Social Work Methodology

• Social work is committed to transforming social reality, using methodology that combines theory, practice, and method.
• Methodology gives social work a scientific character by merging it with social practice, method, and theory.
• Method in social work serves as a way to understand and transform reality, adapting to the nature of the problems addressed.
• The method in social work is a flexible structure that adapts to reality and changes in the intervention.
• The first stage of the methodological cycle that is the diagnosis, is the base to understanding social work techniques.
• Interviewing, observation, home visits, questionnaires, surveys, social history, and case studies provide a complete point of view to social work when addressing social realities.
• Advancing throughout the stages of the method highlights the importance of planning/programming and execution for designing and implementing interventions.
• Execution involves direct work with individuals, families, and communities, requiring interpersonal skills, empathy, and knowledge of social and cultural contexts.
• Evaluation closes the methodological cycle by giving information to measure the impact of interventions, identify areas for improvement, and learn from doing.
• Systematization is a challenge for social work, surpassing simple experience descriptions to advance reflection, analysis, and conceptualization.
• Systematization is essential for generating professional knowledge, promoting theorization and building intervention concepts, which includes describing, ordering, classifying, analyzing, and conceptualizing.
• Social work seeks not only to intervene but to understand, learn, and evolve to improve practices and results.

Methodological Tools and Techniques

• Methodology in social work is the operational way to transform social reality with instrumental with theoretical basis.
• Methodology gives a scientific character to social work because it relies on social practice, method, and theory.
• Method in social work should serve as a way to understand and transform reality, adapting procedures and processes to reality.
• The method's nature is constantly changing and flexible.
• The method in social work should consider:
• The interconnectedness of social problems
• The structural relationship of social problems
• The variables to consider when analyzing a social problem
• The modification of a social reality
• the consistent role of participation in social action
• The implementation of social education to help people get autonomous
• Adapting to the problem to meet goals
• Ander-Egg (2011) defines method as acts carried out under guidelines used to achieve a determined outcome.
• Method is crystallized in social work into the methodological cycle.
• The cycle includes diagnosis, planning/programming, execution, evaluation, and systematization.
• Social techniques put the stages into practice through adapted elements.

Diagnosis

• Diagnosis is the first stage of the methodological cycle in social work and is key for understanding techniques, providing foundations for intervention.

• Diagnosis describes, explains, and predicts phenomena within the situation, helping define situations, problems, and causal factors in individuals and groups.

• Diagnosis' goal is to provide keys to planning, for an action plan to transform a condition or situation.

• The knowledge obtained through diagnosis is justified when it serves the purpose of action.

• A second definition for diagnosis is:

• An analysis to determine a situation and its trends, based on collected and systematic information, data, and facts.

• The social diagnosis serves as the analytical/explicative moment to help with social intervetion; the bridge and connection between investigation and programming.

• Diagnosis purposes:

• Provides basic information to program specific actions

• Provides an overview of the current situation for strategies

• Characterizes internal situations and contexts

• Identifies main existing problems and connections

• specifies resources

• Prioritizes problems

• What to look for within a diagnosis:

• In-depth study for the problems to face

• Prognosis on the development of the situation as is

• Consider hypothesis to guide the investigation where to search, and how to identify interrelations

• Finds the elements to help explain a reality to program the actions needed.

• Get relevant data.

• Historical background for the person or family

• Existing statistics for the institution or community

• What to add to an existing diagnose?

• Collaborates with systematization processes as transmission and communication for social intervention, potentiating strengths for people, families, groups and communities.

• Prioritizes the meaning to people and communities give to facts.

• Believes to people, families, groups and communities.

• Discovers what the person wants.

• Discovers their environmental and personal forces

• Multi-dimensional evaluation of their forces

• Uses the evaluation for the singular

• A language to help people understand

• Share that evaluation with all actors involve

• Avoid guilt or blaming

• AVoid linear thought of action / cause

• Other techniques used for information recollection throught the stages of the methodological cycle:

• The interview is a tool used throughout the entire professional cycle, providing necessary information.

• Main aspects of the social work interview:

• A interpersonal experience carefully planned.

• Has a purpose.

• Interpersonal interaction is at the centre.

• Positive environment with objectives and privacy.

• Observation

• Optimal conditions during interview with the interviewee:

• An optimal environment helps to naturally introduce conflict elements of change.

• Find more beyond recopilation, guide, teach, orientate, educate, depending on the professional objetives designed.

• To carry out different roles, the interview needs more profesional porpouses:

• The professional in order to get information would need to: Get individual, community and group information. Recopilate or give out social relevance information in order to take action. Make a terapeuthic effect, in order to study, act and listen the reality from each actor involved.

• There are different interview roles you can have:

• Guided, structured, controled: uses a procedure to do a flexible cuestionary,

• Not guided, Not structured, Not controled: uses a more informal approach, put atention to the issues that people plant to help initinal explorations.

• Collective Interview: Can get a range of information from people and participants throught recollection, verification adn or rectification.

• The interview is one of the main tools to use for social work intervention.

• The social worker listens to the narratives of the family dynamic to build alternate realities as their members are involved in the narrative.

• Ask open ended questions to:

• Allow communities, groups and people to expand into their desire, inquietudes,interests, needs, beliefs and conect the facts throught time.

• Observation: Is a process of mindfullness, mirind detenidely and the reflection of each data.

• Obsevation can be defined by environment and behaviour to understand the problematic.

• Observation data done by different observers helps the objective.

• Another form for observation can be done as:

• Participant Observer: A observer is integrated into the group as a new member, risk to alter the dinamics and its perception. risk of losing objetivity.

• Not Participant Observer: A observer is accepted as one, the risk to lose objetivity is minimum.

• Domiciliary Visit: Throught the beggining of profesional intervention, this is found as a part of daily interaction, marking its presenciality.

• This helps the visitor know each person and their reality, helps the interaction and environment of their context.

• Some objectives of the Domiciliary Visit includes: Recopilate,verify and expand information in the persons personal enviroment . Studing the enviorment, Informing, force assigned tasks, Apply intervention strategies.

• Questionaries: Are a fundammental process to get quantitative and cualitative information to offer pre-defined answer, allowing effective eficcient obtention of cuantification. Questionaries open provide clear inshigt of perception and experiments.

• Survey: Are tools to evaluate, needs ,opinions systematically.

• Closed cuestionaries: Offer predifined answer

• Are eficiente to recopilate and quantitative analyis.

• Requiered a precise formulatilns of questions is order to prevent distortion and assure precise results

• Opend Answers Survey:

• Provides descriptive answer; captures inshigt perspectives and ofer enriched undersantind. demand a more complex analysis due to qualitative nature of answer.

• History: Is an instrument design to recolilate historical data offer the integral vision from indiviual. Social history detalis personal aspects , education,health and study casuses an analitically especific in order to inform the interventions

Historic Social:

• Recopilates about the daily life data pass and present on individual.

• Aholistic vision thru environmetal, social and personal facts

• Casue study: Analisys about more especifics siutations.

• Aholistic review thru personal , ambiental and social faactotrs.

• Genograma and Ecomapa: Is an tool that visually offer relation ship. the links with enviroment

Genograma: Visualising the family relation for a long period.

• Highlight, hereditary patterns or emotionals completxities.

Ecomap : Is an tool design to represent conection with the invididual and their enviroment.

• helps to identify relation and resources.

Planning/programming

• Planning/Programming is the second step for the sociocycle work, and includes:

• The development of plans and strategies to aim at those that need help/ problems as diagnosticated in the last step. Careful development for the action plan in order to be efectives and efficient.

• Planning at social work implicate:

• Step analysis/ consideration for: The goal to stablish at first the especific objectives.

• Clear realistic and measurable. Its important to align at diagnosis is order to meet congruent values and principles at a social work level. Identification of acitivities/ Once one has been defined its objective. to identify the concrete actions and meet the objettive to aim the idintified problems. Its importabtnt to have on count how may recursos are available, como el personal, el presupuesto y las infraestructuras, al seleccionar las actividades.

• Assing of resources: to decide the resources to do the steps plan, incluying the material, humand,finantial, and tech. To optimaze and get the max resource from those available.Is crucial to consider how to equitavite the resources in a proper assign throught the marginalised and vulnerable.

• Setting dead lines/ Establecimiento de plazos: You must stablish a dead line, needs to be taken realistic . To consider when assigning time to do task and limited limitations that could ocur, Tempiral is very importante since allow us to assure the project work and efociesntly and the possibility to modify if necessarie. Coordination and colaboration.

• To work with diferent partners to get the desired solution, the social co-work with difrerent organisation as a civil authority or social colectives etc is importatnt. This guarattntees coherence and sinergy.

• Evaluation and monitarization- Implicate the need to establilsh mechanism as a monito or for results and objectives. To develop performance indicators and follow its track tho recogpile the proper data set. The cointinuos results , provides help and informatiom for modifications.

• ethic considering- its importabnt to have ethic consideration as human rights. Its important to consider Autonomy, No malevolence, Justice and beneficence,

Execution

• Execution is the phase that carries out the direct work with those affected by the needs, trying to reach those diservers results and approach to solution.

• The effecivity needs a cobination of co-worker skills, empathy and comprehension for the social contexts.

• The execution, has also some keys in elements to this fase:

• Stablishement relations; During the execution is fundammeltal to stabliseh relationships solides and based on trust through family communities and individual. To show esmpaty ,activeness listen and respect the different enviroments. The social work is based to work in collaborative environment.

• Direct Intervention. Implementation, desiggned solutions and to have a plan to take action. The action plans varies depending of the assistanment the education support ,mediation, trainign depending specific needs.

• The work to team needs: To apply other profecisionals as psyconogist doctors etc. Its is fundammental abord integral the comminuties.Fluidez in communication / coordination etc.

• Accessos a recursos y servicios: Para ayudar a una red estatal a que pueda tener acceso a los diferente recursis necesario,como las organizaciones, grupos de soporte economico entre otros. The purpose aay social work needs focus on address to limit and adressing to help people get and satisfy needs.

• Guidance and fellow-Its important to fellow that person throuhgout support relationship to do change of overcomedificulty. promote the participation/ autonoma durante ejecucion, to promote activae participatio , its an pricinple its a right and have access to their own lives,

• Manage the conflict- Manage stress and make desiciones efectives , garantizsing biesntrar

• registry -Documentations : Document precise results/ and desitions/ y el resultaods obtenidos. Esto ayuda a mantener Un historial de las acciones realizadas,