Method of social work.

1. Dr Muhammad Ibrar
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2. Every profession has a tested body of
knowledge, which is capable of growth and
development in order to meet changing
needs. This body of knowledge should be
easily understandable and communicable to
those who want to practice the profession.
This body of knowledge includes
principles, technique, methods procedures,
tools and a terminology of its own.
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3. The social work profession has also
developed a body of knowledge which is
growing with our changing needs and which
includes certain methods and tools which
have been used and tested after application
for a considerable time in widely diverse
circumstances. These techniques are
communicable to the members of the
profession through training.
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4. Social work methods are classified into six
major headings. These methods are
1. Social Case Work: Helps an individual
2. Social Group Work: Helps individuals
through a group.
3. Community Organization: Focus on
community.
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5. 4. Social Action: is used to solve major
problems.
5. Social Research: Provides basic data on social
problems.
6. Social Administration: covers business and
financial aspects of social work.
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6. Social Case Work, a primary method of
social work, is concerned with the adjustment
and development of individual towards more
satisfying human relations.
Every individual reacts differently to his social,
economic and physical environments and as
such problems of one individual are different
from those of another. It’s the most developed
social work method which deals with the
problems of an individual in his adjustment to
his total environment or to any part of it.
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7. Better family life, improved schools, better
housing, more hospitals and medical care
facilities, protected economic conditions and
better relations between religious groups help
the individual in his adjustment and
development. But his adjustment and
development depend on the use of these
resources by him. Sometimes due to certain
factors, internal or external, he fails to avail
existing facilities.
In such situations, social caseworker helps
him. Thus, social casework is one to one
relationship, which works in helping the
individual for his adjustment and development.
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8. The practice of casework is a humanistic
attempt for helping people who have
difficulty in coping with the problems of daily
living. It is one of the direct methods of
social work which uses the case-by-case
approach for dealing with individuals or
families as regards their problems of social
functioning.
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9. It is primarily related with the psycho-social
problems. It consists of the study of mental,
emotional and social factors.
Therefore, case work aims at individualized
service in the field of social work in order to
help the client to adjust with the environment.
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10. Friedlander points out , social case work is a
method,
“which helps by counseling the individual client
to effect better social relationships and a social
adjustment that makes it possible for him to
lead a satisfying and useful life.”
Mary Richmond (1915)
“Social Case Work may be defined as the Art of
doing different things with different people,
co-operating with them to achieve some of
their own & society's betterment.”
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11. Gordon Hamilton has defined case work as,
“Social case work consists of those processes
which develop personality through adjustment
consciously affected, individual by individual
between man and his social environment.”
Queen (1932)
Social case work is the art “of adjusting
personal relationship”.
Lee (1923)
Social case work is the art of changing human
attitudes”
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12. Raynolds (1935)
Social case work is the processes of
counseling with a client on a problem which
are essentially his own, involving some
difficulty in his social relationship.
Klein (1938)
Social case work is a technical method in
social work…. A way of adjusting to the
client to his personal problems.
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13. Hollis (1954)
“Social Case work is a method employed
by social worker to help individuals find
solution to problems of social adjustment
which they are unable to handle in
satisfactory way by their own efforts.”
Perlman (1957)
“Social Case work is a process used by
certain human welfare agencies to help
individuals to cope more effectively with their
problems in social functioning.”
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