Competence

Select Theoretical Frameworks

Roberta R. Greene, Nancy Kropf

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781412842129
• eBook ISBN: 9781351527194
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Work
• Index: Social Sciences

The actions social workers take are aimed at helping people, communities, and societies attain a sense of mastery, become or remain competent, and achieve or retain a sense of well-being. Such a broad scope of practice necessitates a theoretical foundation that is anchored in the concept of human competence.This text explores the concept of competence, and shows how it is expressed in a variety of theoretical frameworks, including traditional models and emerging theoretical approaches. This approach toward human behavior focuses on mutually beneficial interactions between people and society, and emphasizes the connections between individuals and various systems that influence their lives. It enables the social worker to conduct multilevel client assessments, gaining an understanding of how clients function within their total environment, and plan a range of helpful interventions.The volume is organized around the competency-based approach to social work education, adopted by the Council on Social Work Education. Written by leading analysts in the field, Competence is essential reading for the field of social work.

1

Social Work’s Mission: Fostering Competence

The purpose of the social work profession is to promote human and community well-being. Guided by a person and environment construct, a global perspective, respect for human diversity, and knowledge based on scientific inquiry, social work’s purpose is actualized through its quest for social and economic justice, the prevention of conditions that limit human rights, the elimination of poverty, and the enhancement of the quality of life for all persons.

—Council on Social Work Education (2008, 1)

This text focuses on the lifelong process of achieving competence in social functioning as an individual and in families, groups, and communities. The chapters address theories relevant to select life course transitions and to the concept of person-in-environment. They apply the competency-based approach to social work education recently adopted by Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). Each chapter in this text addresses various practice behaviors that will help guide students in understanding how content contributes to their knowledge and skills for effective social work practice. In addition, Appendix A provides a summary of various practice behaviors that are associated with each chapter of the book. In this way, students will have a summary of how the various theories fit with the knowledge and skills of social work practice.

Competency-Based Education

Social work is a profession devoted to helping people function as well as they can within their social environments and to changing their environments to make that possible.… In order to be a responsible professional, the social worker must understand and function within the professions’ accepted area of expertise.

—Sheafor and Horejsi (2008, 1)

Ten Core Social Work Competencies

Competency-based education “is an outcome performance approach to curriculum design” (CSWE 2008, 3). In this approach, you are expected to demonstrate upon graduation that you have mastered the following ten core competencies expressed as “measurable practice behaviors that are comprised of knowledge, values, and skills” (3):

Educational Policy 2.1.1—Identify as a professional social worker and conduct oneself accordingly.

Educational Policy 2.1.2—Apply social work ethical principles to guide professional practice.

Educational Policy 2.1.3—Apply critical thinking to inform and communicate professional judgments.

Educational Policy 2.1.4—Engage diversity and difference in practice.

Educational Policy 2.1.5—Advance human rights and social and economic justice.

Educational Policy 2.1.6—Engage in research-informed practice and practice-informed research.

Educational Policy 2.1.7—Apply knowledge of human behavior and the social environment.

Educational Policy 2.1.8—Engage in policy practice to advance social and economic well-being and to deliver effective social work services.

Educational Policy 2.1.9—Respond to contexts that shape practice.

Educational Policy 2.1.10(a)–(d)—Engage, assess, intervene, and evaluate with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.

Human Behavior and the Social Environment

Although this text discusses all ten of these curriculum competencies, it emphasizes those related to human behavior in the social environment. In that arena, social workers are expected to be “knowledgeable about human behavior across the life course; the range of social systems in which people live; and the ways social systems promote or deter people in maintaining or achieving health and well-being” (CSWE 2008, 6).

Human behavior theory is an integral part of the multifaceted social work curriculum. It attempts to explain people’s actions and enables practitioners and their clients to make sense of and more readily assess and resolve difficult situations. The purpose of this text is to provide future social workers with such practice-enhancing theory (Greene 2008b; Longres 2000; Schriver 2003).

Competent Human Functioning

At the core of every human behavior theory is an explanation of how people can be helped to function better in society and what needs to be done to remediate their difficulties. That is, what makes people more competent, better functioning individuals at any time in their life course? This text explores the concept of competence and how it is expressed in various theoretical frameworks, including traditional models and emerging theoretical approaches. It brings a strengths perspective to viewing the social worker’s professional role.

The various theories presented and discussed in this text provide different definitions of competence. For example, a practitioner taking a cognitive approach might relate competence to processes and structures that help resolve cognitive dissonance, whereas a practitioner concerned with community organization would emphasize supporting community efficacy. Thus, practitioners’ underlying theories and intervention strategies flow from clients’ strengths and resources; both help clients perceive choices (Saleebey 2008).

To demonstrate that you have mastered course content, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1. What do various theorists believe is competent human functioning? What are the norms of social functioning in a given person’s historical time and place? What are the theorist’s views of “the person” and “the environment”?

2. What does the theorist say supports, enhances, and promotes client (systems) competence?

3. What interventions follow from this line of reasoning?

Text Outcomes

This book examines the concept of competence from a variety of theoretical perspectives. Upon completion of the course, you should be able to assess client competence from several perspectives and within multiple systems, including individuals, families, groups, and communities. Thus, you will be able to examine how these theories factor into assessment and practice protocols.

Each chapter presents theoretical content, provides a critique from a multicultural perspective, and applies the theory in question to a case situation. In addition, reflection questions are included at the conclusion of each chapter for analysis and discussion of the content and issues present. Chapter 2 emphasizes attachment theory, focusing on how the caregiver–infant bond and Erikson’s concept of trust establishes the foundation for positive adult functioning. Chapter 3 uses Eriksonian theory to explore autonomy, initiative, and identity formation as components of a competent self. In addition, it presents contemporary research on identity formation to critique Erikson’s earlier work.

Chapter 4 describes the various social systems in which people interact, including the family and the workplace. It explores various forms of families and uses systems theory to examine the basis for the functionality of systems. The concept of crisis competence is also explored. Chapter 4 takes a humanistic and postmodern stance to competence formation. It presents the concept of meaning-making that is used as a prism to discover personal affirmation. It also discusses how competence is viewed through the lens of local cultures and interaction.

Chapter 5 presents theories that deal with meaning-making involving self-affirmation and transcendence. Chapter 6 uses cognitive–behavioral theory to explore what constitutes competent behavior that involves the ability to problem solve and to assess one’s own reality. In Chapter 7, Lazarus and Folkman’s concept of environmental press is used to explore older adults’ functional capacity and their ability to live independently in the community. This is contrasted with relational points of view that examine cultures that emphasize interdependent living.

Chapter 8 looks at the small group as a system for interaction and growth. It examines various theoretical perspectives on group development and functioning. Concepts related to group dynamics, such as boundaries, leadership, and interactions, are highlighted. In addition, outcomes of group interactions, including social support for members and goal completion for formal groups, are described.

Chapter 9 focuses on the social environment as the context in which individuals and families function. The concept of collective efficacy describes the leadership and engagement of community members in their environment, including leadership positions and effective governance structures. In addition, Bandura’s (1977) concept of self-efficacy is applied to larger systems to discuss how aspects of collective efficacy, such as citizen participation and neighborhood identification, can promote competence. Chapter 10 provides tools for evaluating and assessing the competence of individuals, families, groups, neighborhoods, and societies. It also discusses evaluation of effectiveness of social work practice.

Upon completing the text, you should be able to assess client (system) competence (Educational Policy 2.1.10b), use the various theoretical frameworks discussed (2.1.7), describe the issue(s) at hand, infer possible solutions (2.1.10c), and evaluate the effectiveness of a proposed solution (2.1.10d). You should also be able to

critique theoretical concepts for their congruence with social work values (2.1.2);

use scientific thought related to the concept’s empirical effectiveness (2.1.6);

understand adaptive behaviors across the life course (2.1.7);

give attention to differences in clients’ sociocultural and historical contexts (2.1.7);

distinguish cultural differences in the expression of competence (2.1.4);

assess individual coping styles (2.1.7);

distinguish people’s ability to function competently in a variety of roles and settings (2.1.7);

apply the concept of competence to multi-systemic practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities (2.1.10); and

arrive at culturally sensitive solutions for client system(s) (2.1.4).

Social Work Practice: A Working Definition

Not since more than half a century ago have the political, economic, cultural, and ideological views of the time so dramatically affected how social work practice is defined. While theorists are revisiting debates about how to conceptualize the social work curriculum, social workers are wrestling with how to reformulate theory, practice, and research.

—Greene (2005, 38)

The Legacy of Freud and Adler

Although there are no specific, precise boundaries to the social work domain, certain landmarks can be identified. Social work practice began at the community level with an interest in both individual enhancement and social reform. Early social work interventions were based on the ideas of pioneer-friendly visitors, such as Mary Richmond and Bertha Reynolds, as well as pragmatic university-based sociologists who dealt with everyday struggles related to adequacy of resources and psychosocial needs.

Starting in the early 1900s social work education had moved to the university, and methods texts placed a heavy emphasis on Freudian theory. Its theoretical assumptions about what helps people function well were translated into practice methods, and many became part of the profession’s legacy about how to conduct the helping process (Greene 2008b).

For example, Sigmund Freud, considered by many to be the father of mental health treatment, was the first to suggest in his The Psychopathology of Everyday Life that people engage in “faulty acts” and “faulty functions.” He argued that some “slips of the tongue” that we now refer to as Freudian slips and symptoms of forgetfulness may be found in healthy people who otherwise have sufficient control of unconscious conflicting emotions. However, those people who cannot control their conflicting emotions and experience neurotic symptoms were seen as benefiting from a therapist’s interpretation of their unconscious impulses. Thus, Freud gave birth to the idea that there is an antagonism between civilization (society) and an individual’s instinctual forces (Freud 1930). He thought that people who displayed maladaptive behaviors could become better functioning individuals if they received treatment based on interpretation, or making explicit what the client is feeling but of which he or she is not yet aware.

Social work practice texts continue to teach that reflecting client feelings is a means of enhancing client self-awareness and thereby leading to better functioning (Compton, Galaway, and Cournoyer 2004; Kadushin and Kadushin 1997). Interpreting feelings that are beyond clients’ conscious recognition—a technique used by social workers who adopt ego psychology and cognitive therapies—is often recommended as an intervention so that “people can genuinely learn about themselves” (Boyle et al. 2006, 35; see also Chapter 6). In sum, Freud’s ideas about the helping process as a process unique to each individual have shaped the interviewing process.

Freud...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Tables and Figures
• 1. Social Work’s Mission: Fostering Competence
• 2. Infancy and Toddlerhood: The Foundations of Competency
• 3. Early Life Stages and Identity Formation
• 4. Living in Systems: Work and Love
• 5. Meaning-Making: Self-Affirmation and Transcendence
• 6. Cognitive and Behavioral Approaches
• 7. Older Adults: Life Transitions, Stress, and Resilience
• 8. Effective Group Dynamics
• 9. Communities and Neighborhoods
• 10. Evaluating Effectiveness
• Appendix
• Index