The Person-in-Environment Perspective on Social Work

The person-in-environment perspective has been accepted by the profession as uniquely defining and differentiating social work from related professions/disciplines, such as psychology (more person centered) and sociology (more structurally oriented). In terms of its epistemological status, the concept “person in environment” is variously described as a perspective or a framework. As such, it is said to help the practitioner organize observations, planning, and intervention strategy. In this broader understanding, person-in-environment is not a “theory” in the sense of producing statements that have been or can be verified with empirical evidence. However, this is not to say that more specific formulations linking some aspect of the environment to behavioral outcomes have not been productive. Many of such formulations have formed the backdrop for much that goes by the name “evidence-based practice” (a concept treated extensively elsewhere on this site). There is some speculation regarding when the person-in-environment framework was first clearly articulated in social work. What is clear is that there were a number of historical developments in the first two decades of the 20th century that led to the more formal expression of the concept in the emerging profession and discipline of social work sometime after World War I.
). In person-environment practise, incentive is mainly improved through consistent stress on strength showing the importance played by the strength based approach to the vocation as it facilitate them to create social networks based on the approach to give the much desired help out to clients in order to meet theirgoals which the physical and social environments maybe jamming.
A beneficial approach to strength-based care in residential treatment is to integrate internal and external strengths within each child or youth’s treatment plan. This allows opportunity to reveal strengths and mobilize other potential strengths including community...