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Call for Papers. Special Number "100 Years of Social Work: Discussions and Perspectives on the Discipline's Past, Present and Future". Submissions in Spanish or English until the 30th October 2024 for publication in April 2025 (Issue 9). For more information please see the following link.
Where is the “social” in social work? An analysis of social workers’ use of theory in practice
Authors
-
Barbra Teater
City University of New York
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1503-0096
- Katrina Hannan City University of New York
Abstract
Theory serves as a source of guiding knowledge in informing assessment and interventions in social work practice. Thus, social workers should be cognisant and analytical in applying theory to practice, particularly as their work moves forward the social work aims of social change and social justice under the current social and political climate. This exploratory, qualitative study sought to explore the use of theories by social workers in the United States, the underlying purposes of the social workers’ choice of theory, and whether the social workers’ practice had a focus on social change and social justice. Data from interviews with twenty social workers were analysed using a summative content analysis and revealed social workers to predominately apply theories to practice that have a purpose to problem solve on an individual level. Only one social worker applied theory with a purpose of empowerment and social change, and two social workers applied theory with a purpose of social change. The findings were considered against the global definition of social work, which promotes social change and social justice as key aims of social work. Social work practice in this study is found to reflect individualism, neoliberalism, and capitalism and recommendations are considered to redefine social work practice to be more widely committed to social change and social justice.Keywords:
theory, social change, social justice, anti-oppressive practice, United StatesReferences
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Center for Disease Control. (2020b, September 23). Demographic trends of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the US reported to the CDC. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#demographics
Crenshaw, K. W. (2017). On intersectionality: Essential writings. The New Press. 142.
Cox, D., Cleak, H., Bhathal, A., & Brophy, L. (2020). Theoretical frameworks in social work education: A scoping review. Social Work Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2020.1745172
Delgado, R. & Stefancic, J. (2017). Critical race theory: An introduction. New York University Press.
Gitterman, A. (2014). Social work: A professional in search of its identity. Journal of Social Work Education, 50(4), 599-607. https://doi.org.10.1080/10437797.2014.947898
Hill, K., Fogel, S., Plitt Donaldson, L., & Erickson, C. (2017). State definitions of social work practice: Implications for our professional identity. Journal of Evidence-Informed Social Work, 14(4), 266-279. https://doi.org/10.1080/23761407.2017.1319775
Howe, D. (2016). An introduction to social work theory: Making sense in practice. Routledge. Hsieh, H. F. & Shannon, S. E. (2005). Three approaches to qualitative content analysis.
Qualitative Health Research, 15(9), 1277 – 1288.
International Federation of Social Workers. (2014). Global definition of social work. Retrieved September 19, 2020, from https://www.ifsw.org/what-is-social-work/global-definition-of-social-work/
Lightfood, E., Nienow, M., Moua, K. N. L., Colburn, G., & Petri, A. (2016). Insights on professional identification and licensure from community social workers. Journal of Community Practice, 24(2), 123-146. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705422.2016.1165328
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry (1st ed.). Sage.
Lub, V. (2019). Theory, social work methods and participation. Journal of Social Work, 19(1),
3-19. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468017318757297
Lune, H., & Berg, B. L. (2017). Qualitative research methods for the social sciences (9th ed.). Pearson.
McGregor, C. (2019). A paradigm framework for social work theory for early 21st century practice. British Journal of Social Work, 49(8), 2112-2129. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcz006
Mullaly, R. (2007). The new structural social work (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.
Montano, C. (2012). Social work theory-practice relationship: Challenges to overcoming positivist and postmodern fragmentation. International Social Work, 55(3), 306-319. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020872812437226
National Association of Social Worker. (2020, September 20). Practice. https://www.socialworkers.org/Practice
New York State Education Department. (2020, September 18). Licensure statistics. http://www.op.nysed.gov/prof/sw/swcounts.htm
Payne, M. (2014). Modern social work theory (4th ed.). Palgrave Macmillan.
Teater, B. (2020). An introduction to applying social work theories and methods (3rd ed.).
McGraw Hill/Open University Press.
Williams, D. R., Lawrence, J. A., & Davis, B. A. (2019). Racism and health: Evidence and needed research. Annual Review of Public Health, 40, 105-125. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-pubhealth-040218-043750
Worsley, A., Beddoe, L., McLaughlin, K., & Teater, B. (2020). Regulation, registration and social work: An international comparison. British Journal of Social Work, 50(2), 308-325. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcz152
