The Practice Framework for

Social Work Practice with Individuals

and Families (Theories and Practice
Perspectives)

Jeshella Espanta-Roxas
Theory
is an organized set of ideas
that seek to explain a
particular phenomenon
is typically formulated when
there is no empirical
evidence

OCTOBER/8-9/2022 S W P R A C T I C E W I T H I N D I V I D U A L A N D FA M I L I E S
Theory
 is used in the natural sciences to explain various phenomena,
including changes in weather patterns or causes of various
diseases
 social scientists develop theories to explain social
phenomena, such how patterns of violence get repeated
across multiple generations or what factors lead to poverty


3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Theory
 The theories help social workers better understand complex
human behaviors and social environments, which influence
their clients’ lives and problems.
 A good grasp of theory helps guide social workers by
providing them with a sense of direction, purpose and
control by using research-based scientific evidence in
theory.

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Theories
Conflict Theory Humanistic Theory
Developmental Theory Psychodynamic Theory
Family Life Cycle Theory Psychosocial Theory
Grounded Theory Social Learning Theory

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Conflict Theory
Conflict Theory
 first developed by Karl Marx
 is a theory that society is in a state of perpetual conflict because
of competition for limited resources
 holds that social order is maintained by domination and power,
rather than by consensus and conformity
 sees society as divided along lines of economic class between the
proletarian working class and the bourgeois ruling class

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Conflict Theory Assumptions
1. Competition
2. Revolution
3. Structural inequality
4. War

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Competition
- is a constant and, at times, an overwhelming factor in
nearly every human relationship and interaction

- exists as a result of the scarcity of resources, including

material resources—money, property, commodities,
and more

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Structural inequality
- an important assumption of conflict theory is that human
relationships and social structures all experience inequalities of
power

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

War
- Conflict theorists tend to see war as either a unifier or
as a "cleanser" of societies

- is the result of a cumulative and growing conflict

between individuals and groups and between entire
societies

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Example of Conflict Theory
Those traditionally in charge, including chief executive
officers, leaders, supervisors and managers, typically have
the most power, responsibilities and access to resources.
They usually control assets such as wages and time off,
which can encourage employees to work productively,
depending on how the leaders disperse the resources.

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Importance of Conflict Theory in SW
Conflict theory provides an explanation for how
power imbalances impact people and communities.
Social workers can use this theory to identify and
confront both the sources and the symptoms of
inequality.

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Developmental Theory
Developmental Theory
- present systematic ways of thinking about how human
beings grow from babies to adolescents to adults to
elderly people, and the various changes they undergo as
they make this passage

- different developmental theories describe different types

of changes

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Developmental Milestones
1. Cognition
2. Social Development
3. Psychosocial Development
4. Sexuality
5. Consciousness

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Five Pillars of Developmental Theory?
1. Psychosocial Developmental Theory
2. Psychosexual Developmental Theory
3. Attachment Theory
4. Cognitive Development Theory
5. Social Learning Theory

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Jean Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development
- suggests that children move through four different stages of
learning

- focuses not only on understanding how children acquire

knowledge, but also on understanding the nature of intelligence

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Piaget's stages are:
 Sensorimotor stage: Birth to 2 years
 Preoperational stage: Ages 2 to 7
 Concrete operational stage: Ages 7 to 11
 Formal operational stage: Ages 12 and up

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Importance of Developmental Theory
The better social workers can understand the conditions of human
development, the better we can serve our clients. Understanding human
development matters because it gives us insight into the “programming
language” that forms our temperament, our capabilities, our opinions,
and virtually everything else that makes us human. With access to this
language, social workers can approach clients in highly impactful ways.

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Family Life Cycle
Family Life Cycle
-The emotional and intellectual stages a person pass through
from childhood to retirement years as a member of a family.
- In each stage, a person faces challenges in his family life that
allow him to build or gain new skills. Gaining these skills helps
the person work through the changes that nearly every family
goes through.

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

The stages of the family life cycle are:
• Family founding
• Child bearing
• Child rearing
• Child launching
• Empty nest

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

What can disrupt the normal cycle?

The stress of daily living (coping with a chronic medical

condition, or other life crises can disrupt the normal life cycle)
Ongoing stress or a crisis can delay the transition to the next
phase of life. Or you may move on without the skills that you
need to easily adapt and transition to the next phase of life.

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

How can I improve my family life cycle?

• self-examination
• education
• counseling

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Importance of Family Life Cycle
• Family life cycle theory suggests that successful transitioning may
also help to prevent disease and emotional or stress-related disorders.
• Whether you are a parent or child, brother or sister, bonded by blood
or love, your experiences through the family life cycle will affect
who you are and who you become.
• The more you understand about the challenges of each stage of the
cycle, the more likely you are to successfully move on.

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Grounded Theory
Grounded Theory
• is a qualitative method that enables you to study a particular
phenomenon or process and discover new theories that are
based on the collection and analysis of real world data
• the framework description guides the researcher’s own
interpretation of data

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

When should you use grounded theory?
• You should consider using grounded theory when there is no
existing theory that offers an explanation for a phenomenon
that you are studying.
• It can also be used if there is an existing theory, but it is
potentially incomplete as the data used to derive that theory
wasn’t collected from the group of participants that you plan
on researching.

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Benefits of using grounded theory
• Findings accurately represent real world settings
• Findings are tightly connected to the data
• Great for new discoveries
• Offers strategies for analysis
• Data collection and analysis are streamlined
• Buffers against confirmation bias

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Humanistic Theory
Humanistic Theory
Carl Rogers (1902-1987) was a
humanistic psychologist who
agreed with the main
assumptions of 
Abraham Maslow. 
Humanistic Theory
Rogers believed that every person could
achieve their goals, wishes, and desires
in life. When, or rather if they did so,
self actualization took place.
This was one of Carl Rogers most
important contributions to psychology,
and for a person to reach their potential
a number of factors must be satisfied.
Humanistic Theory
 According to Rogers (1959), we want to feel,
experience and behave in ways which are consistent
with our self-image and which reflect what we would
like to be like, our ideal-self. 
 The closer our self-image and ideal-self are to each
other, the more consistent or congruent we are and the
higher our sense of self-worth. 

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

The humanistic approach states that the self is
composed of concepts unique to ourselves.
The self-concept includes three components:
 Self-worth
 Self-image

 Ideal-self

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Self-worth
 Self-worth (or self-esteem) comprises what we think
about ourselves.
 Rogers believed feelings of self-worth developed in
early childhood and were formed from the interaction
of the child with the mother and father.

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Self-image
 How we see ourselves, which is important to good
psychological health. Self-image includes the influence
of our body image on inner personality.
 At a simple level, we might perceive ourselves as a
good or bad person, beautiful or ugly. Self-image
affects how a person thinks, feels and behaves in the
world.

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Ideal-self
 This is the person who we would like to be. It consists
of our goals and ambitions in life, and is dynamic –
i.e., forever changing.
 The ideal self in childhood is not the ideal self in our
teens or late twenties etc.

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Positive Regard and Self Worth
Carl Rogers (1951) viewed the child as
having two basic needs: positive regard
from other people and self-worth.

How we think about ourselves, our feelings

of self-worth are of fundamental
importance both to psychological health
and to the likelihood that we can achieve
goals and ambitions in life and achieve self-
actualization.

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Positive Regard and Self Worth
 Self-worth may be seen as a continuum from very high
to very low. 
 For Carl Rogers (1959) a person who has high self-
worth, that is, has confidence and positive feelings
about him or herself, faces challenges in life, accepts
failure and unhappiness at times, and is open with
people.

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Positive Regard and Self-worth
A person with low self-worth may avoid challenges in life, not accept that
life can be painful and unhappy at times, and will be defensive and
guarded with other people.

Rogers believed feelings of self-worth developed in early childhood and

were formed from the interaction of the child with the mother and father.
As a child grows older, interactions with significant others will affect
feelings of self-worth.

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Positive Regard and Self-worth
 Rogers believed that we need to be regarded positively
by others; we need to feel valued, respected, treated
with affection and loved.
 Positive regard is to do with how other people evaluate
and judge us in social interaction. Rogers made a
distinction between unconditional positive regard and
conditional positive regard.

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Unconditional Positive Regard
 Unconditional positive regard is where parents, significant others
(and the humanist therapist) accepts and loves the person for
what he or she is.  Positive regard is not withdrawn if the person
does something wrong or makes a mistake. 
 The consequences of unconditional positive regard are that the
person feels free to try things out and make mistakes, even
though this may lead to getting it worse at times.
 People who are able to self-actualize are more likely to have
received unconditional positive regard from others, especially
their parents in childhood.
3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT
Conditional Positive Regard
 Conditional positive regard is where positive regard, praise,
and approval, depend upon the child, for example, behaving
in ways that the parents think correct.
 Hence the child is not loved for the person he or she is, but on
condition that he or she behaves only in ways approved by the
parent(s). 
 At the extreme, a person who constantly seeks approval from
other people is likely only to have experienced conditional
positive regard as a child.
3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT
Congruence
A person’s ideal self may not be consistent with what
actually happens in life and experiences of the person.
 Where a person’s ideal self and actual experience are
consistent or very similar, a state of congruence exists.
Rarely, if ever, does a total state of congruence exist;
all people experience a certain amount of
incongruence.

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

 The development of congruence is dependent on unconditional
positive regard. Carl Rogers believed that for a person to achieve
self-actualization they must be in a state of congruence.

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Incongruence
 Incongruence is "a discrepancy between the actual experience of
the organism and the self-picture of the individual insofar as it
represents that experience.
 As we prefer to see ourselves in ways that are consistent with our
self-image, we may use defense mechanisms like denial or
repression in order to feel less threatened by some of what we
consider to be our undesirable feelings.
A person whose self-concept is incongruent with her or his real
feelings and experiences will defend because the truth hurts.
3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT
Self-actualization
 Rogers rejected the deterministic nature of both 
psychoanalysis and behaviorism and maintained that
we behave as we do because of the way we perceive our
situation. "As no one else can know how we perceive,
we are the best experts on ourselves."

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Self-actualization
 Carl Rogers (1959) believed that humans have one
basic motive, that is the tendency to self-actualize - i.e.,
to fulfill one's potential and achieve the highest level of
'human-beingness' we can.

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

The Fully Functioning Person

 Rogers believed that every person could achieve their

goal. This means that the person is in touch with the
here and now, his or her subjective experiences and
feelings, continually growing and changing.

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Rogers identified five characteristics of
the fully functioning person:
1. Open to experience
2. Existential living
3. Trust feelings
4. Creativity
5. Fulfilled life

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Psychodynamic Theory
Psychodynamic Theory
 also known as psychoanalytic psychotherapy, helps
clients understand their emotions and unconscious
patterns of behavior
 By talking through these emotions and behaviors with
a social worker, clients come to know themselves
better and make better decisions for themselves.

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Psychodynamic Theory
 The psychodynamic theory is a psychological theory
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and his later followers applied
to explain the origins of human behavior.
 The psychodynamic approach includes all the theories in
psychology that see human functioning based upon the
interaction of drives and forces within the person,
particularly unconscious, and between the different
structures of the personality.
3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT
Evolution of Psychodynamic Theory
 Drive Theory
 Ego Psychology
 Object Relations Theory
 Self Psychology

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Goals of psychodynamic theory
 Acknowledge their emotions
 Identify patterns
 Improve interpersonal relationships
 Recognize and address avoidance

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Strengths of psychodynamic theory:
 It recognizes that a person’s childhood impacts their mental
health as an adult.
 It recognizes that an adult is the product of both nature and
nurture.
 Freud’s psychodynamic theory also led to psychoanalysis,
which used talking as a way to identify and treat mental
health conditions.

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

How Does Psychodynamic Theory Apply to
Social Work?
 Social workers can benefit from applying the fundamental
assumptions of psychodynamic theory to their clients.
Every client’s behavior has a reason. It isn’t random or
happening in a vacuum. Their behavior also is likely partly
or mostly in response to unconscious processes. The client
might not realize why they behave a certain way.

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Psychosocial Theories
Psychosocial Theories
 it is address patterned changes in ego development, including
self-understanding, identify formation, social relationships, and
worldview across the life span
 development is a product of the ongoing interactions between
individuals and their social environments

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Erik Erikson’s Psychological Theory
 is that the individual faces a conflict at each stage, which
may or may not be successfully resolved within that
stage
 For example, he called the first stage 'Trust vs Mistrust'.
If the quality of care is good in infancy, the child learns
to trust the world to meet her needs.

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Erikson’s Stages of Development
Stage Psychosocial Crisis Basic Virtue Age
1. Trust vs. Mistrust Hope 0 - 1½
2. Autonomy vs. Shame Will 1½ - 3
3. Initiative vs. Guilt Purpose 3-5
4. Industry vs. Inferiority Competency 5 - 12
5. Identity vs. Role Confusion Fidelity 12 - 18
6. Intimacy vs. Isolation Love 18 - 40
7. Generativity vs. Stagnation Care 40 - 65
8. Ego Integrity vs. Despair Wisdom 65
3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT
Social Learning Theory
Social Learning Theory
 proposed by Albert Bandura, emphasizes the importance of
observing, modelling, and imitating the behaviors, attitudes,
and emotional reactions of others

 Social learning theory considers how both environmental

and cognitive factors interact to influence human learning
and behavior

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

In social learning theory, Albert Bandura (1977) agrees with the
behaviorist learning theories of classical conditioning and operant
conditioning. However, he adds two important ideas:

1. Mediating processes occur between stimuli &

responses.
2. Behavior is learned from the environment
through the process of observational learning.

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Observational Learning
 Children observe the people around them behaving in various
ways. This is illustrated during the famous Bobo doll experiment
(Bandura, 1961).

 Bobo doll experiment demonstrated that children are able to learn

social behavior such as aggression through the process of
observation learning, through watching the behavior of another
person. The findings support Bandura's (1977) Social Learning
Theory.
3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT
 Bandura identified three basic models of observational learning:

 Live model
 Symbolic model
 Verbal instructional model

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

The following steps are involved in the
observational learning and modeling process:
1. Attention
2. Retention
3. Reproduction
4. Motivation

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Social Learning Theory
 In addition to influencing other psychologists,
Bandura's social learning theory has had important
implications in the field of education. Today, both
teachers and parents recognize how important it is to
model appropriate behaviors. Other classroom
strategies such as encouraging children and building
self-efficacy are also rooted in social learning theory.

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Social Learning Theory
 As Bandura observed, life would be incredibly difficult and
even dangerous if you had to learn everything you know from
personal experience. Observing others plays a vital role in
acquiring new knowledge and skills. By understanding how
social learning theory works, you can gain a greater
appreciation for the powerful role that observation plays in
shaping the things we know and the things we do.

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Importance of Theories
 The theories help social workers better understand complex
human behaviors and social environments, which influence
their clients’ lives and problems.
 A good grasp of theory helps guide social workers by
providing them with a sense of direction, purpose and
control by using research-based scientific evidence in
theory.

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

Thank you

Thank you!

3/1/20XX SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT