Theories In Social Work Practice

The purpose of this essay is to discuss theories and how they may be used in social work practice. I will address how various theories will be used with a variety of clients. Not one theory will fit every client and as a social worker we should not try to instill this perception with our clients. I will examine the theories of Humanistic, Cognitive and Behaviorism/Learning Theories.

Theories Defined There are many theories, social workers and clinicians have used over the years. The theories a social worker uses may change over time as new facts or circumstances are disclosed by the client. According to Sheafor & Horejsi (2012), theory is defined as “plausible explanations about the relationship between a set of facts or circumstances and

Jean Piaget stated four stages of cognitive development. These stages are the sensorimotor period (birth to age 2), pre-operations period (age 2 to age 7), concrete operational period (age 7 to age 11), and formal operational period (age 11 and up) (Ashford & LeCroy, 2013). First, the sensorimotor period observes how infants/toddlers use their senses and motor skills to investigate the world around them. Next, the pre-operational period examines how a child can use symbols to begin thinking and communicating with others. Another stage is the concrete operations period in which the child’s logic is developing and they can begin to reason. Finally, the formal operational period is a time for the child and adult to continue improving their ability to organize ideas, deductive reason, and understand mentally more ideas (Boyd and Bee, 2006). The breakdown of these stages can show how an individual’s cognitive development happens over a set of years. We cannot expect a child to reason in the same fashion as an adult client. Yet again, not every child should be placed in certain periods just due to their age. Some children may fall above or below the stage their chronological age falls

Theory principles place guidance and focus for the social worker to follow. For example, cognitive theory focuses on an individual’s thinking; we know the path we should follow as a social worker is activities which will shift their thinking. According to Turner (2011), “Theory brings order to our practice by helping to put into perspective the mass of facts, impressions, and suppositions of all of our contact with the client, family, group, or community” (p. 10). Without this organization, our practice will not have any order to