Testing Typological Hypotheses about Clinical Social Work Practice Theory

Abstract

A tentative classification of clinical social work practice concepts was derived by identifying specific beliefs and practice behaviors that discriminate among six theoretical orientations. The problem was investigated with exploratory canonical discriminant function analysis using previously validated attitude and self-report measures. A sample of 199 practicing social workers was drawn from 33 mental health, family service and medical centers in a mid-western metropolitan area.

Findings reveal that two dimensions discriminate among the beliefs and self-reported behaviors of people with six theoretical orientations. The “active-interactional versus reflective-individual” dimension describes the difference between practitioners who assume a high or low interpersonal influence approach. The “experiential versus nonexperiential” dimension describes the difference between people who believe behavior changes by an experiential-emotional process or by a cognitive-rational process. Almost 77 percent of the variation in the sample's practice beliefs and behavior is explained by these two dimensions.