Behavioral Social Work

Description of the Strategy

Behavioral methods are quite consistent with most of the basic tenants of clinical social work practice and the social work perspective. They were introduced into social work practice in the mid-1960s. Since then, interest in behavioral approaches among social workers has expanded dramatically, as evidenced by the large number of articles with a behavioral orientation in both the clinical and research journals in social work and social workers' contributions to the behavioral psychology literature. Surveys of clinical social workers confirm that behavioral and cognitivebehavioral methods are among the most popular methods subscribed to by social workers. Before presenting behavioral methods commonly used in social work, it is first necessary to be aware of the social work perspective that provides a background sympathetic to the behavioral social worker. In the final part of this entry, a description is given of some of the various fields of practice in social work in which behavioral methods are most commonly used.

The Social Work Perspective

The role of the behavioral social worker is both more and less than a behaviorist. This distinction is important in that most social workers practicing behavioral methods do not subscribe to the philosophy of behaviorism. Indeed, the overall success of diffusion of behavioral methods is well tested by examining use of such methods by the social work profession. Many social workers do not have as their primary task treatment of clients. They include community organizers, administrators, policy analysts, and researchers. It is also important to note that many social workers who work directly with clients, either individually or in groups, may not have treatment goals as their focus. Instead, they are focused on organizational or community goals. In the clinical practice of social work, the emphasis has shifted from a psychoanalytic emphasis to ego psychological to a general empirical practice that draws on all the social sciences, and more recently to evidence-based practice. This last perspective is, of course, not limited to behavioral methods. However, as many reviews of literature in social work reveal, most of the empirical or evidence based methods are, in fact, behavioral in orientation. In this shift to behavioral models, the disease model of diagnosis has been replaced by an emphasis on the role of learning.

There has also been a push from funding sources for social workers to be more accountable for their practices. Behavioral methods, because of their specificity and accessibility, lend themselves to the evaluation of outcome. Length of time required to achieve relevant goals, though initially vastly underestimated, is still far shorter and hence more efficient than other approaches previously and presently used by social workers.

If we examine some of the fundamental perspectives of social work, the notion of working with the person-in-environment is underscored. The emphasis on social functioning emerged from social interaction theory and role theory. This is compatible with the assumption that behavior for the most part is evoked and maintained by environmental and cognitive events.

Behavioral theories suggest that performance of one's social role is critical to successful adaptation in society. Most social workers conceptualize their work as needing to understand the demands and life tasks that people encounter if they are to help them realize their personal and social aspirations. To this end, the concept of tasks is used by many social workers in assessing their clients' life situations and plays a key role in the social functioning framework. By asking the question, “What tasks are confronting my client?” the social worker can focus on critical biopsychosocial demands being made in the environment. For instance, as one looks at the tasks confronting a 16-year-old girl [Page 137]who is losing her hair while undergoing chemotherapy, one sees that she must learn to deal not only with the unique demands of being ill and of losing her hair, but she may need help to deal with the impact on her peer group, on her relationship to her boyfriend, and on her school achievement. This young woman, as with every adolescent, is confronting distinct biopsychosocial demands. The social worker must look at these demands and help the young person adapt to her social and biological environment. Some of the help offered is to be found in individual and group treatment with behavioral techniques. The social worker will also look for help in services offered by the community, in the support offered by the family, and possibly by a support group for teenage cancer victims. In addition, the behavioral social worker may use behavioral and cognitive methods to facilitate development of coping skills to deal with the broad range of social problems the above client may have as result of her illness.

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