Community Practice Theories and Skills for Social Workers

by Hardcastle, David A.; Powers, Patricia R.; Wenocur, Stanley

• ISBN13: 9780195398878
• ISBN10: 0195398874
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-02-18
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

For almost two decades, Community Practice has been a definitive text for social workers, community practitioners, and students eager to help individuals contribute to and use community resources or work to change oppressive community structures. In this third edition, a wealth of new charts and cases spotlight the linkages between theoretical orientations and practical skills, with an enhanced emphasis on the inherently political nature of social work and community practice. Boxes, examples, and exercises illustrate the range of skills and strategies available to savvy community practitioners in the 21st century, including networking, marketing and staging, political advocacy, and leveraging information and communication technologies. Other features include: - New material on community practice ethics, critical practice skills, community assessment and assets inventory and mapping, social problem analysis, and applying community practice skills to casework practice - Consideration of post-9/11 community challenges - Discussion on the changing ethnic composition of America and what this means for practitioners - An exploration of a vastly changed political landscape following the election of President Obama, the Great Recession, the rise of the Tea Party, and the increasing political and corporate use of pseudo-grassroots endeavors - A completely revamped instructor's manual available online at www.oup.com/us/companion.websites/communitypractice This fully revised classic text provides a comprehensive and integrated overview of the community theory and skills fundamental to all areas of social work practice. Broad in scope and intensive in analysis, it is suitable for undergraduate as well as graduate study. Community Practice offers students and practitioners the tools necessary to promote the welfare of individuals and communities by tapping into the ecological foundations of community and social work practice.

Author Biography

David A. Hardcastle, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of Social Work at University of Maryland. Patricia R. Powers, PhD, (retired) was formerly with University of Maryland, Friends Committee on National Legislation, and AARP's Public Policy Institute. Stanley Wenocur, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of Social Work at University of Maryland.

Table of Contents

Community Practice: An Introduction	p. 1
Community Practice	p. 1
The Community in Social Work Practice	p. 3
Community Practice Skills as Foundation for all Social Workers	p. 4
The Social Work Problem-Solving Strategy	p. 11
Ethics, Advocacy, and Community Practice	p. 20
The Organization of This Book	p. 31
Understanding the Social Environment and Social Interaction	p. 37
Theory-Based, Model-Based Community Practice	p. 39
A Conceptual Framework for Practice	p. 39
Theories for Understanding Community Practice	p. 40
Additional Frameworks	p. 55
Traditional Models of Community Organization	p. 59
The Nature of Social and Community Problems	p. 69
Conceptualizing a Social-Community Problem	p. 69
Getting a Social-Community Problem Addressed	p. 77
Worldviews and Social Problems	p. 81
Culture and Social Problems	p. 84
The Concept of Community in Social Work Practice	p. 94
Basic Community Concepts	p. 96
The Changing U.S. Community	p. 97
Perspectives for Practice	p. 105
Community Functions	p. 109
Conclusion	p. 122
Community Practice Skills for Social Workers: Using the Social Environment	p. 131
Assessment: Discovering and Documenting the Life of a Community	p. 133
The Landscape of Our Lives	p. 133
Assessment	p. 134
Philosophies of Assessment	p. 136
Forms of Community Assessment	p. 139
Community Assessment Applications to Our Own Work	p. 148
Community Reengagement: Hitting the Bricks	p. 149
Conclusion: Unpretentious but Necessary Outings	p. 150
Using Assessment in Community Practice	p. 155
Assessment as a Basic Social Work Process	p. 156
Assessment: Information-Gathering Methodologies	p. 156
Integrating Methods to Suit Assessment Needs	p. 175
Assertiveness: Using Self in Community Practice	p. 182
Use of Self	p. 182
Expansion of Self	p. 185
Beliefs and Outcomes	p. 190
Assertiveness: An Overview	p. 192
The Boundaries of Assertion	p. 195
Actors and Applications	p. 196
Assertiveness and Class or Minority Status	p. 198
Purposes and Benefits of Assertiveness in Social Work	p. 198
Broader Conceptions of Assertiveness	p. 200
The Context and the Setting for Assertive Behavior	p. 203
Modes of Assertive Communication	p. 204
Assertive Social Workers Needed: Summary	p. 206
Appendix 7.1: Being Assertive: Learn Through Role-Playing	p. 206
Using Your Agency	p. 215
Attributes of Human Service Agencies	p. 216
Perspectives on How Organizations Function: A Brief Review	p. 222
Examining the Formal Structure and Operations	p. 226
The Informal Structure: What is Not on the Organization Chart	p. 231
A Paradigm of the Competitive Culture	p. 232
Computer Resources and Uses and Virtual Agencies	p. 233
The Virtual Agency	p. 235
Working the System	p. 236
Changing the Agency from Within	p. 237
Using Work Groups: Committees, Teams, and Boards	p. 248
A Case Example	p. 249
Teams	p. 250
Group Development and the Role of the Social Worker	p. 252
Some Caveats on Groups	p. 255
Effective Meetings	p. 257
Dealing with Group Problems	p. 263
Conclusion	p. 269
Using Networks and Networking	p. 272
What is a Network? What is Networking?	p. 272
Why Networks and Networking?	p. 273
Social Exchanges and Networks	p. 274
Network Dimensions	p. 274
Domain Consensus	p. 274
Establishing and Maintaining Domains and Networks: The Practice Challenges and Tasks	p. 282
Bargaining	p. 284
Mediation and Arbitration	p. 286
Establishing and Maintaining Domains	p. 286
Virtual Networks and Networking	p. 287
Clients and Social Support Networks	p. 288
Using Marketing	p. 303
Markets and Marketing	p. 304
Marketing Challenges for the Social Services and the Social Work Profession	p. 305
A Market Orientation for the Profession	p. 309
Marketing and Community Practice	p. 311
Strategic Marketing and Market Management	p. 315
The Marketing Audit Guide	p. 334
Using The Advocacy Spectrum	p. 340
Making Change Happen	p. 340
Social Action and Advocacy	p. 341
Advocacy Spectrum: Spanning People and Policy	p. 343
Public Interest, Political, and Cause Advocacy	p. 350
Supporting the Spectrum: Job Descriptions and Advocacy Postures	p. 358
Key Advocacy Skills	p. 361
Appendix 12.1: Illustrative Exercises	p. 366
Using Organizing: Acting in Concert	p. 371
Community Organizing and Organizations	p. 372
Community Building	p. 373
Asset-Based Community Building	p. 376
Using Community Assets	p. 379
Focus, Focus	p. 382
The Theme of Connecting	p. 395
Community Social Casework	p. 402
What is Community Social Casework?	p. 403
Community Social Case Work Knowledge, Skill, and Tasks	p. 406
Community Assessment and Patch Analysis	p. 407
Ethnography	p. 407
Community Social Casework Protocol	p. 407
The Conception of the Community, the Social Resources, and the Task Environment	p. 410
Effectiveness of Community Social Casework	p. 415
Subject Index	p. 419
Author Index	p. 431
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