Summary
Contents
This book is a quick and accessible reference guide to the key concepts that social work students and professionals need to understand to be effective. The authors place practice at the center of the text, and include a host of case examples to bring the concepts to life.
Examining the essential topics of the social work curriculum, the concepts covered relate to practice, theory, policy and personal challenges. Further reading is included in each entry, so that the reader can explore what they have learned in more detail.
This book will be an invaluable resource for social work students during their studies and on their practice placement. It will also be useful for qualified social workers, who want to continue their professional education.
Assessment
Assessment
Definition
On reading a book on assessment, a colleague was heard to comment ‘but all of social work is here’ and, of course, that is true especially in terms of values, good engagement with service users, use of theory, helpful questioning, skills, etc. The reverse can also be true, in that all of social work involves some assessment thinking.
Crisp et al. (2005) found that there was no universally agreed definition of assessment. Kemshall (2002) said it is a process of professional judgement or appraisal of the situation, circumstances and behaviour. Compton and Galaway (1999) described assessment as the collection and processing of data to provide information for use in making decisions about the nature of a problem and what is to be done about it. ...
