Social Work in the Community

Making a Difference

Teater, Barbra, Baldwin, Mark, Barbra Teater, Mark Baldwin

• Publisher: Policy Press
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN:
  9781847424853
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781447308812
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Work
• Index: Social Sciences

Social work in the community offers practice guidance to students, practice assessors and practitioners within a political, theoretical, methodological and ethical framework. The book is written from an experiential learning perspective, encouraging the reader not only to understand the ideas and methods but to test them out in their own practice, which additionally provides an element of problem-based learning. The book is written within the framework of the practice curriculum for the social work degree, including the National Occupational Standards and an extended statement of values for practice. This will enable students to use the book to make sense of their practice in relation to the knowledge, skills and values of social work practice in its community context.

Chapter 6: Community profiling

Introduction

The practice example from Chapter One (see pp 1-2) illustrates a complex situation for Irene as a social worker upholding the importance of diversity, inclusion and anti-oppressive practice yet acknowledging that the services provided to the community are not actually adhering to these values. Irene realises that the operations and delivery of services might actually only meet the needs of a particular subgroup of the community, which overshadows the needs of the community as a whole. She is faced with the task of soliciting the needs of the community as a whole, versus just a few, in order to maximise the services of the Sure Start centre and to truly make the centre a service that meets the needs of the community as defined by the community. A community profile is one approach to social work practice in the community that Irene could use to accomplish this task.

In a general sense, social workers are often employed to work with ‘communities of need’, or groups of individuals who share a similar situation or common experience (Twelvetrees, 2008). Communities of need could be comprised of people with disabilities, older people, LGBT individuals, individuals with alcohol or drug dependencies, mental health issues or people from minority ethnic backgrounds. Such communities are often defined as ‘in need’ as they may experience discrimination and/or oppression from the dominant society and may be excluded from access to resources, public or social services or power over themselves and within their communities (Twelvetrees, 2008). The challenge for social workers often lies in determining the actual need of the communities in which they work, particularly as their ‘needs’ are often defined by government officials, academics, service providers or others who have some sense of power and control over the communities. Social workers, while working to promote social justice, anti-oppressive practice and empowerment, must assess whether individuals and community members have been given the opportunity to define their own needs from their perspectives and experiences and determine whether the identified needs are being adequately addressed.

There are several ways in which social workers can solicit the needs of the community, with each technique involving different levels of community participation. Hawtin and Percy-Smith (2007) have identified four types of activities or techniques that can be used in gathering the needs of communities: (1) needs assessment; (2) community consultation; (3) social audit; and (4) a community profile. Although each of the techniques are similar in that they seek to establish the current needs of the community, identify strengths and resources, and include members of the community in the process, they vary in regard to the actual purpose of the activity, who leads and participates in the activity, and the extent to which the community is consulted, participates, collaborates or leads the activity (Hawtin and Percy-Smith, 2007). A needs assessment tends to analyse and explore existing data (such as secondary data) for a particular purpose with little to no participation from the community members. For example, a social worker may analyse the local GP surgeries’ databases for the number of post-partum women who see their GP due to signs of depression to explore the possible need for a post-partum depression women’s support group. A community consultation has an aspect of community involvement in that the community is consulted on one or more proposals for action as identified by an agency. A consultation could include the local authority seeking community feedback in regard to the distribution of wheelie bins or rubbish bags in regard to rubbish collection. A social audit involves measuring non-financial activities to determine the overall ‘health’ of the community. The complete picture of overall ‘health’ involves analysing the social, economic and environmental benefits and limitations. For example, a local authority may conduct a social audit on a local community to determine whether their diversity promotion programmes have led to reduced racism within the particular area. Finally, a community profile seeks to assess the strengths, resources and needs of a community in collaboration with the community members themselves, such as working with the Local Coalition for Older People to assess how older people view the Meals on Wheels programme.

This chapter covers the concept and activity of a community profile and the use of a profile to define needs as one way of practising social work in a community context. It uses the practice example of Irene and the Sure Start centre to illustrate the type of problem that a social worker or social work team might encounter in understanding the needs of the community in which they work. The chapter begins with a thorough definition of a community profile, a discussion on the relevance of a community profile for effective community-based social work practice, particularly by building on the theories, values and critical concepts as discussed in Chapter Two, an explanation of how to define and select a community to profile, an illustration of the steps of conducting a community profile and a discussion on how to engage communities from an anti-oppressive approach. The chapter ends with examples of communities to encourage readers to think of how they can engage and collaborate with communities in order to assist in defining need.

What is a community profile?

A community profile is one type of activity or technique that can be used to solicit the needs of community members. According to Hawtin and Percy-Smith (2007, p 5), it is defined as follows:

A comprehensive description of the needs of a population that is defined, or defines itself, as a community, and the resources that exist within that community, carried out with the active involvement of the community itself, for the purpose of developing an action plan or other means of improving the quality of life in the community.

This definition of a community profile has six independent, yet interrelated concepts that contribute to the distinctiveness of this type of activity: comprehensive, needs and resources, community, active involvement of the community and action plan. Each of these is discussed in detail below with needs and resources combined.

Comprehensive A community profile is comprehensive in the sense that it operates from the premise that individual and community needs are not static and are not easily and neatly defined, but are instead a result of interactions between individuals, families, groups and communities and are therefore fluid and multidimensional (Hawtin and Percy-Smith, 2007). In this sense, a community profile can be viewed as being congruent with social systems theory. Social systems theory can best be described by the expression, ‘the whole of a system is greater than the sum of its individual parts’, and is concerned with assessing the development and transformation of systems (such as individuals, families, groups, communities and society) and the interactions and interdependencies between them (Teater, 2010). This theory emphasises the individual as a system, within her or his community, which is also a system, and assesses and explores the interactions and relationships between the two versus looking at either in isolation. Therefore, a community profile is congruent and embedded within the social systems theory as it encourages social workers and community members to assess the interactions, transactions and relationships between individuals and their environment in order to promote continual positive growth and development (Germain, 1979). A comprehensive community profile seeks to explore these interactions and interdependencies within a community in order to identify and define holistic needs that considers community members within their environment.

Needs and resources A community profile seeks to identify the needs of the community as defined by the community. The identification of needs is not in isolation, but should be explored in relation to existing community strengths and resources. Resources can include material resources (such as food, water, shelter, clothing or transportation), educational and developmental resources, social and emotional support, justice resources or economic resources, such as access to goods and services (Andrews and Motes, 2007). Strengths can include any personal, interpersonal or environmental characteristic or attribute that has the potential to stimulate positive growth and change, such as capacities, assets, capabilities and resources (Saleebey, 2009). Resources can be both tangible and intangible. Considering the social systems theory, the assessment and identification of strengths and resources should be multidimensional by considering individual, familial and communal levels. Through this assessment, the resources of a community may be either under-used, blocked to some or all community members, or are non-existent but could be potential resources (Andrews and Motes, 2007). Identifying the current and potential strengths and resources can assist in identifying and understanding community needs. Although needs tend to focus on the deficits of a community, Hawtin and Percy-Smith (2007) point out that allocation of resources and service provision tend to be based on identified need; therefore, a comprehensive community profile that explores strengths, resources and need is crucial in providing the necessary services to communities and community members.

Community The concept of community is often contested and can be defined in numerous ways, such as in regard to a geographical area, administrative area or a group of individuals with a shared interest or characteristic (see Chapter One). Weil (2005) identifies communities as either geographical or functional. A geographical community can include small villages or large cities, but is defined by visible or established boundaries, whereas functional communities are those that share a specific concern or identity. Both types of communities participate in communication, interaction and an exchange process (Weil, 2005). Such examples of functional communities could include the deaf community, LGBT community, women, parents, a black or minority ethnic group, children, people with mental health needs or individuals in recovery from alcohol and other drug use. Although these definitions are widely accepted, care must be taken in assuming that all individuals of a particular geographical area or with a common interest or characteristic actually feel apart or included within the ‘community’. Hence the importance of involving the community in defining the community, determining needs and implementing services where and when appropriate.

Active involvement of the community A community profile seeks to have the active involvement of the community, particularly in defining needs. Weil et al (2010) stress the importance of the active involvement of the community because the community has particular expertise about the strengths and resources that are embedded within it. Additionally, the active involvement of the community promotes empowerment by giving the community a voice, developing skills, techniques and confidence, through participation in the profile process itself, and greater awareness of the strengths, resources and needs of the community.

Action plan A community profile has an end goal of producing an action plan to build on the strengths and resources of the community, seeking to meet the needs as identified by the community. Hawtin and Percy-Smith (2007, p 8) propose an action plan that identifies issues, priorities, actions to be taken and set goals and targets, and proposes a progress monitoring plan.

Irene’s use of a community profile

A community profile would be appropriate in addressing Irene’s concerns with the Sure Start programme as she has identified that there are services being provided to the community, yet only a subgroup of the community are currently interacting with such services. Irene acknowledged that the Sure Start centre seeks to provide services to the parents, carers and children of an ethnically diverse neighbourhood, yet those who use the centre are predominately white heterosexual women and white children. Irene has identified that a community profile would be a useful tool in determining how to provide services that are in line with the needs of the community as a whole versus a subgroup, and has established an initial aim of ‘including a wide range of members from the community to determine the community’s needs and subsequently collaborate and participate in programme planning and utilisation of the services at the centre’. Based on the above definition of a community profile, Irene needs to plan for the following actions: (1) participate in a comprehensive needs assessment where she and the community members jointly assess the interactions, transactions and relationships between individuals and their environments in order to define need and meet the overall aim; (2) identify the needs of the community as defined by them while assessing for community strengths and resources; (3) define the community as either those individuals living within a geographical area, administrative area, having a shared interest or characteristic, or a combination of the three; (4) solicit the active involvement of the community members; and (5) create an action plan that specifies the needs, strengths and resources of the community while also setting out strategies and action points to meet the overall aim.

Relevance of a community profile to social work practice

As discussed above, through the five aspects, a community profile can be closely linked to the activities of social work and the theoretical frameworks and values that guide the social work profession, particularly empowerment, the strengths perspective, social constructivism, the theory of human need and social systems theory (see Chapter Two for overviews on each). A community profile is one tool to assist social workers and community members in jointly assessing the strengths, resources, relationships and needs of a community as well as the role that the community plays in meeting the needs of the community members and the needs of the community members that are not being addressed.

As well as being used to identify the needs of communities, a community profile may also be used to meet the needs of social services within or servicing communities. For example, social services in the statutory sector are often encouraged or required to conduct needs assessments of the community members for which they serve or are responsible for serving under legislation (for example, National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990, Children Act 1989, Equality Act 2010 and Disability Discrimination Act 1995). Such needs assessments may seek to determine the percentage of the population that are disabled, from a black or minority ethnic group or require community care services. This exercise usually seeks to determine whether policy priorities are being met and the appropriate allocation of resources. A community profile could replace this type of assessment by involving the community in defining themselves and in determining the type of services that would best suit their needs (Hawtin and Percy-Smith, 2007). This may not only serve a purpose of defining need and services, but could also assist in obtaining information about how services were meeting policy priorities, the processes through which this was taking place and an assessment of the accuracy of allocation of resources based on the correlation between policy priorities and community need (Hawtin and Percy-Smith, 2007; Motes and Hess, 2007; Weil et al, 2010). This exercise and evaluation could lead to changes in programme delivery or policy priorities that more accurately reflected the needs of community members. Community profiling projects could also be carried out by voluntary organisations in an effort to define community needs, to develop services based on community need or to provide recommendations to service provision by statutory social services to more accurately distribute or deliver services.

Exercise box 6.1: Community profiling a...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of tables, figures and exercise boxes
• One: Introduction to social work in the community
• Two: Theories, values and critical concepts: the foundation of social work in the community
• Three: Historical and legal context: development of social work in the community
• Four: Community social work
• Five: Community development
• Six: Community profiling
• Seven: Social work in the community: global perspectives
• Eight: The future of social work practice in the community: making a difference
• References