Social workers will have doubts: whether the theory works or not, the service will still be carried out, and it will not even have a bad impact on the service results. I'm afraid the application of theory is just a superficial article and specialty for the sake of reality. Social workers should seriously consider the application of theory, which can help social workers systematize their experience and knowledge accumulation in the process of learning to help others, and play a role in the growth and promotion of social workers. Theory is to help us explain problems and provide a basic framework or paradigm for services.
1. service theory ≠ service concept
Some social workers equate theory with ideas, but there is a big difference between them. Although the two concepts are confused, they do not have much adverse effect on the service.
The term theory generally contains three meanings: model, which describes the situation in practice in a structured way. The model extracts some principles and activity patterns to make practice consistent. Models help people to deal with complex situations and provide basic operational framework, such as task-centered model, psychosocial model, cognitive behavioral therapy model and so on. Perspective is the value or view of the world that allows participants to fully sort out their ideas and manage themselves in their participation, such as the "leading perspective" that ranks in the top three in the "theory application ranking". Perspective helps us to think about a phenomenon systematically. Perspective is also included in a certain mode. Explanatory theory explains why an action can lead to or cause some specific results, and determines under what environmental conditions.
An idea is more of a firm idea or belief. Limited by talent, it is difficult to elaborate. Take the martial arts novels as an example: The bard's martial arts concept in Eight Dragons is "Internal force is the foundation, moves are the purpose, and if the internal force is thick, then all the martial arts in the world will be used by me". The concept of Wutang Sect in "Eternal Dragon Slayer" is "softness with rigidity, and yin with yang". The difference between the two martial arts concepts determines the different ways of practicing martial arts. Bards advocate absorbing internal forces, while Wu Tangmen pays attention to "both physical and mental cultivation", but it is hard to say which is better. The martial arts of the founders of the two factions have reached their peak.
2. Should the theory be embedded in the service first, or should the theory be selected according to the service situation?
In the process of writing documents, do you choose your favorite theory and attach it to the service content first, or do you choose theoretical support according to the actual service situation? Usually, different theories can explain the same problem and phenomenon, but I believe that no theory can explain all problems or phenomena.
Any theory examines the totality of things from one side and a specific angle. Before choosing which intervention theory or model, first evaluate the problems and needs, and then choose which theory. Social work service is people-oriented, starting from people's needs, and theory is just a tool for us to explain a certain phenomenon and provide service guidance. If the priority selection theory is adopted, its cut-in angle does not meet the problem defined by us, but it is far-fetched.
Although theoretical support is a manifestation of service professionalism, it is not the most fundamental embodiment. The most fundamental embodiment of the professionalism of social work service is that "service is based on demand and specific problems are analyzed". If we want to explain why social work service is professional, the whole service concept is well-founded.
Annual needs assessment and planning requires ideas, as does every group or activity. Services should be based on the needs of people or communities to ensure professionalism. The theory of social work mostly absorbs or draws lessons from sociology, psychology, education, political science and other disciplines, which may integrate the values and concepts of social work. But no matter which theory is cited, it is the premise to explain clearly "who needs what" in service development.
The professionalism of social work service is not reflected in how powerful the theory is, but that social workers should pay more attention to how the theory can help our service more effectively and not be bound by the theory.
3. Theoretical application should not just be copied and pasted.
Criticized by many supervisors, many social workers like to copy Maslow's hierarchy demand theory and symbolic interaction theory. Later, I heard some social workers say that the teacher told them: "If you can't use any theory, use Maslow's hierarchy demand theory, which is applicable in any case." Although there seems nothing unreasonable about this theory, it seems too big to use. Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory is an explanatory theory, which has no corresponding operation guide, namely model, and is especially unsuitable for reference in cases, groups and community activities. Rational emotional behavior therapy (REBT) is different. In the process of helping others, they have their own theoretical assumptions, basic beliefs, intervention goals, and specific operating methods and skills. This guidance is concrete and clear. In addition to explanatory discussions, there is also an operational framework to guide how to operate.
There are many sources of social support theory, and different scholars have different descriptions and dimensions. If you just copy Baidu Encyclopedia: "The stronger a person's social support network, help him expand social network resources and improve his ability to use social networks." It seems unconvincing. This article is an overview of this theory. It has richer contents and levels, such as classification of support, objective support, subjective experience support and utilization support. There are also family support, friend support and other support, which can be divided into cognitive support, emotional support and behavioral support. When applying social support theory, social workers should consider which dimension to intervene. If a matching visiting volunteer is established for the case owner, it may be aimed at emotional support or objective support, depending on the needs of the case owner. According to different dividing dimensions, their strategies are not completely consistent. If you want to improve the subjective experience of the case owner, you need to sort out the existing support network with the case owner and re-experience the help of the existing support, instead of just broadening the support sources.
A cut-in angle of theory's explanation of things, different theories have different perspectives on the same thing. Although different social work theories have different perspectives, they all lead to the same goal, and the operating methods guiding us are also different, but they are also consistent. For example, the crisis intervention for the families of suicides can be either a crisis intervention model or a grief counseling model, depending on the perspective of social worker intervention. For example, Robert's seven-stage crisis intervention model has clear guidance for social workers on how to evaluate the crisis, how to establish relationships, how to deal with feelings and emotions, how to explore alternative methods, how to form action plans, follow-up plans and agreements. When the grief counseling model is used to coach grief victims facing crisis, it also evaluates their physiology, cognition, feeling and behavior, and this process is also evaluating the degree of crisis. For example, helping mourners to accept the lost facts and experience the pain of sadness will involve dealing with their feelings and emotions.
4. The theory used should be reflected in the record.
The theory used in the service needs to be reflected in the process record. For most mainland social workers, it is not easy to skillfully use one or two of the common case counseling modes. For most professional cases, an intervention theory is enough. Human cognition, behavior, emotion, interpersonal communication, etc. In fact, they influence and penetrate each other, and different theories have different entry points. Almost all cases need to help the case owner deal with emotions, and different models and theories have different ways to deal with emotions. Rational emotional behavior therapy is specifically aimed at people's irrational emotions. In the analysis records, different theories are used and different keywords are used, such as "irrational belief" in rational behavior therapy, "exception" in sfbt and "finding a solution to the problem". Another example is to describe the problem of social workers' use in case records and analyze the interview results, so as to understand whether the theory of social workers' use is consistent with the theory cited in the plan.
Group work itself has its inherent theoretical support, such as group motivation theory, "self in the mirror" theory (explanatory theory), social learning theory and so on. The theory used by the group is based on the use of group incentives and the use of included tools to guide the progress of the group. Take Klob's "experiential learning" theory as an example;
Experiential learning theory mainly explains and guides people to learn knowledge through experience transformation, and guides social workers how to guide team members to re-experience and reflect on knowledge, behavior and attitude in group design and leadership. This theory can clearly guide how to achieve the goals set by social workers. For example, the interpersonal group of teenagers and the support group of chronic diseases. Social workers guide group members to share their initial personal experiences, which is also the role of "transmitting information" in the group. Through the exchange of specific experience of team members, we can guide them to think more, sum up or upgrade their ideas with them, and then let them try to use group experience, which can include the goals of team members in knowledge, behavior, cognition and problem solving.
The focus of group process record is to present the interaction of members in the four processes of experiential learning. No matter what kind of theory, in group interaction, according to the guiding steps or framework of this theory, it will not be divorced from the theory used.
There is nothing wrong with Maslow's hierarchy of needs, but just like in chronic disease groups, safety education groups, or interpersonal groups, emphasizing physical needs and safety needs is its basic premise, but it does not prove that social workers can help members learn knowledge, change behavior and adjust their cognition in the group. The theoretical application of group exercises needs to be carried out within an operable framework.
The theoretical application of community activities (not community work) is relatively simple, and explanatory theory can be used. In a festival or visit, it seems that there is not much difference between using theory and not using theory, and the effect seems to be similar. Writing the theory of free outpatient service is a headache, and there seems to be no suitable one. The purpose (goal) level of community activities is also relatively shallow. The development of community activities is combined with the original service plan of the center. The basis of the service plan shows the needs of residents or communities learned from the demand survey. Its theoretical application needs to reflect how social workers achieve the goals of activities, especially in the description of the process and the review of the goals. Compared with the theoretical application of groups and cases, it is also appropriate that the theory of "model" is not used in community activities.
There are many theories about social work, but there is no need to memorize them. I heard that some experts covered the theoretical part of the document with their hands during the evaluation and asked social workers to answer how the theory was described. In this case, social workers can express their understanding of the theory in their own words, which is better than reciting word by word.
Every theory of social work contains an explanation of social or psychological phenomena. In the practice of social work, it is always a tool to help others or guide services. There is no difference between good and bad, and it should not be regarded as a burden. First assess the demand, clarify the problem, and then choose the theory; Knowing and understanding the service object first, establishing trust relationship, and then analyzing and discussing solutions are the basis of developing services.
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References: Malcolm Payne, Theory of Modern Social Work, Third Edition.