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- Title
A "Just Sense of Well-Being": Social Work's Unifying Purpose in Action.
- Authors
Keenan, Elizabeth King; Limone, Christine; Sandoval, Silvia L.
- Abstract
For over a century the social work profession has had a dual purpose, to promote both human well-being and social justice, but we have not found research that explores how social workers understand and work toward both purposes across multiple practice roles and settings. Authors of this article conducted qualitative research to examine how 18 social workers in various roles and settings understand and implement both purposes in their practice. Instead of a dual purpose, participants described a unifying purpose: a "just sense of well-being" that transcends role and setting. Valuing the dignity and worth of all human beings frames and fuels their work toward a just sense of well-being through three interactive themes: challenging injustice on every level; constructing justice through relationship and resource organizing; and constructing justice through the creation of accepting environments where professionals, clients, and community members can reflect and question, and change mind-sets and actions. Participants provided an array of possibilities for action with clients, professionals, and public leaders within organizations and communities. The implication here is that social workers are charged to reinvigorate purpose and values back into practice with value-based assessment thinking that frames possibilities for action across methods and settings.
- Subjects
UNITED States; NEW England; WELL-being -- Social aspects; SOCIAL services -- Practice; SOCIAL justice; DIGNITY -- Social aspects; SOCIAL workers; VALUES (Ethics) -- Social aspects; SOCIAL worker &; client; SOCIAL action; AUDITING; COMMITMENT (Psychology); EMPATHY; INTERVIEWING; PHENOMENOLOGY; RESEARCH methodology; SOCIAL services; SOCIAL values; PSYCHOLOGY of social workers; PROFESSIONAL practice; JUDGMENT sampling; OCCUPATIONAL roles; CLIENT relations; SOCIAL support; WELL-being; DATA analysis software; SOCIAL worker attitudes; MEDICAL coding; DESCRIPTIVE statistics
- Publication
Social Work, 2017, Vol 62, Issue 1, p19
- ISSN
0037-8046
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/sw/sww066