This chapter introduces the multidimensional approach in social work and the planned change process. It discusses that social workers need an understanding of human behavior that integrates the personal, environmental, and life course dimensions. These dimensions interact with and affect each other. The chapter then provides an overview of these dimensions, including biological, psychological, social, cultural, and how social locations shape people's perspectives. It also discusses the importance of theory in helping to organize and interpret situations, and factors to consider when evaluating theory.

1. Chapter 1

Setting the Stage
A Multidimensional Approach

2. SW Steps
(The Planned Change Process)
• Engagement
• Assessment
• Planning
• Intervention
• Evaluation
• Termination
 involves basic
knowledge and
assumptions about
human behavior

3. SW is a multifaceted profession
Swers need a
multidimensional,
multi-theoretical
understanding of
human behavior
Hutchison - Essentials of Human Behavior
Integrating Person, Environment, and the
Life Course © 2012 SAGE Publications, Inc.
3

4. Dimensions
• Interrelated
• What do we focus on? Why?
– Historically? Currently?
Hutchison - Essentials of Human Behavior
Integrating Person, Environment, and the
Life Course © 2012 SAGE Publications, Inc.
4
Personal Environmental Time
Biological
Psychological
Spiritual
Physical
Cultural
Social
etc.
Clock
Event
Linear

5. Dimensional Interactions
• Bio/psycho/social developmental dimensions affect each other
Poverty
SA
HIV
Pregnancy
EmploymentDepression
Development
Intellectual
disability
Abuse
Positive/
negative
reinforcement
Peers
Puberty
Development
Identity

6. Manisha’s Story
Hutchison - Essentials of Human Behavior
Integrating Person, Environment, and the
Life Course © 2012 SAGE Publications, Inc.
6

7. Overview of Dimensions
Hutchison - Essentials of Human Behavior
Integrating Person, Environment, and the
Life Course © 2012 SAGE Publications, Inc.
7

8. A Caveat
• We should know what we don’t know
• Acknowledge the complexity and mystery of humans
and the world in which we live
• Competence is important, but we should also be
sensitive to “overconfident assertions of certainty”
about others and their behaviors
(Karen Armstrong in “Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life” 2010 p. 128)

9. Social Locations
• Where we fit in a system of social identities, such as:
ethnicity gender
social class sexual orientation
religion ability/disability
age race
• How our own particular social locations shape:
how we see the world
what we notice
how we interpret what we “see.”
Hutchison - Essentials of Human Behavior
Integrating Person, Environment, and the
Life Course © 2012 SAGE Publications, Inc.
9

10. Theory
• Helps organize and make sense of situations
• Gives us a framework for interpreting person
and environment and planning interventions
• Model - visual representation of the
relationships between concepts
• Paradigm - a way of seeing the world
• Perspective - an emphasis or a view
Hutchison - Essentials of Human Behavior
Integrating Person, Environment, and the
Life Course © 2012 SAGE Publications, Inc.
10

11. Evaluating Theory
• Coherence and conceptual clarity
• Testability and evidence of empirical support
• Comprehensiveness
• Consistency with social work’s emphasis on
diversity and power arrangements
• Usefulness for social work practice
Hutchison - Essentials of Human Behavior
Integrating Person, Environment, and the
Life Course © 2012 SAGE Publications, Inc.
11

12. This Semester…
• What affect can alcohol consumption by a mother have on a
fetus and an infant?
• What is the nature-nurture controversy?
• What language skills can we expect from a typically developing
9-year-old?
• What is the social work perspective on abortion?
• What did Carl Rogers have to say about people?
• How can we evaluate theory?
• What is intelligence?
• What is disproportionality?
• What does gang culture have to do with racial oppression?
• What are some possible outcomes of unplanned pregnancy in
adolescence?
• Are girls more self-critical of their appearance than boys?

13. This Semester…
• How do people develop morally?
• Is there a correlation between adolescent suicide rates
and ethnicity?
• How can we empower homeless youth?
• What is the theory of intersectionality all about?
• Is there a double-standard of aging?
• Why is HIV/AIDS out of control in Black America?
• What do some social theories have to say about poverty?
• Is there a “gay lifestyle?”
• How do we promote a wellness perspective in older
adulthood?
• What are some major problems faced by older people?
• And much more…