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STRENGTHS BASED PRACTICE: THE METHOD´S USEFULLNESS IN
FINNISH SOCIAL WORK WITH FAMILIES AND CHILDREN
STRENGTHS BASED PRACTICE : THE METHOD´S USEFULLNESS IN
FINNISH SOCIAL WORK WITH FAMILIES AND CHILDREN
Maria Lehtinen
University of Jyväskylä
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STRENGTHS BASED PRACTICE: THE METHOD´S USEFULLNESS IN
FINNISH SOCIAL WORK WITH FAMILIES AND CHILDREN
Abstract
In social work, empowering people is the process of helping individuals to take
control of their lives. Empowering people is the main goal of using the strengths
based method in social work. The purpose of this research is to define strengths based
method and examine the method´s usefulness in Finnish social work with families and
children. Over the past three decades, the strengths based method has been a
controversial issue among social workers and researchers. This qualitative research
implies that strengths based practice is a useful way of empowering families. The
benefits of the method have been acknowledged in Finnish social work. This research
also raises questions for further studies evaluating methods´ effectiveness in social work.
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STRENGTHS BASED PRACTICE: THE METHOD´S USEFULLNESS IN
FINNISH SOCIAL WORK WITH FAMILIES AND CHILDREN
OUTLINE
Title page
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Abstract
2
Outline
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1 Introduction
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2 Purpose of the research
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3 Literature review
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4 Descript of the research project
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5 Results
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6 Conclusions
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7 References
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STRENGTHS BASED PRACTICE: THE METHOD´S USEFULLNESS IN
FINNISH SOCIAL WORK WITH FAMILIES AND CHILDREN
1 INTRODUCTION
As a social worker and student of social work, I have an interest in intervention
outcomes that support a family’s well-being. In my daily practice, I work with families
who struggle with vide range of problems. I also work as an interventionist who helps
parents understand their child’s challenges. I appreciate the concept that matching an
intervention to a client’s worldview is essential when working with families of different
socioeconomic, cultural and educational backgrounds. Client-orientated approach
increases the family members´ trust in worker and helps them to see themselves as
subjects of their lives.
The description of myself as a social worker above explains the subject I chose
for this research – strengths based method in social work with families and children. In
general, I am interested in methods effectiveness in social work. Social work as a branch
of science has been blamed of lacking scientific knowledge and theory on methods´
effectiveness when making interventions in families´ situations. It can be claimed, that
the lack of this kind of theory decreases social work´s credibility as a profession (Raunio
2009). In this research project I studied the method I personally have detected as an
effective way of increasing families´ resources and feeling of control. I make the
assumption, that the motivation and energy in a resource-tight work environment is
important to ensure effective child and family support. Methods that encourage
creativity and collaboration and that provide effective results may also sustain social
worker´s engagement. We cannot escape the realities of our changing societies and
tight economical resources in the field of social work, but we do have some agency as
social welfare practitioners to create an environment that duplicates an ideal one as
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STRENGTHS BASED PRACTICE: THE METHOD´S USEFULLNESS IN
FINNISH SOCIAL WORK WITH FAMILIES AND CHILDREN
closely as possible.
2 PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH
My research question is whether the strengths-based approach is a useful
method in Finnish social work with children and families. In the last three decades,
method´s benefits has been noticed worldwide (Saleebey 2006). The approach is
therefore well suited for this research project.
The specific research question is:
What is strengths-based practice and why is the method useful in Finnish
social work with children and families?
Hypotheses:
I make the assumption that the method would be very executable in Finnish
social work, which has been strongly influenced by problem-based approach and
psychodynamic theory since it´s early days.
I also assume, that only few social workers use the strengths based method
when they work with children and families. There isn´t much research about the
methods that are used in Finnish social work.
I assume that using strength based practice in Finnish social work with
families and children would have a positive impact on families´ situations and the
client-worker relationship.
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STRENGTHS BASED PRACTICE: THE METHOD´S USEFULLNESS IN
FINNISH SOCIAL WORK WITH FAMILIES AND CHILDREN
3 LITERATURE REVIEW
In this literature review I will seek to capture the essence of strengths based
social work and find research results that prove the method´s effectiveness. I will
briefly present literature related to hypothesis, that is briefly, stregths based method is
not widely used in Finnish social work but it would be a useful tool in interventions.
Because the purpose of this research is to examine strengths based method´s
usefulness in Finnish social work, it is essential to examine and define what is the 21st
century Finnish social work with children and families – and which methods are being
used. After that I take a look at the strengths based practice and consider the method´s
usefulness while working with children and families according to the earlier
researches.
3.1 Social work practice in Finland
There seems to be very little scientific research on methods being used in
Finnish social work. Accoring to Kyösti Raunio (2009) social work in Finland has
been bureaucratic and organization-centered since the beginning of the 20th century.
He states that the social work in Finland has the roots in social case work and is as
well influenced by psychodynamic theory. Nowadays, the Finnish social work in
public organizations is still in progress when it comes to working mehods. According
to Raunio the silent information about methods being used in Finnish social work is
the essential question in the social work research in future.
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STRENGTHS BASED PRACTICE: THE METHOD´S USEFULLNESS IN
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3.2 Focus on the strengths – the optimistic approach
The focus of this paper now turns to a discussion of working methods with
families, empowering them and finding the resources available to families during the
working process. In working with clients, social worker focuses on strengths and
resources of clients to help them solve their difficulties. Social worker supports clients
growth potential and believes that the client has the right to develope his or her
potentialities fully. Focusing on problems undermines this process. Social worker´s
main job is thereby to help the client to find the potential and that way to decrease
client´s feelings of worthlessness (Rapp, Saleeby & Sullivan 2005): “ The strengths
based practice is based on the belief that the clients are the experts and that they
ultimately know what is best for themselves.”
According to McMillen, Morris & Sherraden (2004) strengths perspective is
closely related to the concept of empowerment. Empowerment means the process of
helping families and individuals to increase their strengths and to improve their
living-circumstances. McMillen, Morris & Sherraden use the terms strengths based
social work and empowerment-based social work as synonyms (McMillen, et. Al
2004, 323). Bernard (2006) relates the strengt´s based method to the concept of
“empowerment” as well: “when youth and families are given the opportunity—
especially in a small group context—to give voice to their realities and tell their
“stories”, to discuss their experiences, beliefs, attitudes, and feelings—and
encouraged to critically question societal messages, we are empowering them to be
critical thinkers and decision-makers around the important concerns in their
lives.” To turn the client from victim to subject of his or her life is actually the main
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STRENGTHS BASED PRACTICE: THE METHOD´S USEFULLNESS IN
FINNISH SOCIAL WORK WITH FAMILIES AND CHILDREN
goal of using the strengths based method.
Not all the researches, that stands behind this method, acknowledge that using
the strengths based method is the supreme way of doing social work. According to
McMillen et. Al (2004), social work needs a dual focus: A focus on both problems
and problem-solving, or that is to say, client´s strengths in solving problems. These
two orientations shouldn´t be seen as dichotomies. According to McMillen et. Al,
both approaches are needed when it comes to helping clients in their problematic
situations.
In the article “Using strengths based practice to tap the resilience of families”
(2006) Bonnie Bernard writes about development and possibilities of strengths based
practice among children and families. Strengths based interventions differ from
traditional social work in that the interventions become embedded in, rather than
separate from, the activities of daily life. In a strengths based approach, the client is
encouraged to set goals. Strengths based social work is about changing ways of
being, creating a culture of self-improvement rather than problem-specific changes in
families daily lives. Most importantly, the social worker works with family members
to find the protective factors in their lives. According to Bernard, many studies
provide evidence that protective factors are more powerful than risk factors in the
lives of children and families. (Bernard 2006.)
According to Bernard and Saleebet et. Al., the strengths based approach is one
of the most important tool that a social worker uses to achieve the goal of
empowering the family. Nevertheless, there seems to be very little research results on
the method´s effectiveness – in what ways has the strength´s orientated working
process improved families´ situations?
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STRENGTHS BASED PRACTICE: THE METHOD´S USEFULLNESS IN
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3.3 Interviewing the client from strength´s perspective
When setting goals with client in strength´s based practice, it is important that
the goals are important to the client, they are small, concrete and the most
importantly: they are realistic within the context of client´s life. When a social worker
works with her client according to strengths based method, she might ask questions
like: What is different that tells you that you are doing better now, than when we first
met? What is it, that makes you less scared about your future? What are your
strengths as a family, that has helped you trough this rough winter?
The basic goal of the questions is to challenge the client work on his/her
situation. Social worker´s role is to collaborate with the client, not to give any expert
answers. Using the method offers an empowering relationship between a client and
worker.
4 DESCRIPT OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT
4.1 Research method and participants
An introductory e-mail was sent to all the nine social workers that work with
families and children in Peruspalvelukeskus Oiva Liikelaitos (Päijät-Häme). Due to
limited time resources available for this research, I got only three responses. My role
as researcher was to explain the goal of the research project and to form the questions.
My role was also to create an inquiry form that investigates use of the strengths based
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STRENGTHS BASED PRACTICE: THE METHOD´S USEFULLNESS IN
FINNISH SOCIAL WORK WITH FAMILIES AND CHILDREN
method. The main question was naturally, if the social workers had used the strengths
based approach in their work and if they were, what were the benefits of this approach.
The questions were:
1 Have you ever used strengths based approach in your work with families and
children?
Why / Why not?
2 How have you used the method? (You can give examples)
3 What do you think are the
a) benefits
b) limitations of the strengths based approach?
4 Do you think the strengths based approach is a useful method in social work
with families and children?
Why / why not?
5 What other methods have you used in your work?
4.2 Method
In my research, I used the method of grounded theory. Grounded theory is a
research method in which the theory is developed from the data, rather than the other
way around. That makes this is an inductive approach, meaning that it moves from the
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STRENGTHS BASED PRACTICE: THE METHOD´S USEFULLNESS IN
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specific to the more general. In the conclusion- section, I will examine the answers I
received from the social workers and try to form theory from the answers. The
literature is therefore peripheral when it comes to the conclusions of the research. The
focus is on categorizing and typing the answers. Grounder theory is a useful method
in this research, because of the lack of the previous research about the usefulness and
effectiveness of the strengths based method.
4.3 Ethical considerations
Social work research has been blaimed for concentrating only on social
worker´s point of few and neclecting that of a cliant´s. This research is also made
from a social worker´s perspective - it tells nothing about the client´s experiences. It
can be said, that the approach of this research isn´t client orientated at all. Therefore
the client´s perspective would be an excellent subject for research in future. It would
be interesting to investigate not only the parents experiences but the children´s also.
Social workers are the main influencers and developers of the field of social work –
that is one reason, why I chose the workers´point of view.
It was challenging to create an objective, valid query. I tried to avoid leading
questions and keep them as simple as possible. The participants knew me as a
colleague. This familiarity allowed trust and a common language with the researcher and
the participants. Conversely, it might also have influenced the neutrality and objectivity
of participants responses.
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STRENGTHS BASED PRACTICE: THE METHOD´S USEFULLNESS IN
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5 RESULTS
In the following section I will briefly present the results of my research. In my
research I studied all the three responses I got from the social workers. The purpose of the
study was to find out if the social workers use the strengths based method it in their work
and if they did, do they find it effective and useful in social work with families and
children. All the participants had used the method somehow in their work. In all the
answers the main theme was the future-orientation. The participants thought that the
essential benefit of using the method was focusing on the future instead of problems –
and consequently the family members´ motivation increased during the process. Two
participants also mentioned the empowerment of the parents the main benefit. In two
answers social workers thought that focusing on strengths, solutions and future decreased
the parents´ feeling of guiltiness for the family´s problematic situation. It is also worth
noticing that none of the participants had studied the method systematically in their
education or by the employer. They used it unconsciously, in a way of a general
approach. They were self-educated to use the method. In the following section I collect
the essential data from responses, concentrating the method´s benefits and limitations.
5.1 “The problems you may face in life don´t define you as a parent” – benefits of the
method
All participants found the strengths based method useful in social work with
families and children. The main benefit was that it´s focus is optimistically futureorientated. Two participants thought that the method brings new kind of understanding to
families´ situations. Answers in the questions of the method´s benefits were:
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STRENGTHS BASED PRACTICE: THE METHOD´S USEFULLNESS IN
FINNISH SOCIAL WORK WITH FAMILIES AND CHILDREN
“Method activates and motivates the client. For child´s benefit, it is important to help the
parents to see the future”
“Method increases collaboration, it notifies the uniqueness of the client. The method is
client-orientated as all social work should be. Focusing on strengths makes possible to
discover new ways of solving problematic situations - it brings the client-worker
relationship in a new level. Focusing only on past and problems, especially those that
concerns parenthood, can make parents feel guilty and worthless. The problems you may
face in life don´t define you as a parent.”
“The strengths based method is useful. How it can be used, is limited only by our
imagination. It gives a new point of view for working process. It helps me to help the
parents to take responsibility.”
Two participants also considered that social worker needs to have an optimistic
attitude towards clients and the strengths based method kept the social worker motivated.
It was also frequently mentioned that the strengths based working increases the parents
control of life and helps them to manage on their own, without social workers support.
5.4 Limitations – underestimating the problems
In two responses the participants thought that strengths based method neglects
those important issues that have caused families´ problems. It was also considered that
social worker should pay attention to her own prejudice and behavior during the process.
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STRENGTHS BASED PRACTICE: THE METHOD´S USEFULLNESS IN
FINNISH SOCIAL WORK WITH FAMILIES AND CHILDREN
“Although I use the strengths based method I talk with families about problems. Passing
over them would risk the child´s welfare.”
“It is also important to talk about families´ backrounds.”
“Social worker´s prejudice towards client can ruin the process. Sometimes it can be hard
to find the strengths in a “hopeless” situation.”
According to responses, the strengths based method has more benefits than limitations.
6 CONCLUSIONS
Analyzing the results shows that the strengths based practice is being used in
Finnish social work with families and children, which proves my hypothesis wrong. The
participants’ responses as to the benefits and the enjoyment of working from the strengths
point of view were positive. The participants acknowledged positive changes in families´
lives: according to social workers responses, the strengths based approach seems to have
promoted the autonomy of the family. This sense of agency was reflected in the
comments. The empowering of the parents reflects the whole family and increases their
well-being.
The other remarkable result is that the method is a good tool for improving clientworker-relationship. Workers considered that being “on the same page” with the family
improved the client-worker relationship and increased clients´ engagement to the working
process. This is a big issue in the field of social work, where the client is often in a
client´s position unintentionally or even against his/her will. The motivation and
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STRENGTHS BASED PRACTICE: THE METHOD´S USEFULLNESS IN
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commitment to working process is not always taken for granted.
The limitations of the method had also been noticed. According to the participants,
it is sometimes necessary to discuss about the families backgrounds and those reasons
that had caused problems. As a conclusion can be claimed, that the dual focus, both on
problems and strengths, is needed in the work with families. Though the strengths
perspective doesn´t mean neglecting problems, it can in some situations be even harmful
in a long term to focus on strengths and not paying attention on threads and lacks that a
parent have in controlling life. One participant pointed out: “Empowering family is our
goal as professionals, but as a social worker in children protection it is crucial to discuss
also those hard issues that concern in families´ lives”.
As a conclusion can be claimed, that the strengths based method is a useful tool in
social work with families and children, but it has limitations. It is worth noticing, that
among this research´s participants, the method was considered as a paradigm or an
ideology – not a concrete tool of working. The common factor in responses was that the
method hadn´t been studied in the university or by the employer-organization. All the
participants were studied the method themselves. This information may refer to that the
strengths based method is not an established social work method in Finnish social work
with families and children (cf. networking, the role map of parenthood, Bear-cards, 12step program), but a quantitative research on methods being used in Finnish social work
would be needed for more specific information. A more in-depth analysis of the
participants’ experiences would also bring useful information of the method´s
effectiveness.
Although social policy and economic considerations were not a focus of this
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STRENGTHS BASED PRACTICE: THE METHOD´S USEFULLNESS IN
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research, it is important to note that developing working methods needs the support of the
social service organization. In the resource-tight working environment such as social
field, methods that encourage creativity and collaboration and that provide good
results make social worker enthusiastic about their work. As a social worker I
consider that the methods being used have an influence on the worker´s well being as
well as the client´s. Investing in social worker´s education of methods – such as the
strengths based method – could therefore have long term influences when it comes to
developing the field of social welfare.
REFERENCES
Bernard, B. (2006). Using strengths based practice to tap the resilience of families. In
D. Saleebey (Ed.) Strengths perspective in social work practice (197-220). Boston,
MA: Allyn & Bacon
McMillen, J. C., Morris, L. & Sherraden, M. (2004). Ending social work´s grudge
match: Problems versus strengths. In Families in Society: The Journal of
Contemporary Social Services 85 (3). Pp. 317-325
Rapp, C.A., Saleebey, D. & Sullivan, W.P (2006). The future of strengths-based
social work. In Delay, J. G (Ed.) Advances in social work (79-90). Bloomington,
Indiana: Trafford Publishing
Raunio, K (2009). Olennainen sosiaalityössä (2nd ed.). Helsinki: Hakapaino.
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STRENGTHS BASED PRACTICE: THE METHOD´S USEFULLNESS IN
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