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Maria Lehtinen
STRENGTHS BASED PRACTICE: THE METHOD´S USEFULLNESS IN FINNISH SOCIAL WORK WITH FAMILIES AND CHILDREN
In this presentation, I´m going to tell you
•What is my research about.•Why I´m interested in the topic.•What is strengths based social work .•Why is strengths based practice a useful method in social work according to earlier research.•Which methods are being used in Finland.•What sources am I using.•What methods I will use in my research.
Feel free to ask questions at any point of my presentation.
My research question is
What is strengths based practice and is the method useful in Finnish social work with families and children?
Why I chose this topic
• I´m interested in social work with children and families. I´ve been doing social work in this field for two years and I´ve used the solution-centered approach (Furman & Ahola) in my work. This approach has a lot of similarities to strengths based social work and I find it effective.
• I´m interested in methods´ effectiveness in social work.
Strengths based practice is…
•…a way of doing social work.• It´s all about focusing on client´s strengths and resources instead of problems• The method is closely related to the concept of empowerment• There are many opinions about method´s effectiveness and usefulness in social work.
In Finland
• Social work is problem-centered.• There is not much information/theory about methods that has been used in Finnish social work, especially there is not much research about methods´ effectiveness
How to use the strengths based method
• During the social work process, social worker and a client set goals that are realistic, important to the client, small enough and concrete.
• “empowering questions”• Social worker can for example ask:
What are the strengths you have, that have helped you to survive trough this English course? What is it, that has made you come this far in this course?
Social worker challenges the client work on his/her situation
Critical sources
• Bernard, B. (2006). Using strengths based practice to tap the resilience of families. In D. Saleebey (Ed.) Strengths perspective in social work practice (197-220). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon• McMillen, J. C., Morris, L. & Sherraden, M. (2004). Ending social work´s grudge match: Problems versus strengths. In Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services 85 (3). Pp. 317-325• Rapp, C.A., Saleebey, D. & Sullivan, W.P (2006). The future of strengths-based social work. In Delay, J. G (Ed.) Advances in social work (79-90). Bloomington, Indiana: Trafford Publishing• Raunio, K (2009). Olennainen sosiaalityössä (2nd ed.). Helsinki: Hakapaino.
Research methods
• Participants: social workers who work with families and children in Peruspalvelukeskus Oiva –liikelaitos (Päijät-Häme).
• I’m going to collect the information by sending the participants an e-mail inquiry including open questions.
• This is a qualitative research. I´m going to use grounded theory method when analyzing the answers.
Conclusions• In this section I will examine, is the strengths based method beeing used in the social work with families and children. I will try to answer the following questions:
• Is the method useful in social work with families and chilrden according to the answers? • Why is it working/ why not? • What are the limitations of this method?
• Grounded theory induction the earlier research doesn´t play a big role
Questions, comments, suggestions?
For more information, visit my blog:
http://lehtinenmaria.wordpress.com
Contact me:
Thank you!
