Alex Gitterman

Building Mutual Support in Groups

The concept of support is frequently referred to in the groupwork literature but is relatively underdeveloped and unspecified. This paper partializes the concept of support and identifies and illustrates specific professional behaviors which are essential to the building of support in a group. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: Website:

Interactive Andragogy: Principles, Methods, and Skills.

Abstract The subject of the paper is andragogy. In social work education (as in all education), complex issues emerge regarding the nature of learning and teaching. One pervasive and persisting issue is the relation between subject matter, i.e., what is to be taught, and teaching methodology, i.e., how it is to be taught. The paper discusses and illustrates interactive teaching principles, methods, and skills such as creating a climate and providing structure for collaborative learning, dealing with obstacles to collaborative learning, and helping students to experience, operationalize, and build abstractions.

Evidence-Guided Practice: Integrating the Science and Art of Social Work:

Social work educators and practitioners have had an ongoing debate whether the profession is primarily a science or an art. The pendulum has swung back and forth, with the current tilt toward scientific explanations and formulations. Evidence-based practice is the most symbolic manifestation of this tilt. The authors propose an alternative approach to practice that integrates, rather than separates, the art and science traditions. Evidence-guided practice incorporates research findings, theoretical constructs, and a repertoire of professional competencies and skills consistent with the professions values and ethics and the individual social workers distinctive style. Major assumptions, as well as challenges, associated with the model are identified. A case example illustrates major concepts of the model.

Social Work: A Profession in Search of Its Identity.

Micro social work practice can be understood in the context of its historical professional traditions and dialectics as well as the environmental pressures and demands placed on the profession. In becoming a profession, social work relied heavily on principles drawn from medicine and science. Although these bodies of knowledge provided the profession certain credibility, their application may have clouded social work’s distinctive social purpose and professional identity. In its search for a distinctive function and identity, the profession of social work has struggled with numerous dialectics, as discussed in this article. These help us to better understand the profession’s search for its distinctive identity and status and the importance of including this content in social work education.

The influence of the organization on clinical practice

Almost all, if not all clinical decisions represent agency policy and organizational imperatives in action. The organization influences and shapes services, problem definition, assessment and intervention, and “careers’ of clients. This paper explores ideas about the organizational context of practice, organizational problems and related issues, and offers suggestions for increasing the clinicians influence and effectiveness.

The White Professional and the Black Client.

The unknownness between persons must be challenged by demanding that their feelings, including the rage, fear, and mistrust, be shared and squarely faced

Testing Professional Authority and Boundaries

HOW AND WHY do clients test authority, assay boundaries, and explore limits in professional relationships? Testing is defined here as the processes of explicit and implicit communications and negotiations about client and worker roles as well as working arrangements, conditions, and focus. Although testing involves mutual scrutiny, that is, worker and client taking each other’s measure, the present article focuses primarily upon the client’s behaviors in these matters and the appropriate professional responses. Clients test professional and organizational authority, boundaries, and limits through such active behaviors as provocation, interruption, seduction, and overt hostility or such passive behaviors as withdrawal and silence. “Flight” behaviors, such as cancellation of appointments, precipitous termination, and instant recovery, and ”avoidance” behaviors, such as changing the subject, minimizing issues, withholding data, denial, and dissembling, also test professional and organizational authority. Diverse and interrelated factors account for and explain these behaviors. These factors need to be understood by practitioners because they often present difficult challenges and painful experiences. If they are dealt with firmly and consistently and with warmth and caring, these challenges to professional authority can become opportunities for meaningful and sustained work. The purpose of the present article, therefore, is to discuss the phenomenon of testing, consider practice implications, and illustrate through a case vignette a worker’s skillful efforts to deal with such challenges.

Education for Practice: Teaching about the Environment

Abstract An ecological perspective on social work practice underscores the need for a dual or holistic focus on people and environments. Concepts and principles regarding the dynamic environment are developing rapidly in organizational theory, social network theory, environmental psychology, and in social work. The authors describe content and methods useful in teaching assessment and intervention in selected aspects of the micro environment.

Reflections on Dealing with Group Member's Testing of My Authority: Oy Vey

In reflecting on what influenced my responses to group members’ testing of my professional authority, two experiences immediately came to mind. First, experiences in my own family significantly shaped my orientation to authority. As an only child, my energies were devoted to working out a relationship with my parents. I guess I was spared the struggle of sibling rivalry. The more I think about it, the more I realize that my parents were major socializers on how I deal with power, authority, and influence. My parents were very loving and supportive, but their styles in placing limits and making demands were quite different. My father conveyed a quiet strength and expressed disapproval gently; my mother was more intense in setting limits and in demanding respect and responsible behavior. Without thinking about it, I now realize that I have internalized both of their qualities in my orientation to authority; namely, to provide support and simultaneously to make demands initially softly and subsequently more intensely. A second influence was a high school basketball coach who gained team members’ total attention and unconditional respect. He spoke quietly, never raised his voice, but firmly communicated his expectations. A stare was sufficient to gain one’s attention. With these role models and six summers of day camp experiences, I approached my first year social work placement in a settlement house

Promoting Resilience Through Social Work Practice with Groups: Implications for the Practice and Field Curricula

ABSTRACT The realities of contemporary social work practice often push social workers toward a deficit-focused orientation. The article begins with an overview of the major tenets of resiliency and adversarial growth theories and related research findings. We suggest that the group modality epitomizes the application of resiliency theory and adversarial growth to social work practice. A primary focus of this article is on articulating and illustrating the unique contribution group work makes for promoting client resilience. The article provides a theoretical and empirical framework that students, practitioners, and educators alike can use to identify, understand, and capitalize on client strengths through group work. Implications for social work education, specifically the practice and field curricula, are discussed.