Challenges of Risk within the Field of Social Work - Essay Example

Professional Studies Experts and theorists acknowledge that social work is an area that is fraught with risk. In particular, the late modern society has changed in ways that have increased the element of risk in the line of social care (Lishman, 2007, p 177). The distribution of risk across the different categories varies significantly across the different areas. Among the most vulnerable in the group are the old people. In social work, all kinds of approaches have their strengths and weaknesses. Local authorities often find themselves surrounded by multiple choices to make when handling a particular element of risk (Humphrey, 2010). Situations, circumstances, tools, and other multiple factors often present a social worker with choices about methods and approaches. Various theories have been propounded to attend to the challenges of risk within the field of social work (Walsh, 2010, p. 44). Hermeneutical knowledge theory is one of the theories that often attempt to analyze the ways in which risks might be mitigated or prevented in the course of social work. According to this theory, it is necessary for a social worker to achieve an advanced understanding of the nature of the problems and situations of victims before applying the most appropriate remedies of addressing the same (Walsh, 2010). Higher knowledge is a key to resolving the issues that afflict the victims within the social environment. Hermann Nohl developed the hermeneutical theory with the intention of reducing social work into some kind of a pedagogical activity. This theory attempts to explain the fact that the social worker must play the role of the interpreter. The work of the interpreter is to assess the condition of the victim and make the correct interpretation that could be relied upon in the process of making the right kind of interpretation. It is important to consider the work of a social worker in this context as some kind of approach that delves into the deep recesses of a social problem with the intention of creating a clear answer out of a complex problem. It is, therefore, important to consider the fact that some of the issues that engage the attention of the social worker are considered as “riddles” which must be interpreted in order to yield the right kind of response. Within the terms supplied by this theory, attending to an older person would necessarily require an advanced understanding of the issues that relate to their kind of suffering. One notable issue proposed by theory is the need for the social worker to go beyond casual knowledge to the more complex and higher knowledge in order for them to get the correct kind of answer that relates to the particular social problem (Karban, 2011). For older people, the social worker would have to attend to issues related to their health and other kinds of weaknesses that pose risks during the task of interpretation. It would be appropriate to consider the fact the social worker often articulates issues in line with the manner in which they consider them along the paradigms of treatment and care. Older people need closer attention in order for them to acquire the necessary support against the usual ailments that afflict them. Hermeneutics theory seeks to minimize the element of risk through professional experience. Professional experience entails the act of the social worker getting some factual information on the victim. The factual information usually comes from the professional knowledge and skills of the social worker and the information made available to the social worker from the victim. In this manner, the social worker will be able to delve deeply into the details of the victim with the intention of acquiring special insights that could help in helping the client to overcome his or her condition. The cooperation between the social worker and the older person would be important in supplying crucial information that could be relied upon to check against the usual risks that usually afflict the older people (Karban, 2011). At this level, the hermeneutics theory becomes an important check against the perils of disease or a relapse into fits of insomnia, senility, and other factors that usually afflict the elderly. According to the theory of hermeneutics, higher and advanced knowledge is an important check against risk. This principle is the underlying strength in the hermeneutical principle. It underscores some of the matters that have continued to afflict the provision of services within the general process of social work as it relates to the older people in the society (Reamer, 2006). It would seem that the theory of hermeneutics involves a proper appraisal of some of the matters, which attend to theoretical perspectives on social work. Some of the weaknesses of this theory include the assumption that social workers shall have, or shall gain access to advanced knowledge at all times (Reamer, 2006). The theory also assumed that the victims will have the required levels of knowledge to engage the social worker on matters relating to their condition. Therefore, it might be argued that this theory puts significant emphasis on matters of knowledge as a path towards effective social care. Usually, every approach to social work has its own internal strength and weakness. More so, these situations have significant elements of risk that vary in accordance to places, environment, situations, and the mode of application (McDonald, 2010). As a result, it becomes important to consider the various attributes that attach to the various approaches in terms of the underlying potential of risk. In general, terms of intervention and approach must be guided by the objective the needs of the particular group under distress and mitigating all negative impacts that could result from the intervention. This fact arises from the realization that all forms of intervention have their in-built negative and positive impacts. With particular regard to the old age, it is important to consider the fact that they are generally prone to various kinds of physical, mental, and psychological handicaps that often distract their functioning processes. Older people are likely to develop various kinds of physical ailments related to the normal aging process (Harris, 2007). They manifest symptoms of physical weaknesses as the progressively become senile. In some cases, they may be very sensitive to various forms of discrimination or neglect. As such, they may tend to be fastidious and choosy about some aspects, which they regard as central to their being. A social worker should be aware of the risk of this special group to lapse into depression if they are not attended to in ways that show concern and comfort. Older people are also sensitive to matters of company. Psychological experts have argued that the elderly prefer to be regarded with some kind of authority. They feel despised if not consulted regularly and are always keen to keep their place at the top of the social ladder in the society. The elderly will also tend to develop memory lapses poor sight and are therefore vulnerable to all things that could require these senses (Walsh, 2010). It is important to consider some of the issues that might mitigate the older people from incurring physical and mental injuries related to common hazards. It is on account of this that various theorists have suggested the modeling of older people care facilities with the consideration of all possible injuries that could occur within their physical environment. The status of health of the older people is likely to improve significantly if sufficient care is used to maintain their standards of living. Acknowledging their unique needs is usually one of the fundamental steps that help in minimizing the amount of damage or level of degradation of the older people into adverse standards of health. Social workers at the local authorities must content with the realities of the fragile nature of health as it applies to the older people (Greene & Greene, 2008). The physical environment of the older people is a strong determinant of the levels of their health. Older people will tend to appreciate the kind of environment that ties in well with their values and aspirations. Usually, older people tend to be conservative and may not respond well with new realities. Social workers may have trouble when handling older people due to their natural rigid nature. This rigid may transform into some kind of a hindrance that makes it difficult for the workers to administer the right kind of care to them (Walsh, 2008). For instance, the older people may refuse to acknowledge some of the methods of care or refuse altogether to move into alternative homes. It would be important to consider the fact that some of the older people in the society tend to develop rigid characteristics, which are consistent with mental deformities (Walsh, 2008). The systems theory developed by Niklas Luhmann sought to address the matter of risk in social work through a process of standardization of risk assessment followed by the determination of risk management procedures. This theory encourages an element of autonomy in social work. It encourages the determination of social work based on the ideas enshrined in the philosophy of “help” and “non-help” as brought out by the theorist (Segal, Gerdes & Steiner, 2010). This philosophy sought to create some kind of a clean separation between the system of social aid from any other related but different system. The system was based on the fact that an orderly and systematic process of social work management would play a significant role in minimizing the amount of risk in the line of duty. This theory advocates for the creation of special functions that would work within certain established standards for the purposes of enhancing efficiency. The systems would be guided by certain specific provisions that would guard against the possibility of internal inefficiencies, which according to the theorist often increases the probability of error within the system. This theory is resourceful because it supplies the paradigms of handing social work in a way that improves the capacity of the social worker. It would be necessary to appraise this theory in terms of the standardization of the social work particularly with regard to attending to the special needs of the older people in the society. Older people are faced with situations that require orderly and systematic care. Some of them lack the capacity to fend for themselves. Others lack relatives or have been abandoned by their own relatives. In this sense, it becomes important to attend to their concerns with the view of providing them with the most appropriate remedy that could help them adjust to new social realities. The provision of such care must be conducted in a systematic manner that takes care of the fact that they are particularly vulnerable and require periodic treatment in order to replenish their failing health (Roberts, 2005). A social worker would therefore have to develop a systematic approach that distinguished between those in dire need from those who could make it without such needs. This theory proposes structures and systems. These structures and systems are necessary for providing consistent care to the elderly. Studies have shown that social work that is not guided by systematic procedures often tend to lapse into misuse and lethargic processes (Roberts, 2005). It is because of this that the provision of proper care to the vulnerable groups requires consistent attention from various forces. Some of the issues that attend to the provision of care to the elderly often revolve around their financial status and their status of health. These are the core areas that determine the kind of care that such people require. The level of education is another important determinant of the kind of care that should be extended towards such people. It would be necessary to consider these factors in the light of some of the provisions that affect and are in-turn affected by social work. In the natural sense, the older people in the society are vulnerable to multiple challenges. Such challenges revolve around the ability of such people to conduct themselves in ways that are self-sustainable. This factor varies in accordance with various factors. It is because of this realization that various issues have been brought forward to determine the kind of methods to be used in dispensing proper care to the vulnerable people within the society (Birkenmaier, Berg-Weger & Dewees, 2011). The determination of the kind of care must be conducted within sound theories that attend to all the challenges that have evolved over the times. This would require some active engagement in some of the issues that lend themselves to theoretical explanations in order to extend them to a practical application. One of the challenges of social work is that it tends to rely mostly on past methods, which do not address emerging challenges. As the society continues to change, the kind of challenges also shifts. The changes have impacted significantly on the capacity of the older people to take care of themselves. For instance, many older people are averse to technology. This reality applies both in the developed and in the developing world. In a world in which most systems are heavily reliant on the aspect of technology, the older people often find themselves at great disadvantages. This means that they feel some element of alienation as they attempt to catch up with the emerging shape of the society. Theorists and researchers have proposed radical changes in the methods used during the application of social work. A strict adherence to rigid systems often creates an element of mismatch between the social worker and the victim. In order to connect in a meaningful process, the social worker must form the bridge that would connect the older person to world as it is. This requires an element of flexibility and a deeper understanding of the social dynamics of change. It is upon the social worker to negotiate the generational gap that separates the older person from the younger society (Becker, Bryman & Ferguson, 2012). This often entails appropriating the existing synergies in a manner that would take the good from the society while shielding the older person from the perils of the modern world. It is within this context that the theory of systems acquires greater significance. Ultimately, the work of a social worker should be to reconcile the older person to the society in accordance to their needs. Social workers must contextualize the needs of older people in order for them to provide precise responses to such needs. This process necessarily requires an appraisal of the various aspects of life that tie within the same issues that separate the older person from the rest of the society. The level of needs for the older people will often vary in line with the environment and personal factors (Hughes & Heycox, 2010). Negotiating the barrier imposed by this variation often requires a deeper awareness of the theoretical and structural challenges at the bottom of both. Some of the matters that often engage the attention of social workers relate to the development of a most appropriate environment for the older people. However, other researchers have argued that such exclusive approaches are generally harmful to the psychological well-being of the older people. Approaches to Learning Various approaches to learning bring about different outcomes. Learning by observation is one of the most common learning approaches that are used in social work. This approach has important strengths and weaknesses. Learning by observation usually entails the effort of the learner to observe phenomena and happenings around him or her in order to discern and generate knowledge from the happenings. In usual cases, this kind of learning involves some active concentration of the learner to connect with the external phenomena. In learning by observation, knowledge is generated from the physical, auditory, or visual contact between the learner and the environment. Examples of learning by observation includes watching people as they take part in a cultural event, attending a classroom to listen to an instructor explaining some concept or engaging personally with an individual who keeps some resourceful information about some subject. This kind of learning involves some kind of contact between the learner and the source of information. One advantage of this kind of learning is that the generation of knowledge takes place in a way that engages the attention of the learner. Due to this factor, it becomes relatively easier for the learner to retain the memory of the learning experience. One disadvantage of the process is that the learner fails to connect with the substance of the information, and could be subject to misunderstanding and misinformation. Learning by Participation Learning by participation involves the task of the learner taking part in some kind of activity that generates some particular knowledge. For example, the learner joins some community activity in order to develop some special insights on some matter. For example, the learner could engage in some cultural activity in order to get a clear picture about the happenings in a particular community. It is a resourceful approach to learning in the sense that it allows the learner to get first-hand information about the happenings on the subject of the study. It might be necessary to appraise this kind of learning in terms of its weaknesses. One of the fundamental weaknesses of this approach of learning is that it may subject the learner to personal risk. For instance, a social worker who wishes to learn about the inner details of prostitution could not possibly begin by engaging in the habit. Such an action would risk their personal health. The same case applies to a learner who wishes to get some insights into a proscribed sect. The learning approach would require of such an individual to engage in the activities of the group. However, this would be difficult because the group could turn out to be dangerous or introduce the individual into certain activities that have long-term negative effects on the individual. In this regard, it becomes necessary to consider the various issues that apply within the learning approach in a way that protects the learner while enhancing the learning process. Normative assumptions often vary from place to place with regard to the place and value of the older people. Whereas some societies tend to treat the older people as resourceful, other societies are decidedly discriminatory in their handling of the older people. Studies have shown that older people will generally tend to respond differently to the kind of treatment that they get from the society (Hughes & Heycox, 2010). Social workers should possess a keen eye for details in order to uncover the inner forces that determine the place of older people in the society. Such determination is important because it helps in the development of the most appropriate remedies that could be used in the handling of the various challenges that afflict the older people in the society. Theoretical approaches that are fashioned for the purpose of taking care of older people do not develop in vacuums. They are shaped from social realities and experiences. The theorists often engage closely with the happenings on the ground in order for them to create the most appropriate responses that could be fundamental in resolving the underlying challenges. As such, some of the theories that have been developed are basically specific to certain situations and not others. The choice of any theory must be determined by the kind of situation that a social worker encounters. This requires a closer attention to details that inform particular experiences. Similarly, the element of risk within a given cultural context could vary. The work of theorists is to develop approaches that minimize the element of risk by judging from the external conditions, which attend to the same matter. This normally demands a comprehensive appraisal of facts, experiences, and observations. Social work involves the determination of solutions basing on certain facts that relate to the welfare and state of being of the victim (Hughes & Heycox, 2010). Addressing the element of risk in handling of older people is an art that requires methodical and theoretical attendance to the various issues, which involve the classification of the levels of risk and the determination of the demographic and personality attributes of the victim. References List Becker, S, Bryman, A & Ferguson, H 2012, Understanding Research for Social Policy and Social Work: Themes, Methods and Approaches, The Policy Press, New York. Birkenmaier, J, Berg-Weger, M & Dewees, M P 2011, The Practice of Generalist Social Work, Taylor & Francis, New York. Greene, R & Greene, R R 2008, Human Behavior Theory & Social Work Practice, Transaction Publishers, New York. Harris, J 2007, Working with Older People, Taylor & Francis, New York. Hughes, M & Heycox, K 2010, Older People, Ageing and Social Work: Knowledge for Practice, Allen & Unwin, New York. Humphrey, C 2010, Becoming a Social Worker: A Guide for Students, London, SAGE. 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