CASEWORK APPROACHES IN THE PHILIPPINES
1. FUNCTIONAL APPROACH- It is a social casework method for engaging the client through a
one-to-one relationship in the use of a social service toward his own and the general social
welfare.
This approach was conceptualized by Ruth E. Smalley (1967). The focus of the intervention is the
delivery of service(s) to the client (common approach used in the Philippines).
2. PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH
It assumes that the person’s problem-solving capabilities or resources have been broken down
or been impaired or are maladaptive. The focus of treatment is in helping the person go through
the scientific problem-solving process so that he will act and resolve his problem with only
minimum help. The experience of problem-solving may be so significant that the client imbibes
and transfers the learning to other problems he may encounter in the future even when the
worker is no longer there.
Identified with the work of Helen Perlman at the Chicago school in l957.
The purposes of the process are to free the client for investment in tasks related to the
solution of the problem, involve the client’s ego in work designated to deal with the
problem, and to mobilize inner and outer forces in the service of satisfactory role
performance.
3. PSYCHOSOCIAL APPROACH
Also known as “diagnostic approach.”
One of the first models employed developed by Gordon Hamilton and her associates
from the Columbia School of Social Work. According to Gordon Hamilton, treatment
here is focused on the individual and his functionality. Cause and effect relationships
are identified between the individual and environment. Ego psychology and the
behavioral sciences provide important underpinning for practice. Model has a
Freudian theory base.
It is concerned with inner realities of the person, his emotional, mental and social processes,
and the social context in which he lives.
Used with clients affected by traumatic incidents.
4. TASK-CENTERED APPROACH
Treatment concentrates on helping individual clients to achieve specific or limited goals of
their own choice within brief and bounded periods of service.
◦ Developed at the University of Chicago in the l970’s.
◦ Designed to solve specific psychosocial problems of individuals or families in a short-
term, time-limited form of practice.
◦ Caseworker and client reach an explicit agreement on the particular problems to be
worked on and also the probable duration of treatment.
TASK-CENTERED OR SHORT-TERM APPROACH
It is similar to crisis intervention but it focuses on a task to be achieved by the client.
It may focus on a specific behavior or social environment that needs to be changed.
5. CRISIS INTERVENTION
It is the application of the casework approach which tries to actively influence the
psychosocial functioning of a person during a period of disequilibrium.
CRISIS INTERVENTION APPROACH
Crisis- is an upset in a steady state (state of disequilibrium) that gives an obstacle in the
fulfillment of important life goals (Caplan 1964)
Effects of Crisis
It is stressful and disruptive and can affect biological, psychological and social functioning and
can produce disturbed emotions, impair motor functioning and negatively impact ongoing behavior.
Examples of Crisis Situation
Natural disasters
Death of a loved one
Disabling or life-threatening illness or injury
Cultural dislocation
Rape
Premature births
Adolescent out-of-wedlock pregnancy
Child-abuse
Battered women
Domestic violence
Reaction to Crisis
Initial rise in tension accompanied by shock or sometimes denial of the provoking event
Reaction to the crisis situation (confusion, overwhelmed, helpless, angry, depressed)
Coping and degree of responsiveness (either positive or negative)
Crisis Intervention
Its goals are:
A.) to reduce the immediate harmful effects of the stressful events.
B.) to help mobilize the latent capacities and capabilities of the person directly affected so that
he can cope more effectively with the effects of the crisis.
6. FAMILY-CENTERED APPROACH
The family is the unit of interest.
In the Phil., casework is family-centred/oriented.
It means that human beings can be understood and helped best in the context of family.
COMPONENTS OF CASEWORK
The The
Person Problem
The The
Place Process
