Ethical Framework: Social Work - Essay Example

To improve their quality of life, social work teaches and promotes the importance to conduct interventions in practical applications to help resolve the social problems of the sensitive populace such as poverty, hunger, and rights violations. Interventions can be done through many different means such as community organizing, policy-advocacy, counseling and education-awareness and the likes (Robison, 2002).A compilation of concepts and ideas, theoretical frameworks are like maps and compass – a set of guidelines to follow when addressing a problem.

In social work, it is important that social workers are guided by their own theoretical frameworks to help understand human behavior, relations, and their situation. According to the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) of the United States, the core principles of social work are service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. However, these core principles may be challenged when immersed in difficult situations.

There are times when a social worker might be overwhelmed to complete the daunting task ahead of him/her. The theory of Abraham Maslow on the hierarchy of needs is the principle that suits best as guiding principle in the practical applications of social work. For Maslow, there are five stages of human development that will satisfy his hunger for satisfaction – Physiological, safety, belongingness and love, esteem, self-actualization, and transcendence.