Social Work

Lesson 1 The Discipline of Social Work

“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.”

-Helen Keller

Are you willing to confront realities of social problems and human needs? Are you concerned with the plight of the
many who experience hardships of poverty and the tears of hunger and pain? Do you want to be involved in shaping a
society that strives to ensure a high quality of life and social justice for all social members?
If YES, then welcome to the profession of Social Work.

Definition, Goals and Scope of Social Work

Social work as a profession has evolved over time, this profession aims to help individuals fit better into their
environment while changing the environment so that it works better for individuals.
GOALS OF SOCIAL WORK
The National Association of Social Workers has conceptualized social work practice as having five major goals by
Zastrow (2009), which can be classified based on the 3C’s of goal as stated by Dela Cruz (2016):

· The Goal on Caring- this is to develop a sense of personal and societal safety and security by offering public
service through social welfare programs.

 Links people with systems that provide them with resources, services, and opportunities.
 Promotes the effectiveness and Humane Operation of Systems that provide People with Resources and
Services
 Promotes Human and Community Well-Being
· The Goal on Curing- this is to have a holistic development for physiological, psychological, emotional, and
intellectual growth for the deprived members of the community.

 Enhances the Problem-Solving, Coping and Developmental Capabilities of people.

· The Goal on Changing – This is to ensure that social justice and human rights are being honored by the individual,
the society and the government and be able to design social welfare program to meet its need.

 Develops and Improves Social Policy

Scope of Social Work

To supplement your understanding in the value of social work, it is important to study the scope of social work. The
scope of social work includes:
1. Child development Social Work
2. Medical Social Work
3. Clinical Social Work
4. Social work administration and management
5. International Social work
6. Social work as community organizer
7. Women welfare
8. Crisis intervention
9. Criminal justice
Morales and Sheafor (1998, 8th edition) identified and described the fields included in social work, which are as
follows:

1. Social Work as a Primary Discipline

In terms of child welfare, social work offers:

a. The adoption and services to unmarried parents – the difficult decision of unmarried parents
whether to keep the baby or place the child for adoption
 b. The foster care – removes the children from their homes and placing them temporarily in a foster
care
c. The residential care – a group care home or a residential treatment center for children
d. The support in own homes – provides support services in order to keep children in their own homes
e. The protective services – protect the child from child abuse, maltreatment, and exploitation by one
or both parents

Family services, social work offers:

a. Family counselling – utilize the three approaches to this type of counselling namely:
a.1. family case work, involves helping individual members of the family change their behaviour to make
them more effective contributors in the family:
a. 2. family group work, the process by which the family examines its relationships and resolves their problem
with the help of the social worker: and lastly,
a. 3. family therapy, focuses on transforming the structure of the family to make it more supportive to its
members

b. Family life education - an intervention to strengthen the family through educational activities that seek to prevent
family breakdown
c. Family planning – assisting the families plan the number, spacing, and timing of the births of children to fit with
their needs
Income maintenance, social work offers:

a. Public assistance – refers to the provision of the financial aid to the poor. Services include cash grants,
food stamps, general assistance such as hospital and medical care, and supplemental security income.
b. Social insurances – social provisions that are funded by employers and employees through contributions to
a specific program.
c. The other income maintenance programs include cash in kind benefits, emergency support funds, and
other resources which can be used by the poor for food and shelter.

2. Social Work as an Equal Partner

Aging, social work offers:

a. The support for people in their own homes program consists of helping older people remain in their own
homes by linking them with community programs that bring health care services into their homes.
b. The support for people in long-term care facilities program refers to nursing home care services into their
homes.

Community services, social work offers:

a. Community organization
b. Community planning
c. Community development

3. Social Work as a Secondary Discipline

Industry, social workers act as:

a. Support to both the managers and the employees of the companies. They make themselves available to the
employees with social problems for individual, family, and group counselling
b. Provide information to the managers as basis for management decisions that might have an impact on the social
atmosphere in the working environment

Medical and health care, social workers:

a. Attend to the social and psychological factors that are contributing to the medical condition of the patients
b. Link patients with community resources
c. Provide necessary counselling, and link with self-help groups
Schools, the primary tasks of social workers in schools, (as cited by Morales and Sheafor, 1998, 8th edition)

a. Facilitate the provision of direct educational and social services and provide direct social case work and
group work services to selected students;
b. Act as a pupil advocate, focusing on urgent needs of the selected group of students;
c. Consult with school administrators major problems;
d. Consult with teachers about techniques for creating a climate in which children are freed and motivated to
learn by interpreting social and cultural influences in the lives of students;
e. Organize parent and community groups to channel concerns about students and the school to improve
school and community relations.

Core Values of Social Work

 The National Association of Social Workers (NASW, n.d) stated that the mission of the social work profession
is rooted in a set of core values.
 These core values include (Morales and Sheafor, 1998, 8th edition):
o Service
o social justice
o dignity and worth of the person
o importance of human relationships
o Integrity; and
o competence

PRINCIPLES AND CORE VALUES OF SOCIAL WORK

As mentioned by Dela Cruz (2016) the Council on Social work Education identified and described six (6)
values that are shared by the profession of Social Work:

(1) Right to self-fulfillment

(2) Responsibility to Common Good
(3) Responsibility of the Society
(4) Right to Satisfy basic Needs
(5) Social organizations required to facilitate individual’s effort at self-realization.
(6) Self-Realization and Contribution to Society.

SEVEN PRINCIPLES ADHERED BY THE SOCIAL WORKERS:

(1) Acceptance
(2) Client’s Participation in Problem Solving
(3) Self-determination
(4) Individualization
(5) Confidentiality
(6) Workers Self-Awareness
(7) Client-Worker Relationship.