Shifting the Social Work Practice Paradigm: The Contribution of the Interactional Model

ABSTRACT

Factors external and internal to social work practice have caused our profession to question its role and identity. The emergence of evidence-based or evidenced informed practices forces the profession to reexamine its unique identity and its historical roots. This article addresses the problems in the dominant paradigm guiding our profession, the medical model, and then suggests that an important shift is taking place toward the adoption of an interactional framework more compatible with our practice knowledge, values, historical mission, and research. Discussion of examples of three research studies that were guided by the interactional model helps to illustrate how an empirical base for a process-oriented social work practice science can be implemented.

Notes

¹ For the full collection publications by Willams Schwartz see Berman-Rossi(1994).

² Staff visiting clients and reviewing client records were all given temporary appointments as ministry staff and asked to sign a confidentiality agreement. Clients were assured they were able to refuse participation without any adverse consequences. Project data was saved without client names attached, and each family was assigned a project code number. Social workers were never made aware of what their individual clients reported.

³ The statistical procedure is called causal path analysis and uses the statistical program Lisrel. The initial model of how variables affect each other is developed from the theory guiding the research and then using path coefficients to refine the model by dropping less significant associations and adding those that increase the models predictive value (Joreskog & Sorbom, 1988). A final goodness-of-fit analysis between the surviving model and the data increases confidence in the model’s construction.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lawrence Shulman

Lawrence Shulman is professor and dean emeritus, University at Buffalo School of Social Work.