Chapter 2 Human System Perspectives. Theoretical Frameworks for Practice Theories about human systems Theories and models of change No one practice framework.

Chapter 2

Human SystemPerspectives

Theoretical Frameworks for Practice

• Theories about human systems

• Theories and models of change

• No one practice framework clearly represents "the social work view”

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Analyzing Theoretical Perspectives

• What is the main focus of the theory?

• To what system level does the theory apply?

• Does the theory apply widely to diverse situations, or narrowly to particular cases?

• Does the theory further understanding of behavior or guide change?


Key Perspectives: Ecosystems

• Combines concepts from ecology and general systems theory

• Describes transactional relationships between persons and environments

• Consistent with various theories of human behavior


Key Perspectives: Social Constructionism

• Knowledge is created not discovered

• Culture and social status influence perception

• Social work roles– Question socially generated “truths”– Advocate for social and political changes


Key Perspectives: Feminist Perspective

• Personal is political

• Gendered lens

• Democratized process

• Considers other oppressions

• Transformational nature of change (Hyde)


Life Course Theory & Critical Theory

• Life Course Theory– Provides a view of sociological influences on

human development across the course of life

• Critical Theory– Contextual influences on human behavior– Interconnections between people and their

environments


Ecosystems: Humans in Context

• Humans – Biological, psychological, spiritual, social, and

cultural beings – Thoughts, feelings, and behaviors– Responders to environments


Ecosystems: Transactions

• Reciprocal interactions

• "Person: environment" connections

• Sources of energy that sustain human system functioning and fuel change


Development as Evolutionary Change

• Views human development as evolutionary

• Individuals and other human systems:– Change and stabilize in response to internal

and external forces

• Contextual Influences


Ecosystems: Goodness-of-Fit; View of Dysfunction

• Balance between system and environment

• Mutual benefits for the system and the people / situations around it

• Removes the blame from clients

• Defines problems as transactional

• Identifies problems as gaps between available resources/environment demands


Implications for Change

• Change and maintain both client and environmental systems

• Determine multiple possibilities for change– Alter part of any transaction to affect other

transactional elements

• Focus on building strengths and system competencies




Human Systems

• System - group of interacting and interdependent people or parts

• Holons - all systems composed of smaller systems & contained within larger systems

• Subsystems - systems within a system

• Environments - larger systems encompassing a system


Human Systems: Structural View

• Boundaries distinguish interior from environment– Vary in permeability– Separate people within a given system

• Hierarchy delineates – Status; Privileges; Power


Human Systems: Interactional View

• Equilibrium-maintain patterns; stability

• Feedback - information that maintains or disrupts a system’s patterns

• Mutual causality - behavior mutually determined in interactions with others

• Wholeness - change in one part of a system creates changes in the whole


Human Systems: Biopsychosocial Dimensions

• People are able to make choices about– How they view themselves – How they view events

• At all system levels, cognitive and affective dimensions hold promise for change


Human Systems: Cultural Influences

• Cultural memberships affect the way others treat us

• Generalizations may obscure individual differences


Ecosystems: A Conceptual Framework for Practice

• Identify the focal system.

• What’s happening in the system?

• What’s happening outside the system?

• How do the inside and outside connect?

• How does the system change through time?


Practice Framework: Focal System

• Point of reference

• Varies, depending on the purpose or activity

• Can be a client system or other target system in the environment



Practice Framework

• What's happening inside the system?– Structural perspective; Interactional view– Biopsychosocial dimensions; Cultural

influences

• What's happening outside the system?– Examine the ecosystem's structures,

interactions, and sociocultural dimensions


How do the inside and outside connect & Move through time?

• Competent functioning depends on successful interaction with environment

• Analyze

• Dynamic state of constant change

• Expected developmental - occurs naturally

• Unexpected - nodal events


Chapter 2 Human System Perspectives. Theoretical Frameworks for Practice Theories about human systems Theories and models of change No one practice framework.

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