CRITICALLY ASSESS THE IMPACT OF TASK CENTRED SOCIAL WORK ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL WORK

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Critically assess the impact of Task-Centred                                                                                by Ester Moreira

practice on the development of Social Work

CRITICALLY ASSESS THE IMPACT OF TASK-CENTRED PRACTICE ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL WORK

The task-centred model is a short-term, problem-solving approach to social work practice. It was developed by William Reid and Laura Epstein in 1969 and appeared as a response to the criticism that long-term casework was time-consuming and it wasn’t very successful in a significant percentage of clients.

It is a way of working with people that highlight partnership and the clients’ participation in decisions that affect them. Task-centred work is one of the few models of social work that encourages clients to decide what they wish to improve or change, rather than having to work on problems that the practitioner considers most important.  It also emphasise the client’s motivation, responsibility and the improving of problem-solving capacity.

“… task-centred casework has become task-centred practice, an indication of its development from individualised, therapeutic beginnings to a broader stage; a move away from relatively conservative practices into more radical territory, embracing notions of partnership, empowerment and anti-oppressive practice, and signalling practical ways of realising these ideas.” (Adams, 2002, p. 192)

It’s a practice that is heavily influenced by behavioural model, problem-solving approach and the learning theory.

Like in the behavioural model, task-centred work is a short-term service, usually 6 to 12 sessions and it focuses on problems and behaviours, not in emotions.

As in behavioural approaches, task-centred practice covers a wider range of problems, involving clients’ relationships to diverse environmental systems, for instance, homelessness problems, poor financial resources and conflicts between client and organisations have always  been  among the  targets  of  the  task-centred  practice, but in

contrast they fall outside the usual range of behavioural approaches. (Reid, 1992).

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Techniques for single case evaluation of task-centred practice have been recently increased by qualitative methodology. This introduction has been an additional attempt to investigate aspects of social work processes and outcomes not adequately captured by quantitative methods – another point of contrast with typical behavioural approaches, which generally do not use qualitative methods in single-case evaluation. (Reid and Davis, 1987, pp 56-74; Davis and Reid, 1988, pp 298-306).

The impacts on task-centred social work have been wide and different. From its origin in the psychosocial tradition, it became under the controversy over behaviourism. The traditionalist behaviourists ...

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