SCWK 1710 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Ecological Systems Theory, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Play Therapy
11 Jun 2018
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Chapter 3
Ecological approach
- Places the individual within a series of interdependent relationships, this theory is based
on the concept of an ecosystem in nature in which every organism is affected by and
influences other organisms in the system.
- Ecological theory is a reaction to approaches that locate the cause of the problem solely
within the individual or solely within the structure of the wider society.
- This theory draws upon human behaviour as well as knowledge of influence of social
environment on behaviour. When assassin a situation with a client the social worker’s
maps out the context and decides with component of the situation to focus on first
- The goal is to understand how people and their environments mutually influence each
other in shaping response at both individual and social levels
Cognitive theory
- Underlies a range of potential effective intervention strategies (psychotherapy, cognitive
behavior therapy and mindfulness) which have roots in the psychodynamic perspective
- psychodynamic perspective and Freud’s views are historically important since they helped
to uncover the complexity of the human mind and moved social work practice towards a
more open, therapeutic approach rather than simply instructing people on how to live
“moral” lives.
- He argued that norms and values of society put limits on the extent to which people can
activity pursue their basic needs, (ID, EGO and superego work together to fulfil theses
needs, but only in ways that are acceptable to the society with live in.
- According to the Cognitive perspective the goals of social work are to 1) understand the
cognitive root of anxiety to determine what is fuelling a person irrational behaviour, 2)
use specific techniques such as “talk therapy” to expose the source of the problem and 3)
use these insights to resolve the issue, which can help people manage their anxieties and
develop more effective coping behaviours
System theory “ecological systems theory”
- premised on the idea that individuals are a part of a wider social system that can be
identifies and “mapped”. The proper functioning of these groups is critical to the
satisfactory resolution of a person’s or a group problem.
- focuses on more on the working (or lack therefor) of wider social system or structures,
such as family, community, school, place of worship, workplace.
- There have been many iterations of the systems theory over the years. The key idea is
that these systems comprises interrelated parts and constitute an ordered (or disordered)
whole, and each part influences other part of the whole. And a breakdown of these
systems will affect the other system but also the individual.
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Structural theory in social work
- Structural social work can take several forms, the skills involved are similar to the ones
used in ecological systems theory.
- The draw on the same sense of empathy, reflection and belief in the basic goodness of
people.
- Practitioners of social work consider all dimensions of personal problems, while being
particularly attuned to the less “visible” structural elements of these problems such as
social class, race, gender and ability
- Structural social worker is concerned with helping the individuals deal with difficult
problems, typically resulting from discrimination, but she or he is not concerned with
changing the overall situation that is causing the problem in the first place as much as
possible
- Structural social work goes beyond an analysis of the immediate family and community
and looks to the boarder socio-economic factors that underlie personal dilemmas, such as
class, gender and ethnicity.
Critical theory in social work
-involves and analysis of socio-economic structures that exploit people, where these structures as
based on class, race, gender, ability, sexuality or education
- critical social worker’s theory moves beyond understanding and interpretation to criticism of
the structure or structures being studied and engagement in action for social transformation.
- both a broad-ranging perspective and as a strategy that acknowledges the client-worker power
imbalance critical social workers draw upon the notion of empowerment, which as three aspects
1) explicitly identified power elements in the client-worker relationship
2) explicit experience control by clients 3) explicit support by social workers of client’s efforts to
fain greater control over their lives and promote change
anti-oppression theory
- Not so much a single theory but rather a cluster of theories that share that goal of
understanding and responding to oppressive social conditions and relationships.
Feminist social work
- Feminist theories offer different ways of seeing and asking question about, understanding
women lives and experience, the nature of inequality between the sexes and gender
relations in society,
- Social workers advocate a feminist approach to practice provide women centered support
and deconstruct how socio-economic and political structures create and sustain inequality
Anti-racist social work
- An anti-racist approach decries the harm that racism does to an individual, families and
entire community, it supports individuals and families who are experiencing racial
oppression and advocated on behalf of them
- Focuses on how racial prejudice and racial discriminating as structural characteristics
affect the lives of people of colour, racism attitudes sustain a system of exclusion and
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Document Summary
Places the individual within a series of interdependent relationships, this theory is based on the concept of an ecosystem in nature in which every organism is affected by and influences other organisms in the system. Ecological theory is a reaction to approaches that locate the cause of the problem solely within the individual or solely within the structure of the wider society. This theory draws upon human behaviour as well as knowledge of influence of social environment on behaviour. When assassin a situation with a client the social worker"s maps out the context and decides with component of the situation to focus on first. The goal is to understand how people and their environments mutually influence each other in shaping response at both individual and social levels. Underlies a range of potential effective intervention strategies (psychotherapy, cognitive behavior therapy and mindfulness) which have roots in the psychodynamic perspective.
