preview

Application Of Social Work Theory

Decent Essays

Application to Social Work Theory For this journal, I have chosen the Empowerment theory. Empowerment is often talked about in almost every social work class it will be interesting to see the scientific approach to this theory and the outcomes of the research. We often talk about focusing in our clients’ strengths and skills, currently this approach is often used by many social workers and students including myself. Summary of Theory According to Turner (2015), the creator of the concept of empowerment is accredited to Paulo Freire, a Brazilian educator. Freire believed that it was important to understand the needs of people and understand their environment. He claimed that is was important to educate the public about discrimination and oppression many people faced. Providing people with hope was an essential part of empowering people because Freire believe that this will encourage people and communities to start a change in their environment. Based on this idea, empowerment is seen as a way of increasing personal and interpersonal power to improve the lives of people (Gutierrez, 1990). Empowerment consists of focusing in the strengths of individuals including their environments. According to Perkins and Zimmerman (1995), the empowerment theory links a persons’ well-being with society and the environment around them. It also consist on implementing change by creating goals and strategies that aim in creating frameworks to help organize our knowledge (Zimmerman, 1995).

Get Access