THE HELPING/PROBLEM-SOLVING PROCESS IN SOCIAL WORK

Social work, like all other helping professions, observes a systematic process of working with people.
This process consists of five basic steps: Assessment, Planning, Intervention or Plan Implementation,
Evaluation and Termination.

ORIGIN OF THE PROBLEM-SOLVING PROCESS

The problem-solving concept can be generally traced to the book entitled “How We Think” (John
Dewey, 1933) which describes what goes on in the human mind when confronted with problem.
According to Dewey, the problem-solving behavior is based on reflective thought that begins with a
feeling of doubt or confusion. In order to solve problem, a person follows a rational procedure consisting
of steps in an orderly sequence.

Five Phases of Reflective Thinking:

1. Recognizing the difficulty
2. Defining or specifying the difficulty
3. Raising a suggestion for possible solutions and rationally exploring the suggestion, which include
data collection
4. Selecting an optimal solution from among many proposals
5. Carrying out the solution

George Polya, a mathematics professor, developed a model which he intended to be used as a guide by
anyone engage in problem-solving.

Polya’s Model:
1. Understanding the problem including the problem situation, the goal of the problem-solver, and
the conditions for solving the problem.
2. Devising a plan which the goal could be attained.
3. Carrying out the plan
4. Evaluation of the plan, its implementation, and the results.

PROBLEM-SOLVING FRAMEWORK IN SOCIAL WORK

Helen Harris Perlman is considered as the originator of the problem-solving framework in social work
which has greatly influenced social work thinking. In her book, Social Casework: A Problem-Solving
Process, she describes the social work process as a progressive transaction between the professional
helper and the client, consisting if a series of problem-solving operations which can be summarized as
follows:
1. The facts that constitute and bear upon the problem must be ascertained and grasped (Study);
2. The facts must be thought about i.e., turned over, probed into, and organized in the mind,
examined in their relationships to one another, and searched for their significance (Diagnosis);
3. Some choice or decision must be made as an end result of the consideration of the particular facts
with the intention of resolving the problem (Treatment).

In social work literature, there are a number of other well-known authors who follow a framework for
problem-solving. Among these are the following whose writings are based on the traditional social work
methods of casework, groupwork and community organization:

Florence Hollis Robert D. Vinter Arthur Dunham

Casework Process Groupwork Process Community Organization Process

Defining the general nature Intake Recognition of the problem

of the problem presented

Psychological study Diagnosis and treatment Analysis of the problem or Assessment

planning

Diagnosis and formula- Group composition and Planning or consideration of action to be

tion of treatment plans formulation taken

Treatment Group development Action - is the execution of the plans

and treatment and initiation of the service or project

Evaluation Evaluation Evaluation

 Termination

In general, the problem-solving process demands that a social worker be successfully involved in the
following sequential steps:

(1) Recognition of definition of the problem, and engagement with the client system;
(2) Data collection;
(3) Assessment of the situation;
(4) Goal-setting and the planning of an action;
(5) Intervention or the carrying out of the action;
(6) Evaluation; and
(7) Termination.

Scientific method – a method that involves the recognition and systematic formulation of a problem, the
collection of data though observation and experiment, and the formulation and testing of hypothesis, or
tentative explanation of the problem.

Problem-solving process – is essentially a cognitive process, a rational procedure involving a series of

steps to be followed sequentially.

Social work helping process – the context in which we use the problem-solving process, is not just a
cognitive process since it involves a relationship between two parties, the worker and the client system.
Professional values and ethical principles guide this relationship particularly in relation to the handling of
feelings and attitudes that inevitably enter the picture.
 STEPS IN THE SOCIAL WORK HELPING PROCESS
The social work helping process consists of the following sequential steps which are followed when
working with any type of client system, i.e., individual, family, small group, community:
(1) Assessment
(2) Planning Beginning Phase
(3) Intervention or Plan Implementation Middle or Intervention Phase
(4) Evaluation
(5) Termination Ending Phase

The Helping Relationship

The worker-client relationship is such a crucial factor it can spell the difference between
successful or unsuccessful problem-solving. “Relationship” is a basic concept in social work.
1. Compassion – I deeply care about you.
2. Mutuality – we are here on a common human level; let’s agree on a plan and then let’s walk the
path together.
3. Humility – please help me to understand.
4. Respect – I consider you as having worth. I treat your ideas and feelings with consideration. I don
not intrude upon your person.
5. Openness – I offer myself to you as you see me; real, genuine, authentic.
6. Empathy – I am trying to feel what you are feeling.
7. Involvement – I am trying to share and help in your efforts.
8. Support – I will lend my conviction and back up your progress.
9. Expectation – I have confidence that you can achieve your goals.
10. Limitation – I must remind you of your agreed-upon obligations.
11. Confrontation – I must ask you to look at yourself.
12. Planning – I will always bring proposals, but I would rather have yours.
13. Enabling – I am here to help you become more able, more powerful.
14. Spontaneity and control – I will be as open as possible, yet I must recognize that, in your behalf, I
need to exercise some self-control.
15. Role and person – I am both a human being like you and a social representative of an agency,
with a special function to perform.
16. Science and art – I hope to bring you a professional skill which must be based on organized
knowledge, but I am dealing with people, and my humanity must lend art to grace the science.
Naomi I. Brill, recognizing that a worker’s value system defines her behavior and relationships with
other people believes that the effective worker must:
1. Be aware that she is a walking system of values which is so much a part of her that she is scarcely
aware of its existence and about the rightness of which she has considerable feeling.
2. Use all means possible to become conscious of what these biases are. One of the most useful
tools in this struggle is becoming sensitive to one’s use of the paranoid “they”. [“They cheat:”
“They are dirty”; “They are lazy”; “They don’t like to work”, etc. brill contends that the worker
who is aware that she is doing this, has taken the first step toward overcoming her biases.]
3. Strive to evaluate herself and her values objectively and rationally. [Brill suggest that the worker
look at the origin of her values and the purpose they serve and try to think about whether they
will also serve this purpose for others]
4. Strive to change those values the, on the basis of this evaluation, need changing to differentiate
between those that dictate personal style of living, and those that leave the client “free to step to
the tune of different drummer” if such meets his need.