Define Social Work Practice
Defining Social Work
Social Work is a professional service, committed to helping vulnerable service users to promote positive changes in their lives. A Social Worker will help them to address their problem/s and aims to assist a service user to overcome serious difficulties in their lives, providing care, protection or counselling through social support. Social Work practice consists of the professional application of Social Work values, skills and techniques. The main five core values of a Social Worker are; Human dignity and worth, Social Justice, Service to humanity, integrity & Competence. Social Justice as suggested by Bradley (2008) the first value, refers to the idea of creating a society or institution which bases itself on equality, …show more content…
Most of us intuitively know that our personal values and prejudices are not the only social relations based on inequality. A Social Workers job involves making judgement on assessing the most vulnerable service users. Therefore it is very important for Social Workers to critically assess and examine their own prejudices. If not it could affect the judgement of an individual they are working with. Prejudices can include; age, religion, sexual orientation, gender, disability, alcohol dependants, drug users, cultural differences and race, to name a few. As a social worker, their role will involve them working with a variety of different types of people over the course of their career. This will mean when decision making, assessing and making judgement, they will firstly need to address any previously held prejudices and bias.
Stereotyping is a form of pre judgement that has stood the test of time for many years with most people. Hamilton (1979) calls this a ‘depressing dilemma’. The first characteristic of stereotyping is over generalisation. Stereotyping however does not imply that all members of a group are judged, just that a typical member of a group can be categorised in such judgements, that they possess the characteristics of the …show more content…
Normative Need is a need which is identified according to a set standard, generally defined by experts. Felt Need is a need perceived by the individual. This need is limited by individual perceptions and knowledge of services. Expressed Need is a need an individual says they have. This need is felt needs turned into action. For example, an individual suffering from a tooth ache (felt need) and seeking medical help from a dentist (expressed need). Comparative Need concerns problems which emerge by comparison with other individuals who are not in need. One of the most common uses of this approach has been the comparison of social problems in different areas in order to determine which areas are most
Social Work is a professional service, committed to helping vulnerable service users to promote positive changes in their lives. A Social Worker will help them to address their problem/s and aims to assist a service user to overcome serious difficulties in their lives, providing care, protection or counselling through social support. Social Work practice consists of the professional application of Social Work values, skills and techniques. The main five core values of a Social Worker are; Human dignity and worth, Social Justice, Service to humanity, integrity & Competence. Social Justice as suggested by Bradley (2008) the first value, refers to the idea of creating a society or institution which bases itself on equality, …show more content…
Most of us intuitively know that our personal values and prejudices are not the only social relations based on inequality. A Social Workers job involves making judgement on assessing the most vulnerable service users. Therefore it is very important for Social Workers to critically assess and examine their own prejudices. If not it could affect the judgement of an individual they are working with. Prejudices can include; age, religion, sexual orientation, gender, disability, alcohol dependants, drug users, cultural differences and race, to name a few. As a social worker, their role will involve them working with a variety of different types of people over the course of their career. This will mean when decision making, assessing and making judgement, they will firstly need to address any previously held prejudices and bias.
Stereotyping is a form of pre judgement that has stood the test of time for many years with most people. Hamilton (1979) calls this a ‘depressing dilemma’. The first characteristic of stereotyping is over generalisation. Stereotyping however does not imply that all members of a group are judged, just that a typical member of a group can be categorised in such judgements, that they possess the characteristics of the …show more content…
Normative Need is a need which is identified according to a set standard, generally defined by experts. Felt Need is a need perceived by the individual. This need is limited by individual perceptions and knowledge of services. Expressed Need is a need an individual says they have. This need is felt needs turned into action. For example, an individual suffering from a tooth ache (felt need) and seeking medical help from a dentist (expressed need). Comparative Need concerns problems which emerge by comparison with other individuals who are not in need. One of the most common uses of this approach has been the comparison of social problems in different areas in order to determine which areas are most