates what might be done to
  bring about change
• Howe (2002a) p. 82 cited in Trevithick (2005) p.27

10
Contemporary mainstream practice/theoretical
approaches

• Client centred approaches
• Cognitive behavioural approaches
• Task centred work
• Crisis intervention
• Psychodynamic or psychosocial approaches
• Systemic family therapies
• Trevithick (2005) p.36-37
• See Appendices for more detailed definitions!

11
An eclectic approach

• A response to the diverse and complex nature of
  problems presenting to social workers
• Can tend to confuse rather than clarify
• Can be associated with lack of rigour
• Not usually seen as a distinct practice approach

12
Practice perspectives

• An attempt to order and make sense of
  experiences and events from a particular and
  partial viewpoint.
• Trevithick (2005) p.80

13
Some important social work perspectives

• An ecological perspective
• A feminist perspective anti-discriminatory
  perspective
• A radical social work perspective
• An anti-oppressive perspective
• An anti-racist perspective
• A users or survivors perspective
• Trevithick (2005) p.80
• See also Appendices

14
Radical social work

• Oriented to the sociology of radical change
• Radical humanist
• The consumer/client becomes empowered
• to change the social order through consciousness
• raising and social action

• Radical structuralist
• Working with people collectively to challenge the
  oppression of capitalism is better than working
  with them individually. Expert imposed answers
  perpetuate the consumer/clients oppressed
  position.
• Derived from Howe (1987) An introduction to
  social work theory. Ch 12.

15
Feminist social work some strategies

• Advocacy
• Empowerment
• Social education
• Active use of resources
• Social empathy
• Social support
• Women should speak for themselves and social
  workers should learn how to listen.
• Howe (1987) p.132

16
Constructive social work

• A constructive approach emphasises process,
  plurality of both knowledge and voice,
  possibility and the relational quality of
  knowledge.
• Parton and OByrne (2000) p 184

17
The post modern turn in social work

• Disenchantment with scientific/quasi-scientific
  approaches (positivism, modernism,
  structuralism) to theory, to practice and to
  research

18
The nature of contemporary social work and its
knowledge base

• Social work seen as a practical-moral activity
• Increasing self-consciousness regarding the role
  of power in the helping relationship (Marxist
  ideas)
• Growing interest in language and the multiplicity
  of meaning (philosophy and linguistics)
• The changing nature and context of social work
  (gender, ethnicity, culture, class)
• Heightened awareness of political context and
  social justice issues (radical and feminist
  influence)
• Uncertainty and ambiguity in social work
  (relativism and subjectivity)
• Active interest in reflection and conceptual
  critique (Schon, Fook)
• Extended from Parton and OByrne (2000) Ch. 2

19
Some theoretical orientations ofconstructive
social work

• Narrative and spin
• Power
• The text analogy
• Understanding and misunderstanding
• The role of language
• The importance of conversations
• Change difference and agency
• Parton and OByrne (2000) Ch 3

20
Further orientations toward constructive practice

• How problems happen
• Not knowing
• A maintaining curiosity while not asking why
• Being an expert/non-expert
• Goals
• Building solutions
• Validating
• Externalising
• Emotions, meanings and actions
• Storytelling
• Co-evolving new meanings
• See Parton and OByrne (2000) Chs 4 and 5

21
Some clinical tools of the constructivist approach

• Exception finding questions
• Negotiating goals with various service users
• Hypothetical future oriented questions
• The miracle question
• Scaling questions
• Strength based questions
• Extended from Parton and OByrne (2000) Ch. 6

22
Critique of constructivism

• Is it objective or is it an abuse of power in
  the helping relationship?
• Is it real in social and political terms?
• Is it gender-sensitive?
• How does it relate to moral responsibility and
  truth?
• Does it relate to culture/subculture?
• Is it inclusive of life stages?

23
Communication knowledge and skills in action

• With individuals
• With couples
• With families
• With groups
• With organisations
• With communities
• Case example revisited The Hmong consumer (see
  Adler and Rodman Ch. 2)