University of Zimbabwe

Faculty of Social & Behavioural Studies

Department of Social Work
______________________________________________

PROGRAMME: Postgraduate Diploma in Social Work

(PGDSW)
COURSE: Introduction to Social Work (501)
STUDENT: Sharon Hofisi – R032683D
LECTURER: Dr. M. Mundau

ASSIGNMENT:

With the aid of examples examine the differences and commonalities between Social Work and
other occupations and disciplines of the helping professions in Zimbabwe.

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Introduction

Social work in its early stages depended largely on perspectives derived from other helping
disciplines such as psychology, law, health, sociology and economics and these disciplines
have a similar aim of improving the well being of individuals in the society at varying levels.
Some of these professions have values that are similar to social work or they have a link
towards social work values. Social work is a practice-based profession and an academic
discipline that promotes social change and development, social cohesion and the
empowerment and liberation of people. Principles of social justice, human rights, collective
responsibility and respect for diversity are central to social work. Underpinned by theories of
social work, social sciences, humanities and indigenous knowledge, social work engages
people and structures to address life challenges and enhance well being (IFSW,2014). A
helping profession is defined as a professional interaction between a helping expert and a
client, initiated to nurture the growth of, or address the problems of a person’s physical,
psychological, intellectual or emotional constitution, including medicine, nursing,
psychotherapy, psychological counselling, social work, education or coaching. Miller and
Considine (2009S), helping professions deal with “the provision of human and social
services’’ The essay would explore how social work is similar to other helping disciplines as
they all offer human services. On the other social work is a unique discipline which is guided
by a number of values and ethics which makes it distinct in their totality.

Social Work and Psychology

Social work and psychology are both human service professions as they endeavour to
improve the lives of the disadvantaged members of the society. A social worker and a
psychologist can be engaged to assist a person with mental issues and they are both
concerned with mental processes and behaviour and how they are affected by the mental state
and external environment (Richmond, 1917). Psychology helps social workers in
understanding psycho-social problems of individuals and offer support to individuals in
mental and emotional distress. With the turn of the new millennium the downturn of the
economy left many individuals unemployed and in poverty, perpetuating an increase in the
number of mental and emotional distress. However social work entails a wide range of
human services while a psychologist focuses more on administering mental health treatment.
Although psychologist and a social worker may work together to restore the social
functioning of individuals in psycho-social problems a social worker using the systems theory

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may go far to assess the individual’s family, living conditions and other systems in the
client’s circle, while psychology focuses only on the mental treatment of the concerned
client.

The similarities between social work and psychology can be found on intervention methods
used by the two professions in helping disoriented people to restore their social functioning.
Both psychologists and social workers perform counselling and supportive functions to
individuals. Clinical social workers, like clinical psychologists, use psychological techniques
to assess, diagnose and counsel clients as individuals, families and groups. These intervention
techniques are used to restore the functioning capacities of individuals dealing with
unemployment, physical illness, poverty and drug or physical abuse. In Zimbabwe
psychologists work as allied health workers and are registered and regulated under the Health
Professions Act (Chapter 27: 19). Social work on the other hand is unique from other helping
professions because it has its own regulating authority. The Council for Social Workers is
established in terms of section 3 of the Act and its functions are spelt out in section 4 of the
same Act. They include registration of social workers, conducting examinations to qualify
persons for registration, defining and enforcing ethical practices among registered persons,
dealing with effectiveness of the profession, and perform incidental functions that are
statutorily imposed on it. Although clinical psychologists practice counseling just like social
workers do they differ on the values and ethics that guide them as exposed by different
regulatory authorities which they fall under meaning that their work expectations are different
even if they all intend to help to empower the client restore the functional capacities.

In addition, the similarities between social work and psychology are that social work uses
theoretical perspectives from psychology which enable a social worker to understand
individual behaviour and social problems which will inform intervention solutions. Social
workers and psychotherapists can also offer psychotherapy which shows that social workers
can perform similar roles played by allied workers in Zimbabwe. While social work uses
theories from psychology in helping individuals with psycho-social problems, a social worker
incorporate theories, knowledge and empirical research from other fields such as sociology,
psychology, economics and law as it aims at improving the overall well-being of a client. A
social worker will go beyond the psychotherapy especially when dealing with clients with
multiple problems such as refugees with a number of challenges. Mupedziswa (1993) noted
that the elderly refugees face immeasurable challenges in their quest for survival in refugee
camps. Besides being refugees, elderly people face particular challenges to their economic,

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social and psychological wellbeing. Mhlanga and Zengeya (2016) noted that in Zimbabwe
the elderly refugees at Tongogara Refugee Camp face a myriad of challenges as cohesive
community ties, social support and other relational resources are largely absent. It means
more often than not the elderly refugees cannot provide for themselves shelter, food, clean
water and health-related issues as individual refugees will be preoccupied by their own
survival struggles as the monthly food rations they receive are regarded by many refugees as
inadequate. In the context of the absence of community structures that offer safety nets, the
elderly refugees are left to deal with the problems of old age alone. Mhlanga and Zengeya
(2016) further pointed out that it is the social worker that should assist refugees to empower
the refugees to cope with the new lives and engage other stake holders in order to meet basic
needs of the elderly refugees. Social workers are also needed to assist and provide care to
terminally ill refugees as they often succumb to different diseases that may render them
inactive.

Social Work and Law

Social work and law all advocate for the promotion of social justice and human rights which
makes the two helping professions similar but they differ on approaches. Heely (2008)
postulates that the underpinning values of social work clearly align with the human rights
framework, particularly in relation to upholding the importance of individual worth and
dignity, liberty, affirming the freedom and spearheading social justice. For example, law and
social work aim to liberate and empower children under abuse or facing parental neglect but
they differ in how they consider evidence. Richmond (1997) pointed out that when arriving at
a decision these professions apply rules of evidence for arriving at the truth each according to
special conditions. A social worker would also take account of hearsay evidence of persistent
rumours while the court would deal with the main facts and with testimony of eye witnesses
only. The difference would be that the court would guard with scrupulous care of admission
of hearsay evidence and would exclude rumours and discredit knowledge which is not from
first hand eyewitnesses. Social work considers social evidence which is different from legal
evidence, not in the sort of facts but the degree of probative value required by the law of each
separate item. Social evidence may be defined as consisting of any family history which
taken together indicates the nature of a given client and the means to their solution
(Richmond, 1917). Although social work and law have an aim to promote social justice and
human rights they differ on how they treat evidence and the kind of evidence required. In
cases of child neglect or rape case the courts may require evidence certified by the medical

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doctor while a social worker even requires evidence from hearsay. From the fact that law is
law whether just or unjust one can conclude that the difference between law and social work
is that social work will always promote social justice while law emphasises on concrete
evidence.

Social workers’ research can be used to inform legal issues and policies which may result in
legal reforms. Richmond (1917) posits that the children’s courts in the United States owe
their existence to social workers. These courts supplement legal evidence by social evidence
which recognises the value of more liberal inclusion of imperfectly relevant evidence in
disposing of child offenders. The courts have learned that investigation should not only be
inspired by ambition to rundown the convict but by the desire to learn the best way to
overcome a boy’s or girl’s difficulties. However it should be noted that social work and law
have differences in the context in with working with children in conflict with the law. A
lawyers’ focus is to advocate for the client while a social workers’ focus is to safeguard the
client’s interest (Galowitz, 1998). That is even if Social work and law focus on human rights
issues they differ on the angles they come from as law focuses on advocacy.

In addition, the issue of human rights is central to social work the same way it is to lawyers.
Reichert (2006) pointed out that the basic principles underlying human rights present little
that is new to the field of social work. Ife (2001) further stated that social work can be
considered as a human rights based profession as indicated by the commitment to
International Human Rights Declarations and Conventions. That is the values of social work
which advocate for human dignity and worth of every person and respect are in concurrence
to the basic human rights as expressed by the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.
However the social workers’ advocacy of human rights in the face of an human onslaught by
politicians in Zimbabwe differs from the advocacy by human rights lawyers. Mtetwa and
Muchacha (2013) pointed out that in keeping with the professional values of safeguarding
human rights and promoting social justice, social workers in the Zimbabwean context have
been surpassed by other professionals such as lawyers, journalists, teachers and medical
practitioners. The social work profession has tended to deal with peripheral issues such as
poverty and the provision of psycho-social support as well as material resources to the less
privileged members of society (ibid). One can note that in dealing with poverty and psycho-
social support social work will be promoting human rights but in the Zimbabwean context
social workers have been avoiding advocacy for the violation of human rights especially in
the middle of social and political crisis such as under the violation of human rights during

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Operation Garikai/Restore Oder and the Fast Track Land Reform Programme where houses
were destroyed resulting in people losing their shelter and means of survival. Only
Zimbabwean Lawyers for Human Rights, Doctors for Human Rights and Progressive
Teachers Union of Zimbabwe voiced their concern over human rights while social workers
were quite (ibid). This may be because social workers are less confrontational when dealing
with issues of human rights unlike other professions but prefer to uplift the incapacitated and
restoring the coping capacities of the clients as their focus is more on the client.

Social work and Medical practitioners

Social workers are also similar to medical practitioners as they are all involved in the medical
treatment with the aim of helping individuals physically incapacitated to socially function as
before. Redmond (2001), posit that social workers and health care practitioners are providing
care in an environment that is undergoing rapid change. Collaboration of health care between
social workers and medical practitioners is a key element in the expansion of comprehensive
primary care services and community health services (Rock and Cooper, 2000). Minkler
(1997), notes that primary care and community health services are more likely to emphasise
shared solutions and multiple perspectives based on the recognition that effective health
prevention and treatment approaches require resources and competences beyond the expertise
of any one profession or organisation. Richmond (1917), further stated that medical diagnosis
and treatment are beginning to show the influence of the social evidence gathered in the
medical-social departments of hospitals and dispensaries, that is the involvement of social
workers in hospitals and community health care programmes shows the influence of social
workers in the health care systems and social workers’ knowledge is becoming important in
health solutions and prevention as they community health intervention programmes and
campaigns. Although the importance of social workers in health is more recognised in the
developed world it now beginning to be appreciated in Zimbabwe although much is not
realised owing to funding constrains in the social health care system.

Social workers and nurses work together in the discharge of clients which gives an indication
that social workers and medical professionals have similar roles in helping individuals.
Nurses and social workers collaborate in the discharge plan and they both assess the client
before they discharge to ensure that the client has been treated well and will be able to
function better after the treatment. Nurses and social workers however differ on the extent to
which they go in making the discharge plan for clients. Sheppard (1992), posits that nurses

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contact the physician about the person’s condition and treatment while the social worker is
concerned about the case’s outcome and final treatment plan. While nurses focus on physical
assessments and provide medical information during the discharge process, social workers go
beyond that and focus on issues such as living conditions after discharge and are even better
placed when dealing with multiple-problem cases. Ross (1993), commended social workers
for their elaborate systems and claimed that social workers were best-qualified to do the
discharge planning. Egan and Kadushin (1997) further concurred that social workers were
best qualified to provide concrete services such as setting up home equipment, arranging
home placement and helping patients understand insurance and finances. Although nurses
and social workers are involved in the discharge plan they differ on the extent to which these
two professions go in terms of restoring the social function of the client. While nurses focus
on treatment and assessing readiness for discharge social workers are further concerned with
issues such as where the client would stay after discharge including living conditions.

Sociology and social work

Sociology also contributed immensely to the development of social work since a number of
perspectives of social work emanated from sociology. Sociology deals with issues such as
inequalities, unemployment and poverty which are central in social work. In considering the
various ways in which children’s mental health is understood it is useful to consider some of
the orthodox theoretical and research-based evidence on human growth and development as
part of the standard repertoire of guidance available (Burton 2016). Counsellors and
therapists are expected to have a sound grounding in these subjects to help inform all aspects
of their work with a range of child and adolescent age groups. A practitioner knowing where
they stand and understanding there are other perceptions and beliefs about a child’s
development, and adopting an inquisitive, culturally flexible stance will be acting more in the
child’s best interests. Rather that, than trying to defend the indefensible or answer the
unanswerable.

Recent advances in genetic research and refinement of developmental instruments for

assessing children and young people’s emotional and behavioural health have concluded that
to regard nature and nurture as separate and independent is an oversimplification. A more
helpful answer to what shapes children and adolescent’s mental health is both nature and the
environment, or rather, the interplay between the two. Thus it is crucial to incorporate an
understanding of culture and the way it can shape both your perception of a child and young

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person’s psychological difficulties. Staff with a systemic or psychodynamic perspective can
especially utilise theoretical concepts from social policy and sociology to add to their
framework of explanation (Thompson 2002). In Zimbabwe, the Department of Social
Services has been employing Sociology and Psychology graduates as social workers because
of the shortage of qualified social workers, most of whom trek to South Africa, United
Kingdom, Canada, Australia, United States of America and other countries (Kuvakwesu,
2017). Sociology and social work have similarities in that they all deal with similar issues
such as poverty, inequality, unemployment, and all other social ills sociology has been more
theoretical while social work has been practical in dealing with these issues.

Conclusion
One can conclude that although social work has some similarities with other helping
professions in that all helping professions have some values or intentions that speak to any
one of the values of social work such as promoting social justice, dignity, and worthiness but
social work is unique in that it focuses on all these values at one go unlike other professions.
Considered individually the five values of social work and the profession of social work are
not unique to social work. Their unique combinations, however differentiates social work
from other professions (Hepworth, et al 2013). That social work is different from all other
helping professions in that it looks at the totality of wellbeing of the client and uses the
systems theory in going an extra mile in that the empowered person has been helped to
restore the social functioning including assessing and helping those in the network system of
the client.

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