Social Work Knowledge
The essence of professional social work practice is rooted in a comprehensive understanding of knowledge, skills, and values. Knowledge originates from social workers and a range of disciplines that focus on understanding people’s needs and behavior. These include psychology, sociology, political science, economics, biology, psychiatry, counseling, and cultural anthropology. Social workers use knowledge from each field and social work skills and values to help individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities solve problems and improve their quality of life. The social work knowledge base includes information about skills and data concerning problems and services. A social worker must know the most effective skills in what situations.
There are four fundamental areas of information with which a social worker needs to be equipped:
- Knowledge of the availability of services
- Knowledge of people, their motivations, dynamics, and strength
- Knowledge of the society: values, traditions, customs, taboos, problems, priorities, etc
- Knowledge of resources: economic, material, human, etc.
Knowledge Foundation — Methods of Social Work
A method typically refers to a structured approach to accomplishing a task. The approach in this field involves a structured and planned process to support needy individuals. The primary focus of this field is to address the psychosocial challenges faced by individuals, groups, and communities by deliberately utilizing knowledge, methods, tools, techniques, and skills relevant to the practice. In this role, the social worker must be equipped with all the essential methods that facilitate their efforts to assist others in addressing their challenges. The practice of social work primarily employs various methods to achieve its goals. These include;
- Social casework
- Social group work
- Community development
- Social work research
- Social welfare administration
- Social action
The initial three methods mentioned earlier are referred to as the primary or direct methods. These approaches are direct and primary as they are implemented in real-life situations with individuals to address their challenges. These methods focus on addressing issues at the community level through direct engagement and support. The latter three are referred to as secondary or indirect methods, as they involve specialized agencies or organized groups in a supportive role. These methods typically function at secondary levels, rather than engaging directly with individuals.
Social Work as Unique Discipline
Social work builds on theknowledge base of other professions and its own. Other fields perform some of the same functionsas social work. For instance, mental health clinicians in psychology, psychiatry, and counselinguse interviewing skills; some also use a planned-changeapproach. All, for example, have a common coreof interviewing and counseling skills. However, social work involves much more thansimply sitting down with an individual, group, or familyand solving some problem.
Dimensions of Social Work
Social work has at least five major dimensions that make it unique.
Focus on Any Problem
First, social workers may focus on any problems or clusters of complex and difficult problems. Social workers don’t refuse to work with clients or refer them elsewhere because those clients have unappealing characteristics. For instance, there may be a community where juvenile crime rates are skyrocketing, and something must be done.
Not every problem can be solved, but some can be, or at least alleviated. Social work practitioners have various skills to help them identify and examine problems. They then make choices about where their efforts can be best directed.
Targeting the Environment for Change
The second dimension that makes social work unique is that it often targets the environment for change. Sometimes, services are unavailable or difficult to obtain, policies are unfair, or people are oppressed by others.
Administrators and people in power don’t always have the motivation or insight to initiate needed change. Social workers must look at where change is essential outside the individual and work with the environment to effect that change.
Advocacy
The third dimension that makes social work unique is related to targeting the environment: namely, social workers often find it necessary to advocate for their clients. Advocacy involves actively intervening to help clients get what they need. Most frequently, this intervention focuses on “the relationship between the client and an unresponsive ‘system.’ Clients have specified needs, and social agencies, organizations, or communities may not be meeting these needs. These unresponsive systems must be pressured to make changes to meet needs.
Professional Values
The fourth dimension that makes social work unique is its emphasis on and adherence to a core of professional values. The NASW Code of Ethics focuses on the right of the individual to make free choices and have a quality life (NASW, 2008). Social workers do not force people into specific waysof thinking or acting. Rather, they help people make decisions about how to think or act.
Partnership with Clients
The fifth dimension of making social work unique relates to the core of social work values and how important it is for clients to make their own decisions. Social workers do not track people into specific ways of thinking or acting. Rather, they practice in a partnership with clients, making and implementing plans together. Most other professions emphasize the authority and expertise of the professional, on the one hand, and the subordinate status of the client as a recipient of services, on the other.
Conclusion
Social work is known for its multi-disciplinary approach to solving the psycho-social and material needs of individuals in society. The body of social work knowledge is built by pulling the knowledge and information from several other disciplines that were felt to fit the profession’s needs. As a helping profession, social work involves a vast range of knowledge for its professionals.
