Portrait of social work.
Social work is concerned with enhancing the well-being of people within their social contexts. It is a broad profession with diverse practices. These range from a focus on the personal distress of individuals to the collective arrangements and social processes that influence the well-being of groups and communities. The unique contribution of social work to the caring professions is its broad contextualised approach to addressing human needs. Yet this breadth of scope also provides fertile ground for competing discourses within the profession. This paper provides an overview of the 'highly contested' nature of social work's goals, theories and methods of practice.
School of Social Work, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Diane
D
Barnes
Richard
R
Hugman
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D004995:Ethics, Professional; D014943:Global Health; D006801:Humans; D011364:Professional Practice; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D012107:Research Design; D012931:Social Environment; D012946:Social Welfare; D012947:Social Work / Q000193:education / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends