SWK 240 Chapter 2 Notes: The Generalist Intervention Model in Practice
Definition of a theory: An attempt to explain some observable occurrence.
Specifically, theories do as follows:
Select and define concepts and constructs
Explain why the concepts were chosen
Put together concepts to form constructs
Describe the relationships between constructs
Predict how the constructs may be expected to relate to each other.
Kerlinger and Lee suggest that a theory should have four characteristics:
Select and define concepts and constructs
Concepts are a way of talking about issues and everyday experiences. We use them to express ideas that could be part of a theory.
Constructs are combinations of related concepts that are the first building blocks of theory. For example, social systems theory suggests that concepts such as system and energy come together in such constructs as system interaction.
Explain why the principal constructs were chosen
Since we can choose any concepts and constructs that can be imagined, the theory must explain why its particular concepts and constructs have been chosen. In systems theory, constructs such as system interaction are selected in an effort to explain human behavior because they can reflect biological, psychological, and social qualities.
Describe how the constructs relate to one another
A theory describes the relationships among the constructs that have been identified and selected as important. This description is known as a principle. Flowing from constructs like system interaction are principles such as this: Systems are by their nature both part and whole.
Describe how they may be expected to relate in the future
Theories make predictions. For example, social systems theory suggests human and social systems exchange energy in an effort to maintain themselves as they are. When a social worker helps their client create even more energy in a system through new skills that make them more independent and able to live on their own for longer, the two systems actually create more energy than they had before interacting.
Synergy: A process in the social systems theory where an additional energy is created as related systems exchange energy.
Generalist Intervention Model: A Model of Human Systems Interaction
General systems theory along with social systems theory serve as foundations for the GIM. Social systems theory builds on general systems theory.
The GIM is built on four perspectives or viewpoints that are specific to generalist social work practice:
Person-in-environment (PIE) perspective
Family-in-environment (FIE) perspective
Ecological perspective
Strengths perspective
GIM holds that humans in all sized systems are always affecting and being affected by multiple societal systems in their efforts to meet their needs. Most importantly, all systems affect one another with input and output all at the same time.
General systems theory states that living organisms are systems, or functional units, often made up of two or more related events: An atom or a molecule can be a system; your liver is a system; your class is a system. These systems are organized in hierarchical order: Atom, molecule, cell, organ, organism, person, family, group, organization, community. Systems are not static; they are constantly changing by exchanging energy. Each system is a holon, both a whole and a part. Each holon has boundaries and these boundaries are more or less permeable, allowing more or less of an energy exchange. Even though forces in the environment may disturb systems, they try to remain in balance through a process called homeostasis.
When the interactions between systems are off balance (ex. a caregiver for a client becomes irritable due to depleted energy) one system can be drained in favor of another with no new energy being created. This other system can lose energy continuously, leading to a point where the system outputs more energy than it inputs which is referred to as entropy. For instance, when family members are exhausting themselves to provide care to a sick family member. Negative entropy is the process where entropy is reversed with the infusion of new energy. For example, in the situation earlier, a social worker would intervene and provide an infusion of energy by referring the caregiver to a needed service. As a result, the system could come back into balance (homeostasis) and even improve (develop synergy).
System- A functional unit often consisting of two or more elements that are related; any system is, by definition, part and whole.
Holon- This is a description of a system as both part and whole, facing both inward to its own parts and outward to the systems of which it is a part.
Interconnectedness- Change in any part of a system changes all of the systems and parts of systems is interconnectedness.
Synergy- Exchanges of energy lead to increase in energy in living systems. Energy is not just added but compounded when systems interact.
Social Systems Theory
Social systems theory applies general systems theory to social science as well as natural science. A boundary is an imaginary demarcation between systems. When systems interact, one does not subsume the other. Instead, they interact by exchanging energy. Boundaries are more or less permeable depending on the characteristics of the system. Too much permeability leaves the system vulnerable to be gobbled up by another system. On the other hand, too little permeability leads to isolation and entropy. Closed boundary example: Family with closed off, strong boundary where kids are homeschooled and house is isolated. One of the kids develops a behavioral problem but no resources are available to help the kid. Parents develop stress that leads to marital problems and leads to entropy. They start to open boundaries by accepting help of family members to help with housework and schooling and social worker helps child with behavioral problems. All children thrive academically, parents expand their social circle and their children have contact with other children. Synergy emerges.
Social system- The social system consists of persons or groups.
Energy- Energy is an element of all systems that is shared with and exchanged between all other systems. In social systems, energy includes both information and resources shared among people; it is the system’s capacity for action and its power to effect change.
Boundaries- Boundaries are demarcations between two or more systems that allow us to observe relationships between systems. Boundaries are more or less dense, or capable of exchanging energy at different rates. A boundary that is very dense and exchanges very little energy will be less inclined to create synergy.
Ecological perspective
Ecological concepts relevant to the GIM include transactions, meaning that interactions among systems are active and dynamic, always changing; input and output, referring to the energy exchange among systems; and coping, or changes in systems as they adapt to changing environments. The ecological perspective focuses on actions by highlighting the interactions among systems
The Person-in-Environment Perspective
The purpose of the development of PIE was to create a way to understand social work clients so that their needs could be identified. While the classification has some drawbacks, such as lack of focus on the strengths and resources that client systems bring to the helping process, it did have an enormous impact on the profession of social work.
Environment- This term refers to the physical environment, small groups, the community, and other large systems, including the social environment. The social institutions in the PIE classification system include public assistance, health, economic support services, religious institutions, etc.
Interaction- According to PIE, people interact with systems and in that interaction problems in living can emerge. PIE identifies a number of types of interactional difficulties: Power, ambivalence, responsibility, dependency, loss, isolation, and victimization. PIE helps us see problems at the site of interactions, not within individuals to avoid blaming the person for their problems.
We are always looking at both the individual and the environment to locate the focus of our change efforts.
The Family-in-Environment Perspective
Family-centered practice literally places the family in the center of practice, and not a particular family, but family as a social institution. Ex. if a social worker evaluates the effectiveness of a substance dependence treatment facility, they are likely to measure the length of time clients remain sober. If they take the FIE perspective, they will measure how well the clients fill in roles such as mother or father, that they occupy in their families. A main component of FIE is the idea that people can define their own families. Families can be built around formal and informal adoptive relationships, same gender relationships, multigenerational relationships … according to the FIE perspective, even friends can create a family. This viewpoint works with PIE in that it reinforces the idea that individuals and systems interact to create energy in countless ways.
Family- This is one way of organizing individuals. The identification of family members is constructed by society and by individuals, and that identification is not always the same. Family members share a history, emotional bonding, and mutual support.
Family-centered policies and practices- With family-centered policies and practices, families are partners for program development, implementation, and evaluation; practices are family focused, with household management, budgeting, and relationship with other systems highlighted in a way that is consistent with the needs of individual families.
Critical race theory in Generalist Social Work Practice
Race is an idea that we hold about what people look like, and these ideas are so pervasive in our society as to be invisible. Racism is not just an intentional act, it is very often unconscious and it is much bigger than a series of actions: It is an interconnected system of beliefs and actions that result in unequal outcomes for large numbers of members of racial groups.
Anti-racism is the idea that racial groups are neither inferior nor superior, but that racist policies create social inequities. These social inequities result in unfair advantages for some people and unfair disadvantages for others. Anti-racist practice, or social work that supports anti-racist policies and ideas, is a critical component of social work’s striving towards social justice.
Anti-racist practice is practice that actively identifies and opposes racism. An anti-racist practitioner works to address policies, behaviors, and beliefs that perpetuate racist ideas and actions. Anti-racist practice is a type of anti-oppressive practice, work that seeks to equalize all power imbalances.
Individualism is an American social value that is understood to reflect every American’s experience. We tend to believe that each person is unique, and that their race, class, gender, or other area of difference does not impact their opportunities. However, that could not be further from the truth. Some of us have unearned privileges simply by being a white person. For example, having the opportunity to succeed in college.
Objectivity is the idea that we believe that our experiences are our own and are unique to us as individuals. Furthermore, that our experiences are not impacted by our race and that we can be free from bias.
Principles important to critical race theory are:
Racism is ordinary: Racism is experienced by people everyday, but it is invisible to those who are racially privileged.
Race is a social construction: People categorize others based on what they look like. No biological differences between the races.
Racial judgements vary over time: Races are viewed differently at different times. Ex. Asian Americans now being considered a “model minority” but during the COVID-19 pandemic, being blamed and attacked in public.
Racism benefits the majority: By ignoring racism, pretending it does not exist and being “colorblind” white people will be the ones to stay in power while BIPOC can not live on a day to day basis without experiencing racism.
Racism steals people’s voices: History is written by the dominant group.
Social justice as an anti-oppressive and anti-racist practice has been called a “both-and” concept, meaning that it is a means and an end, both process and purpose. This is because both now and not yet, confronting present injustices and pointing toward promising a fair and just future respecting and promoting individual rights, liberties, and freedom, social responsibility, accountability, and the common good.
7 E’s that social justice “invites and insists on”
Equitable distribution of resources
Equal access to basic liberties and opportunities
Empowerment of all persons, especially the disadvantaged, vulnerable, and oppressed
A person-in-environment perspective that actively recognizes and respects human dignity, human rights, and diversity. Also challenges discrimination, oppression, and unjust policies and practices, and works in solidarity with those working for justice, especially those in need.
Engagement with persons and groups that is restorative, in that it seeks to heal, reconcile, and repair broken, fractured personal and social relations, and structures.
Education of all persons that invites critical consciousness with respect to oppression and discrimination; liberates, loves, and empowers; and understands societal success to be measured by the well-being of those greatest in need, the disadvantaged, vulnerable, and oppressed
Enlightenment that challenges all to recognize our inherent dignity and interconnectedness, to see the other as one’s sister, brother, and self.
Generalist Social Work Practice:
Generalist social work practice places a focus on work with systems of all sizes: individuals, families, groups, communities, and organizations. Focus on micro, mezzo, and macro systems.
Globalization: Global trade and sharing of culture across nations
Worldwide communication allows us to see where resources like clean water exist and are needed by considering the physical environment as a system that affects all people, which is why sustainability of global resources is a significant concern of all social workers. Meta practice is known as the consideration of global social aspects that overarch and interact with micro, mezzo, and macro practice. By working to provide sustainability, or homeostasis, we can identify and combat environmental racism like when toxins in a physical environment occur more often and more seriously in areas where the most vulnerable people live. Ex. Air pollution in India
Principles of GIM:
All systems interact simultaneously on the micro, mezzo, macro, and meta levels.
System may include individuals, families, groups, organizations, communities, and the physical environment.
Even energy exchange is positive because it results in additional energy.
As they strive to maintain their characteristics, all systems have resources and resiliency.
Cultural humility and the celebration of diversity in the context of an awareness of racism can facilitate the identification of resources and promote equity.
Uneven energy exchange among any of the systems can point to a need to increase energy in that interaction through the addition of resources.
To facilitate positive change, relevant systems, their interactions, and aspects of diversity, as well as existing resources must be identified to bring strength for change and diversity.
How the Planned Change Process interacts with GIM
Stage 1: Self-reflection
The first stage of self-reflection begins with the social worker themselves by having them address characteristics about themselves. For instance, your areas of diversity and how they might affect the way in which you approach your client. The GIM suggests that you assess the systems around you as you think about your own strengths and limitations, feelings, and thoughts. By taking these considerations into account, you can behave in an intentional, professional way when working with your clients.
Stage 2: Engagement
Engagement involves two systems coming together to create a shared space that interacts with other systems in unique ways. Engagement requires preparatory empathy and a serious attempt to see the world in the way another person sees it. It also involves a serious attempt to get in touch with the thoughts and feelings of that client as they reach out, often for the first time, to ask someone for help. The GIM suggests that you consider which systems you share with your client and the nature of you and your client’s relationship with those shared systems. Engagement is necessary to forge the helping relationship, which is critical to collaborating for change.
Stage 3: Assessment
Assessment is a process where the social worker and the client or client system representative (CSR) come together and look at each of their perceptions of the way the client system interacts with many environmental systems. All of these systems interact with each other all of the time, so the assessment process is about teasing out the important interactions among systems to identify the strengths and resources that can be brought to bear to address the challenges faced by the client or client system. Also considering anti-racist and anti-oppressive practice in conscious consideration of the client system’s experience of oppression
Stage 4: Planning
Planning is the aspect of the helping process where the client system and social worker come together to identify goals and determine how they will know if the goals have been met. After the goals and measures of success are identified, the worker and client work together to prioritize these goals and figure out how to address them. The GIM will suggest that the worker and client will look for goals that address issues at the intersection of the client and their environmental systems. Furthermore, the worker and client will look for goals between and among the environmental systems themselves and they will make an agreement to formalize their plan.
Stage 5: Implementation
The worker controls the implementation of the plan that has been developed cooperatively. Worker and client/CSR come together and carry out the plan. The worker, in consultation with the client, chooses a method of implementation that is supported by evidence. Worker consults with client to control the speed of the process and continually monitor its completion.
Stage 6: Evaluation'
The worker is responsible to evaluate the trustworthiness of the available research related to the client’s situation. Evaluation occurs as the worker and client or CSR monitor progress. The purpose of evaluation is for the worker and client to come together to determine if progress has been made toward the implementation goals. The GIM suggests that the worker and client evaluate the progress of changes between client systems and environmental systems as well as those that may happen among environmental systems themselves.
Stages 7 and 8: Termination and Follow-up
Termination is the ending of the agreement, or contract, for work. Worker and client come together to determine whether the work is complete or whether the goals should be reassessed and addressed again. If follow-ups occur, this is when the worker gets in touch with client or CSR sometime after termination to conduct a brief assessment related to the goals that were addressed in the helping process. If goals were not met, the worker can invite the client to return for service or refer the client elsewhere. It is best if termination signals the end of the contract, not the end of the helping relationship … at least until a successful follow-up occurs.
Beginnings: Self-reflection, engagement
Middles: Assessment, planning, implementation
Endings: Evaluation, termination
Diversity is critical for several reasons:
Identity formation
Diversity shapes human experiences and identity development and affects equity and inclusion.
Potential for oppression
Any kind of difference between and among groups of people can either be a resource or a potential area for oppression. Ex. Black Americans facing profiling in the justice system. Oppression: The domination of a powerful group-politically, economically, socially, culturally- over subordinate groups. It is the mission of the social work profession to work against it through anti-racist and anti-oppressive practices.
Diversity is defined as having two parts: (1) individual and (2) social differences.
Individual differences include basic personality characteristics, health, learning abilities and styles, life experiences, and physical presence
Social differences include race or ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, country of origin, ability, and cultural, political, religious, or other affiliations.
Intersectionality refers to the way people’s characteristics and social identities overlap and sometimes exacerbate oppression and discrimination while they sometimes enhance power in social interactions.
Potential for power
Strengths-based language
CSWE suggests that “social workers understand that intersectionality means that a person’s life experiences may include oppression, poverty, marginalization, and alienation as well as privilege and power.”
Strengths-based language is important in that it helps social workers to share their strengths-based focus with others. Ex. Deficit-based language: This client is manipulative → Strengths-based language: This client copes with stress by cleverly getting others to help them. This family is poor → This family is financially challenged at this time. This community is run down → This community and its residents have untapped potential.
Cultural responsiveness refers to being effective in work with client systems that reflect a broad array of differences. Achieving cultural responsiveness is to become adept at being able to act and even think like the members of a culture different from yours.
Cultural humility means that before you approach any client situation, you begin by examining yourself.