Social Work Practice: A Systems Approach, Second Edition

Description

Replete with numerous diagrams, charts, tables, and exercises, the second edition of Social Work Practice: A Systems Approach brings alive the systems model of social work practice. Learning systems analysis will lead you to a more dynamic view of reality. With this book as a guide, you are sure to give your social work practice the overhaul it needs. This user-friendly text will allow you to... Read more

Replete with numerous diagrams, charts, tables, and exercises, the second edition of Social Work Practice: A Systems Approach brings alive the systems model of social work practice. Learning systems analysis will lead you to a more dynamic view of reality. With this book as a guide, you are sure to give your social work practice the overhaul it needs. This user-friendly text will allow you to integrate micro and macro modes of intervention, sensitize your practice, enhance your conflict resolution skills, and analyze system-environment structures and currents.

The basis for popular ecological models in current social work literature, the systems model can be used to understand social change, to plan or direct social change, and to analyze environmental impacts on human growth and behavior. As Social Work Practice: A Systems Approach explains, the systems model is appropriate for international social work because it is applicable across cultural and societal boundaries. This book provides you with specific system-based intervention steps, descriptions of problem situations, and an understanding of practice theory for your social work practice. A key resource for educators, students, and practitioners, it discusses:

creating an effective network of social services
the implications of ecological theory for social work practice
eco-mapping
systems-oriented concepts in the social sciences and social work
the individual person as a system
managing social change and conflict processes
gleaning effective strategies from existing practice models

With its outline of a one-semester master's level course in systems analysis and its discussion of the 20th-century paradigm shift from reductionism to wholeness, Social Work Practice: A Systems Approach will be a great asset to social workers both within and beyond the classroom. Those in other helping professions, such as education, psychology, and organization development, will also find this book vital to understanding the changes experienced during the last 30 years. You will discover how many systems-based professional social work roles and strategies are compatible with existing models. Read less

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Why Bother with Systems?
Chapter Outline
A Personal Note
Chapter 1. Social Systems and Their Environments
Introduction to the Systems Idea
People as the Focus
The Individual As a System
A Person-Environment Model
Expressing System Principles Visually
Summary
Exercises
Chapter 2. Some Characteristics of Open Systems
Introduction
Helping the P. Family: A Case Report
Definitions and Concepts
Summary
Exercises
Chapter 3. Additional Characteristics of Open Systems
Introduction
The Betty D. Situation: A Case Report
More Definitions and Concepts
Communications and System-Environment Relations
Functions
Manifest and Latent Functions
Coherence
Review of the Systems Model
Summary
Exercises
Chapter 4. System Change
Introduction
What Is “Change”?
Some Conditions That Lead to Social Change
Change in Systemic Terms
Change Versus Progress
System Change at the Personal Level
A Systems Analysis of Organizational Change
Summary
Exercises
Chapter 5. Systems Analysis of Some Social Work Practices
Introduction
Defining Problems and Needs Systemically
Systemic Models of Human Development and Behavior
Creating A New Agency: A Case Report
Client, Action, and Target Systems
Stages of the Action Episode
Input or Boundary Management
Throughput Management
Feedback Management
Influencing Policy
Summary
Exercises
Chapter 6. A Systems Model of Conflict Resolution
Introduction
Some Preliminary Thoughts About Conflict
Four Components of All Conflicts
Five Potential Outcomes
Selective Intervention Suggestions
Conflict Mediation as a Professional Role
Summary
Exercises
Chapter 7. Implications and Conclusions
The Systems Model As Practice Theory
A Review of the Systems Model
Meshing Everything Together
Limitations of Systems Analysis
Usefulness of the Systems Approach
Environments and Individual Development: Coda
Further Observations on Systems-Oriented Social Work
Appendix A. The Systems Approach As a Model
Introduction
Paradigm Shift in Recent Times
The Beginnings of Systems Thinking
Systems Thinking in the Social Sciences
Systems Thinking in Social Work
Appendix B. Outline of a Suggested One-Semester MA Course on “Systems Analysis in Social Work”
Bibliography
Index

Author(s)

Biography

Benyamin Chetkow-Yanoov

Social Work Practice A Systems Approach, Second Edition

Description

Table of Contents

Author(s)

Biography

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