Chapter 4 - Individuals, Groups, and Communities

Question 1

What is evidence-based practice?

Answer 1

a process in which the practitioner combines well-researched interventions with clinical experience, ethics, and the client’s preferences and culture to guide the delivery of services

Question 2

What is evidence-based decision making?

Answer 2

the integration of the best research evidence with clinical expertise and client values

Question 3

What is evidence-guided practice?

Answer 3

incorporates research findings, theoretical constructs, and the profession’s values/ethics while also taking into account the individual social worker’s distinctive style

Question 4

What is reflection-action-reflection?

Answer 4

Reflecting on our practice in such a way that our personal beliefs, expectations, and biases become more evident; increases our awareness of the assumptions that we might make automatically or uncritically as a result of our views of the world

Question 5

What is critical self-reflection?

Answer 5

A frame of mind which recognizes that a social worker’s identity and beliefs are shaped not only by unique traits and personal experience, but also by societal forces and social structures; knowledge about oneself

Question 6

What are the 3 areas of direct social work practice?

Answer 6

1. Social work with individuals and families
2. Social work with groups
3. Social work with communities

Question 7

What 3 attributes are involved in the helping relationship?

Answer 7

1. Warmth
2. Empathy
3. Genuineness

Question 8

Although it is usually cyclical, what are the general steps of direct social work practice?

Answer 8

1. Understand (ex. intake, pre-entry research)
2. Plan (ex. assessment)
3. Act
4. End (ex. evaluation and termination)

Question 9

When did group work begin to be considered a method of practice in social work?

Answer 9

The 1930s, after self-help groups were developed during the Great Depression to allow people to come together and support one another with similar problems

Question 10

In group work, optimum group size depends on…

Answer 10

• Age of clients
• Type of group
• Problems/issues to be explored
• Needs of the members
• Experience level of the social worker

Question 11

When selecting group members, a social worker should consider…

Answer 11

• Common experiences/problems
• Motivation
• Age, gender, and socio-cultural factors
• Clear expectations that the group members will help solve a problem

Question 12

What are the 3 aspects of group dynamics?

Answer 12

1. Communication patterns (ex. what kind of role the facilitator has)
2. Cohesion
3. Group influence and conformity

Question 13

What are the 5 kinds of groups?

Answer 13

1. Self-help
2. Educational
3. Support/therapeutic
4. Task
5. Social action

Question 14

Although they are fluid, what are the stages of group development?

Answer 14

1. Forming
2. Storming
3. Norming
4. Performing
5. Adjourning

Question 15

According to Rothman’s Model of Community Work, what are the 3 types of community work?

Answer 15

1. Loyalty development (focus on issues relevant to a particular community, engaging a wide number of community participants, consensus, etc.; exemplified by the settlement house movement and today’s community health centres)
2. Social Planning (expert-driven, some involvement of community members, focus on technical aspects and immediate needs)
3. Social action (uses social protest to challenge injustices and aims to redistribute power/resources/decision making

Question 16

Describe Saul Alinsky’s approach to community activism

Answer 16

• Confrontational and strategic
• Views community organizing as a process of “going to war”; tactics must be within the experience of the community and outside the experience of power holders
• Masculine language often alienated women and peace activists
• A balance between long-term community activism organizations and short-term, exciting challenge to power holders

Question 17

Describe Paulo Freire’s approach to community mobilization.

Answer 17

• Critical of the “banking” approach to education which makes people into passive objects (ex. silently copying down what the educator says)
• Educator asks the community members about their lives, and while critically exploring aspects of their lives people learn to read and write (people learn easily when questions asked are relevant to their lives)
• Begins with a listening survey to find out what community members feel strongly about; a learning group then gathers to review the findings and develops codes (pictures, films, plays, etc.) that represent those issues; the strongest issues are presented through pictures, films, etc. to the community to stimulate discussion and a plan for change

Question 18

What does praxis mean, and who coined the term?

Answer 18

Paulo Freire

A successful action for social change must be reflected upon in advance of the action and afterward, creating more effective actions which are also reflected upon; encourages thoughtful actions rather than reactive responses to injustice that are contradictory and difficult to sustain (ex. a revolutionary movement gaining power and becoming just as oppressive as the power holders they overthrew)

Question 19

Describe feminist and women-centred community work

Answer 19

• Focuses on women as key to their communities and on the notion that meeting women’s needs positively impacts families and the community more broadly, but does not necessarily exclude men
• Tends to rely on consensus decision making, shared leadership, and process orientation

Question 20

What are the stages of social work with communities?

Answer 20

1. Pre-entry
2. Contact and engagement
3. Community analysis
4. Organizational development
5. Action planning and mobilization
6. Conflict resolution
7. Evaluation

Question 21

What are the 3 basic elements that underscore all areas of direct social work practice?

Answer 21

1. listen
2. reflect
3. attend to process

Question 22

What are the 3 steps that should be taken before enacting a solution?

Answer 22

1. investigate and fully understand the problem
2. do a broad range of research
3. consult with clients and coworkers as you work on a detailed plan

Question 23

What is likely to happen if a group does not define its roles and decision making process?

Answer 23

The dominant ways of doing will take over automatically; marginalized people will have less say, those with more formal authority (ex. facilitator) will hold all the power, etc.

Question 24

What are McKnight’s Themes of Community?

Answer 24

• Capacity
• Collective effort
• Informality
• Stories
• Celebration
• Tragedy