First published 1996
by Ashgate Publishing
Published 2016
by Routledge
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711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Copyright 1996 Dave Evans and Jeremy Kearney
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Evans, Dave
Working in social care: a systemic approach
1. Social service
I. Title II. Kearney, Jeremy
361.3
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number : 96-85391
ISBN 9781857423556 (pbk)
ISBN 9781857423549 (hbk)
Transfered to Digital Printing in 2012
Over recent years, a wide range of central government policy initiatives directed at the National Health Service, the personal social services and the criminal justice system have had a fundamental impact on the nature of service provision. Moreover, it is difficult to predict how these services will develop. We take the view that whatever the changes ahead, there will continue to be a wide range of workers in many different settings who will be committed to alleviating the social need experienced by others. Our own commitment to this aim as practitioners, trainers, supervisors and consultants working within a range of voluntary and statutory settings has led us to espouse a systemic approach as a framework for effective practice.
We have taken three steps to make this approach amenable and useful to the reader. First and foremost, we have attempted to orientate the ideas directly towards practice: by addressing the concrete issues of practice; by asking questions about the reader's practice, and by giving examples of our own and other people's practice. Second, we have tried to indicate ways in which a systemic approach, which focuses on interrelationships, contrasts with a currently dominant approach which focuses on separate people or units. Third, we have indicated some major disadvantages which may have been troubling the reader about two other major systems approaches - family therapy and the unitary model.
The title we have chosen includes four terms which take the reader to the heart of this book: 'systemic', 'approach', 'working' and 'social care'.
Systemic
Systems approaches to helping people in social need were particularly popular in the 1970s, following the development and dissemination of general systems theory (Von Bertalanffy, 1968). Several writers (Pincus and Minahan, 1973; Goldstein, 1973; Specht and Vickery, 1977) employed systems ideas in unitary or integrated models which had the subtext of integrating and unifying the differing methods and settings of the growing profession of social work. Some indicated the value of systems theory as a basis for therapy with families rather than individuals (Walrond-Skinner, 1976) or for work with the other relationships supporting people in need (Davies, 1977). Rubin (1973) simply celebrated these new ideas without fully exploring their implications for practice.
However, the context which saw the growth of these ideas also constrained their development. For example, the notion of integrated models for practice which can be adopted for all service user groups in generic social work teams has given way to the rediscovery of specialisms with particular legislative frameworks and knowledge requirements.
A central constraint of that period was the tendency to minimise the conflict and power differentials inherent in social systems, with some notable exceptions (Bailey and Brake, 1975). The systemic approach we propose in this book therefore seeks to recognise the context of oppression and discrimination which gives rise to and perpetuates much of the need experienced by the consumers of social care agencies.
The main concepts of this systemic approach are outlined in detail in . Of these, one central idea is that of mutual interaction: person A does not simply act towards a passive person B; person B will also attempt to influence person A. In a residential home for older people, for example, a care assistant may seek to persuade an older resident on to their feet in order to get ready for their bath. The older person may have other ideas, however: to watch a favourite TV programme or to await the visit of a relative. The resolution of these conflicting interests will depend upon a number of variables, including: the value base and practice skills of the worker; the frailty of the older person, and the degree of service user involvement in the management of the home. It will certainly be the case that the two participants in this two-way interaction will not have equal power.
'Resistant' is one adjective often used by workers to describe such a resident. It clearly reveals the workers' fundamental misapprehension that service users should simply comply with workers' wishes and not exercise whatever power they have at their disposal to pursue their own wishes.
'Manipulative' is another similarly blinkered description of service users' actions. In this case, workers often find themselves at the receiving end of some effective use of power by the service user - for example, having sought the support of the officer in charge. Workers are thus hindered in using their power to pursue their own wishes, or perhaps even prevented from doing so.
'Resistant' and 'manipulative' are therefore both epithets which give warning that a worker has not been sufficiently aware of (a) the two-way nature of interactions and (b) the power differentials inherent in those interactions. Seen from the perspective of the 'resistant' or 'manipulative' service user, the interaction will assume a very different complexion. Indeed, at times, the service user may well apply the mirror adjective to the worker:
service user 'resistant' = worker 'manipulative'
service user 'manipulative' = worker 'resistant'
Another idea central to a systemic approach is that of context by which we mean the relevant aspects of the environment. Context can be 'synchronic' that is, at one point in time. At the same time as writing this book, we have other roles as, for example, workers and husbands, which influence and are influenced by the writing. Context can also be 'diachronic' - that is, extended through time. Our writing on a given day will be influenced by a previous late night or the prospect of a future holiday. These two contextual axes intersect (see ).
