Social Work Practice: Application and Improvement (Seventh Edition)

Author: (USA) Zastrow et al. / Yan Fengming
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: With China's transition from a traditional to a modern society, from an agrarian to an industrial society, and from a closed to an open society, numerous social issues have inevitably emerged. As people have come to recognize the necessity and urgency of addressing these social issues, it has become imperative to reform and improve China's various social welfare systems and to establish a professional team of social work service providers. This is also one of the signs of building a harmonious socialist society. Therefore, since the resumption of social work professional education in China in the late 1980s, and especially in recent years, China's social work professional education has developed rapidly. However, the quality of our social work professional education is still not high. Although the reasons for this are varied, the lack of high-quality teaching materials is one of the significant factors. To address the rapid development of social work professional education in China, some domestic professional textbooks have been compiled. However, their theoretical systematicity and operability are somewhat lacking, making them unsuitable for professional teaching needs. Therefore, it is necessary to systematically translate some social work professional textbooks from Western and Eastern countries.
In Western and Eastern countries, social work professional education has been developing for nearly a century, with a well-established and advanced professional education system, as well as high levels of both professional education and teaching materials. Second, as a service-oriented profession, it not only requires systematic and accurate theoretical guidance but also demands standardized and scientific practical skills. Third, as an emerging profession, during its initial stages, systematically introducing professional textbooks from developed countries is almost unavoidable, and this is also the necessary path for an emerging profession to rapidly mature. Fourth, what is particularly important is that China's journey toward reforming, building, and improving social welfare systems and establishing a professional social service team will not be smooth. The social acceptance of social work as a profession still requires time, and to some extent, the waste of professionally trained talent is inevitable. Therefore, it is highly meaningful to lay a solid foundation and strive to provide more robust talent cultivation, ensuring that high-quality education serves those who are committed to the social work profession. Fifth, introducing high-level social work professional textbooks is not only relevant to the requirements of social work professional education but also holds positive significance for those currently engaged in various types of social work. Based on the above reasons, we have decided to organize the systematic translation of a series of social work professional textbooks.
The selected materials primarily target the foundational courses offered by social work programs in universities across China. At the same time, considering the development of professional education in China, we have also chosen books that enhance social work skills. After determining the types of materials to translate, we required that the selected books be classic, authoritative, widely used in universities in Western and Eastern countries, and as much as possible, the latest editions to reflect new academic achievements. To ensure the quality of this series, we organized a team of middle-aged and young scholars with experience in social work education and high foreign language proficiency. These translators are not only enthusiastic about promoting social work education in China but also willing to contribute their wisdom to this endeavor. It is evident that they have faced great challenges in completing this task while balancing heavy teaching and research responsibilities.
After nearly two years of effort, the social work classic textbook series, which embodies the immense hard work of the translators, editors, and publishers, has been published by the China Renmin University Press. We sincerely recommend this series to all experts, scholars, students, and social work practitioners in China. We believe that this series will play a positive role in advancing social work professional education and practice in China.
Of course, it should be noted that the social welfare systems and social work education in any country are determined by its specific historical period and cultural environment. The series of textbooks we have translated is no exception. Therefore, we hope that users of this series do not forget the realities of our country and our mission to localize it creatively.
Additionally, it should be pointed out that since social work is an emerging profession in China, and the scholars involved in translating this series are all middle-aged and young scholars who have gradually grown in recent years, there are bound to be various shortcomings in the translation. We sincerely hope that experts and friends will kindly provide feedback to continuously improve this cause.
Finally, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to China Renmin University Press and its editors, especially Director Liu Jing of the Public Administration Department, whose insightful perspectives, passion for promoting social work education, and substantive support were instrumental in the publication of this series.
The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) is a national organization responsible for accrediting undergraduate and graduate social work programs in the United States. In 2001, the organization adopted the Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS). The main content of this book is to provide the following aspects related to social work practice as specified in the EPAS. The content of social work practice should be anchored in the social work profession and focus on the strengths, capabilities, and resources of client systems related to their life environments. The practical content students learn should include knowledge, skills, and techniques for individual, family, group, organizational, and community work. This content includes facilitating appropriate working relationships with clients; identifying issues, problems, needs, resources, and strengths; collecting and evaluating information; and service provision, which involves communication skills, supervision, and negotiation. Practical content also includes identifying, analyzing, and implementing evidence-based intervention plans to achieve client goals; applying advanced knowledge and techniques; evaluating project outcomes and effectiveness; developing, analyzing, supporting, and providing leadership for policies and services; and promoting social and economic justice.
Furthermore, consistent with the EPAS requirements, the textbook should include social work values and ethics, diversity, vulnerable populations, and promoting social and economic justice. This book provides the theoretical and practical knowledge needed for an introductory level of social work practice. The materials covered include general practice, social work values, confidentiality, principles of communication, contemporary counseling theories, sex counseling, casework, group work, family work, organizational work, community practice, evaluation, assessment, general systems theory, cross-cultural social work, working within bureaucratic systems, and the frustrations and satisfactions of being a social worker. Many of the cases included in the book illustrate the theories provided. This book is designed for use in undergraduate and graduate-level social work practice courses. Social work practitioners will also find this book valuable because it provides numerous models of social work practice, including sex therapy techniques, hypnosis, biofeedback, relaxation techniques, mediation, neuro-linguistic programming, environmental therapy, task-centered techniques, family counseling theories, feminist interventions, interactional analysis, reality therapy, rational therapy, and behavioral therapy. A hybrid approach is used in providing these diverse therapeutic types. In addition to describing each therapeutic model, the book also provides evaluations to help readers assess their strengths and weaknesses.
What makes this book unique is that it unifies key elements that exist in traditional and contemporary practice textbooks. The language used in the book is as accessible as possible to help readers grasp the core of the theories. Exercises are provided at the end of each chapter to reinforce the main principles and help students apply theoretical material to social work practice. New content added in the seventh edition includes the CSWE's educational policy and accreditation standards, outcome-based practice, privacy and confidentiality in the age of computer technology, computer-assisted assessment forms, three models of community practice (community development, social planning, and social action), structural methods of family therapy, a focus on resources in community work, internet and online services related to social work practice, working with hostile clients, temporary assistance for families in need, limited partnerships between social work and religion in the provision of social services, a re-examination of decentralization theory, and the ethical and legal responsibilities of social workers regarding informed consent for sexual partners of HIV-positive clients.
The structure of the book includes an introductory section with two chapters. Chapter 1 provides a general overview of social work practice. It describes what social workers do, explains the differences between social work and other professions, and summarizes the knowledge, values, and skills required for introductory-level social work practice. This chapter also describes the goals of social work practice and its brief history, highlighting that social work is a profession of diverse techniques. It summarizes the professional activities implemented by social workers, including casework, case management, group work, group therapy, family counseling, and community organization. The book defines various role models in social work practice, including empowerers, brokers, advocates, and activists. It also defines and describes general social work practice.
Chapter 2 summarizes social work values. The values discussed include self-determination, individualization, confidentiality, institutional models of service provision, a focus on families, counseling for marginalized groups, and outcome evaluation.
The second part includes several chapters that discuss general social work practice. This section delves into casework, group work, family work, organizational work, and community practice, with significant attention given to communication skills and counseling techniques with clients. The book provides an eight-stage model for helping clients solve problems. It also offers guidance on how to begin and end conversations, how to phrase questions concisely during conversations, and how to take notes during sessions. In this section, topics such as evaluating and assessing social work practice, the application of computer technology in social work practice, and systems analysis are also addressed. Additionally, issues such as better serving clients through systemic change, cross-cultural social work (e.g., white social workers and Native American clients), and religious social work practice are discussed.
The third part focuses on self-care. To help others, social workers must first take care of themselves. This section addresses common issues faced by students during their social work professional training, offers solutions, discusses techniques for managing stress, preventing burnout, and provides safety guidelines for social workers. At the end of this section, the importance of developing a positive personality for social workers (and others) is discussed, along with guidelines for fostering positive self-awareness.
The final part of the book is the Counseling Toolkit (CTRM). To highlight the uniqueness of CTRM, the content in this section is presented in modules rather than chapters. This part provides and evaluates mainstream counseling theories widely used by social workers, including client-centered therapy, feminist interventions, reality therapy, rational therapy, behavioral therapy, psychoanalysis, interactional analysis, neuro-linguistic programming, sex counseling, and sex therapy. Specific techniques include assertiveness training, economic symbolism, aversion techniques, environmental therapy, psychodrama therapy, crisis intervention, parent effectiveness training, mediation, muscle relaxation methods, mindfulness, hypnosis, biofeedback, task-centered techniques, solution-focused therapy, etc. The final module provides an analysis and comparison of mainstream counseling theories.
One of the reviewers of this book commented that it is an "encyclopedia of social work practice." The comprehensiveness of this book may be close to such an evaluation. However, for instructors, it is not necessary to cover all intervention theories during lectures. Instead, we recommend that instructors (in consultation with other faculty members in the program) determine which intervention theories described in CTRM are most important for students to learn in order to serve clients effectively.
Some social work educators believe that counseling is not a part of general social work practice. The authors of this book firmly argue that counseling is a key component of general social work practice. When conducting casework, group work, family work, organizational work, and community work, general practice workers use problem-solving models to bring about positive change. In casework, therapeutic groups, and families, much of the social work practice requires social workers to widely apply counseling principles and theories. Like certain skills in other fields (such as brokerage, policy judgment, lobbying, and planning), counseling skills are a critical capability for general practice social workers. When counseling is the primary component of service delivery, most baccalaureate and master's-level social workers are essentially engaged in direct service work with individuals, therapeutic groups, and families. When social workers identify themselves as clinical social workers or psychotherapists, it does not mean they are no longer involved in other areas of general practice. In fact, every clinical social worker (always) works with changing organizations and communities to benefit clients. Since counseling is a key component of general social work practice, this textbook is a unique counseling toolkit that provides contemporary counseling theories applicable to casework, therapeutic groups, and family work. From a certain perspective, the first 14 chapters (, the second and third parts) of this textbook focus on general practice, while CTRM focuses solely on counseling. However, readers should remember that when discussing social work practice with individuals, families, and groups, the key is to address all aspects of counseling. In fact, most of the content in the general practice chapters (the first 14 chapters) discusses various aspects of counseling, such as the following.
Chapter 1 (Introduction to Social Work Practice) combines the goals of social work—"enhancing people's problem-solving, coping, and development capabilities"—with counseling. It also describes why counseling is a component of "social casework," "group therapy," and "family therapy."
Chapter 2 (Social Work Values) discusses many values related to counseling—such as confidentiality, communication, and whether to disclose HIV-positive status to clients when counseling them.