Macro Practice Theories - Empowerment

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The key takeaways are that the author argues empowerment should be the common goal of social work and that methods should be chosen to promote empowerment regardless of where intervention is directed in the transaction between individuals and their environments.

The main goal of social work according to the author is empowerment of client systems.

The author defines empowerment as a process where social workers facilitate client's abilities to solve problems and improve their situations through increased self-esteem and knowledge as well as changes to their environments.

Empowerment:

Purpose and Practice Principle


-

in Social Work
Ruth J. Parsons

' ABSTRACT. Social workers have historically worked


towards fa-cilitating the transaction between individuals and their
environments for purposes of problem solving. Expertise for
intervention in either end of that transaction has been a priority for
social workers to the extent that the purpose of the intervention is often
forgotten or over-looked. This article suggests that empowerment is the
purpose of social work regardless of which end of the transaction
intervention is directed. Practice strategies which promote
empowerment purpose are proposed. A case example is given.

INTRODUCTION
The profession of Social Work has historically and traditionally
been concerned with populations at risk. The overriding goal of
social work activity has been to enable people to overcome those
conditions which hinder them from participating in the benefits of
the society, and to get their needs met s o they can develop and
function within their environment to the best of their potential. So-
cial workers have often defined their role as intervention in the
'
transaction between individuals and their environments. Social
. wor k activities have been directed toward both the individual, fam-
ily or group end of that transaction, helping those micro and macro
systcms to change their understanding and coping skills in their

Ruth J. Parsons, PhD, is Associate Professor and Associate Dean,


Graduate School of Social Work, University of Denver, University
Park, Denver, CO 80208.
Social Work with Groups, Vol. 14(2) 1991
O 1991 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.
8 SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS

situations, and at the environmental end of that transaction, engag-


ing in change in environmental system structures, organizations and
communities so that individual and family needs are met more
readily. The enormous breadth of such intervention has created in
the profession a great disparity in methodology, tools, and knowl-
edge, and a breadth of disciplines from which these are borrowed.
We have emulated specializations in both ends of this transaction
between people and their environments.
In our efforts to become competent in adapted methods, the com-
mon goal and purpose for the profession has been often lost or for-
gotten. Moreover, we have divided ourselves into functional groups
around these methods and even argued that one or the other was
more viable as social work activities. The author seeks to define the
common goal of social work activities as empowerment of client
systems. Further she suggests how the use of that goal as a focus
guides the selection and use of methods and strategies, regardless of
which end of the transaction a social work activity may be focused.
Some assumptions follow. Social work's uniqueness as a profession
lies in its recognition that the source of problems in which individ-
uals is interactional with the structures and dynamics of society's
major social institutions, and that individuals have unequal power in
relation to such institutions. If the common goal of social work is to
enable or empower clients to find and engage in resolutions to their
problems and in the betterment of society, then methods and
strategies chosen by Social Workers must be compatible with em-
powerment as a goal.

POWERLESSNESS AS A TARGET
OF SOCIAL. WORK INTERVENTION
.Excessive powerlessness felt by the general population has been
a source of much discussion and commentary in recent decades.
Powerlessness is particularly a common condition perceived by
groups in society discriminated against by the general society, such
as lower socio-economic, ethnic minorities, women, the aging pop-
ulation, and handicapped (Kieffer, 1984, pp.9-36; Torre, 1985). But,
powerlessness is viewed not only as a problem of stigmatized
groups, but of the general population (Berger and Neuhaus, 1977,
Ruth J. Parsons

p.2; Nisbet, 1953). These writers suggest that the ''mediating


struc-tures" such as churches, neighborhood associations, and
commu-nity organizations through which individuals
negotiate relationships to the larger environment have eroded
away, leaving a cultural value that claims the efficacy of
individual autonomy in the face of a socio-political reality of
overwhelming social forces (Simmel, 1977).
~ g peoplen ~perceive themselves to be powerless in the face
of the economic system, the political system, religious and educa-
tional systems, legal and justice systems and even on a more imme-
diate level the family and peer group system. This lack of power
noted by Sennett and Cobb (1972) and Conway (1979), is based on
several factors, including economic insecurity, absence of experi-
ence in the political arena, absence of access to information, lack of
fiscal support, lack of training in abstract and critical thought, and
physical and emotional stress (Cox, 1988, p.112).
As individuals experience powerlessness in relation to their envi-
ronment, that experience is internalized and they see themselves as
helpless. This concept is described as alienation (Seeman, 1985, pp.91-
123) and as learned helplessness (Seligman, 1972), or "sur-plus
powerlessness" (Lerner, 1986), a process where people con-tribute to
real powerlessness impinged from the environment by allowing their
own emotional, intellectual and spiritual mindset to prevent them from
actualizing possibilities which in reality do exist. Perceived
powerlessness can be viewed as a "construction of con-tinuous
interaction between the individual and hisher environment
. . . and combines an attitude of self-blame, a sense of generalized
distrust, a feeling of alienation from resources for social influence,
and a sense of hopelessness in socio-political struggle (Kieffer,
1984, pp.9-36)." An internalized sense of powerlessness or a sense
of locus of control (Phares, 1965, pp.642-647; Rotter, 1966, p.1)
results in a dynamic of debilitation and self blame. Solomon (1976),
identified three potential sources of powerlessness: the neg-ative
self evaluation attitudes of oppressed people themselves; neg-ative
experiences in the interaction between the victims of oppres-sion
and the outside systems which impinge upon them; latger
environmental systems which consistently block and deny effective
action taking by powerless groups. Any one of these sources or

10 SOClAL WORK WITH GROUPS


combination of sources may create perceived powerlessness and
subsequently a self-blaming dynamic in an individual. Low
self-esteem, so often viewed as a primary problem in troubled
clients may be a result of this interactional dynamic around
powerlessness, not the cause of it.
If the power differential between individuals and environmental
systems is so great that individuals cannot perceive themselves as
competent persons to take action on their own behalf, then the goal
of empowerment for the social work profession is an appropriate
one. But, what is the empowerment process? What is involved in the
process of assisting people not only to believe they have efficacy in
the face of problems that must be solved, but also to assist them to
act in resolution of problems? While it has become a byword of the
80's, the clarity and understanding of empowerment is not as
widespread as its use.

EMPOWERMENT AS A PROCESS AND AN OUTCOME


Webster's dictionary defines the word empower as, "to give
power or authority to; to give ability to; enable; permit." These
definitions assume the act of power being given to someone by
someone else. However, it is commonly known that power is rarely
given away. When it passes hands, it is usually taken or at a mini-
mum shared, but not simply given or handed over. In an important
contribution to the concept, Staples (1987) uses the prefix "em" with
the word "power" and creates a definition of empowerment as the
process of gaining power, developing power, taking or seizing
power, or facilitating or enabling power. This definition of empow-
erment more accurately reflects social work intervention.
Human services literature reflects great disparity in the concep-
tualization of the term. Torre (1985) identified from the literature at
least three major themes in the conceptualization of empowerment.
(1) a developmental process which begins with individual
growth, and possibly culminates in larger social change; (2)
a psychological state marked by heightened feelings of self
esteem, efficacy, and control; and (3) liberation, resulting
from a social movement which begins with education and
politicization of powerless people, and later involves
collective attempts on the part of the powerless to
Ruth J. Parsons

gain power, and to change those structures which remain oppres-


sive. Based on a vast amount of literature, covering a wide disparity
of viewpoints from the political left to the right, Torre (p.18) con-
cluded in her synthesis that empowerment can be defined as:

"a process through which people become strong enough to


participate within, share in the control of, and influence,
events and institutions affecting their lives," and that in
Dart. "empowerment necessitates thit people gain particular
skills; knowledge. and sufficient Dower to influence their
lives and the liveslof those they care 'about."

Kieffer, (1981, p.26) reported from his study the requisite


condi-tions of the empowerment process: a personal attitude
or sense of self that promotes active social involvement; a
knowledge and ca-pacity for critical analysis of the social and
political systems which define one's environment; an ability to
develop action strategies and cultivate resources for attainment
of one's own goals; and an ability to act in concert with others
to define and attain collective goals. These components are
compatible with Solomon's (1976) definition of empowerment
as a "feeling, conviction, or perception of intrinsic or extrinsic
value which manifests itself as achievement of self-determined
goals through the use of personal resource and skill."
Necessary Components for Empowering Intervention. What
is in-volved then in this process from the standpoint of
professional help? How does this process come about? The
literature is generally con-sistent that the process is initiated by
interaction with others through which support, mutual aid and
validation for one's perceptions and experiences are received.
Validation and the perception of com-monality are deemed to be
very critical to the development of heightened self esteem, self
confidence, and perception of personal efficacy (Torre, 1985).
This information guides us in selection of not only concepts to be
used in a practice framework, but of methodologies and strategies
to attain the desired goal. It is suggested that at least three important
practice components must be present in social work intervention in
order for the intervention to contribute to the empowerment process
12 SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS

in clients: competency assessment, -education for critical


thinking, knowledge and skills, -and building of collectivity
for taking action.
Collectivity. The idea of building collectivity is central to the
empowerment process. Collectivity involves the process of merging
energy of individuals into a whole. While self help groups such as
Alcoholics Anonymous have been successful as treatment modali-
ties, the formation of collectives for empowerment goes beyond
treatment in a group. It contains Schwartz' (Lee, 1986) notion of the
provision of a mediating or third force function for people who need
to attain resolution to their situations from impinging systems, and
who in turn must shape those systems and assist in their func-
tioning. The collective provides an opportunity for support, mutual
aid, and collective action on behalf of the whole.
Education: Critical Thinking, Knowledge, and Skills.
Related to the importance of collectivity is Friere's (1972)
concept of "critical consciousness" or critical thinking. He
proposed that in order for people to consider their situations in a
normative, socio-political context, they must learn to examine
critically their situations in re-lation to environments. The
development of critical consciousness comes through the process
of dialogue and education. The avenue for this development is
through the interaction and dialogue with others in similar
circumstances.
Competency Assessment. Much of the social work literature con-
cerns itself with knowledge and tools for assessment. What kind of
assessment is appropriate with the idea of collective dialogue, sup-
port and collective action? Competency based assessment assumes
potential competency on the part of clients. That is, that people
generally know what they need and with heightened self awareness
and support, will choose a good alternative for action on their own
behalf. Clients are competent to choose for themselves adequate
solutions to their problems. Strengths and coping skills are assessed
instead of deficits (Albee, 1980). Compatible social work assess-
ment models can be found in Germain and Gitterman's Life Model
(1980), and Maluccio's competency based practice model (1981).
Strengths and coping skills are assessed in relation to the stress
impinging upon them.
In summary, the process of empowerment involves the develop-
Ruth J. Parsons

ment of attitudes and beliefs about one's efficajl to take action; the
development of critical thinking about one's world; the acquisition
of knowledge and skills needed to take action; the support and mu-
tual aid of one's peers in any given situation; and the taking of
action to make change in the face of impinging problems. It has
both a processsand an outcome. It is a process in which individuals
become critically aware of their relation to the environment as well
as interactive with it. The critical question is not in which end of
the transaction between individuals and their environment social
work intervention is directed, but for what purpose that intervention
is focused. It is suggested that the focus must be upon the
components of empowerment presented here.

SELECTION OF PRACTICE STRATEGIES


FOR EMPOWERMENT
How does this purpose and goal of social work translate
into current practice and strategy selection?
Empowerment oriented practice strategies are dirccted toward
micro systems or macro systems. This is consistent with generalist
approaches to practice. Changes may take place within the individ-
ual, within the collective itself, or in the larger environment. The
primary principle for strategy selection is the education of and pro-
motion of self-help in client systems. First and foremost, strategies
suggested for empowerment include self help groups, support groups,
network building, education groups, social action groups. These
strategies provide the opportunity for dialogue necessary for the
development of critical thinking, knowledge and skill building,
validation and support. They provide necessary linkage to larger
systems which impinge upon the group and its defined common
problem. Specific strategies selected in this model for practice with
small systcms such as individuals and families include those strate-
gies which can be shared with clients for their use in the absence of
the worker. They include, for an example, the task centered system
because it is a model in which clients can learn and can employ in
future use without the help of a professional. Educational and com-
munication models are appropriate family methods. In any micro
system intervention, it is important to educate clients about their
14 SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS

own situations and the situations of others like them.


Furthermore, in order for empowerment to occur, it is
important to link clients with others in similar situations for
validation of experience and for mutual help and support.
Group methods include educational structured groups and
main-stream model groups (Papell & Rothman, 1980, pp.5-
23). Other more general strategies include conflict
management strategies and problem solving strategies which
can be learned by children and adults of diverse functional
states. Because conflict is inherent in change of any kind,
particularly in brokerage and advocacy type of activity, skills
for dealing with conflict are essential for empower-ment.
Large system intervention strategies appropriate for empower-
ment practice include models of campaigning, legislative lobbying,
policy development, community organization and social planning
which include both consultation and skill building of the victims of
the social problem in question. Service provision on behalf of cli-
ents without client input may provide more resources for clients, but
may or may not enhance the empowerment process in victims or
survivors of social problems. Social work's attempts to engage cli-
ents and ourselves to solve social problems is our unique position in
the wide array of human service programs and approaches. While it
can be argued that current policies and programmatic structures
such as third party payments mitigate against such practice strate-
gies, many opportunities exist for such intervention. When empow-
erment is accepted as the goal of intervention, contexts for such
intervention are readily available. One such example is described
below. This intervention took place in a Head-Start agency.

PRACTICE EXAMPLE
The Approach
A social worker assigned to a Head Start agency in an inner city
housing project was asked to intervene with the mothers of specific
children in the Head Start program. The mothers were identified as
having children who were having some difficulty in school. The
women were identified by Head Start staff as being single parents
who seemed to have problems with the discipline of their 'children.
The problems relating to lack of discipline showed up in the class-
room, and were therefore the concern of the teachers.
The worker approached each woman individually to discuss her
child, parenting issues and to assess specifically identified
concerns regarding discipline. While some women identified the
discipline of children as a specific problem, others seemed to view
parenting in stride along with other stress producing situations.
Environmental conditions were identified which contributed to not
only parenting issues, but impacted their lives in general. The
worker did not iden-tify each woman as having a discipline
problem with her child, but instead asked each woman if she would
like to be a part of a group of women much like herself who had
children in the Head Start Center. The worker said the purpose of
the group would be to share parenting hassles and solutions. Seven
women agreed to come to the group and try it out.

The Group

The worker was Anglo, 29 years old, had no children of her own,
and was trained in social group work. She had 3 years pre masters
degree experience working with AFDC programs in Hispanic com-
munities, and two year post masters experience as a group worker.
The group consisted of 7 members initially, all but two were
Hispanic. One was an Anglo woman who was severely scarred
from multiple birth defects and subsequent surgeries. Another An-
glo woman was illiterate. Their ages ranged from 30 to 45. All were
single parents in practice. Two were involved intermittently with
the father of their children (he was in and out of the house). All
were low income, living either on AFDC or at a similar subsistence
level. All lived in a public housing project in the same neighbor-
hood. A Hispanic woman, Lupe, who was a teacher aide in Head
Start joined the group also. She identified with the other women as
single parents, living at a low level of economic security and as
having been in a very similar situation. She also stated that if she
were a group member, it would encourage the other woman to par-
ticipate in the group, which it did.
16 SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS
The Contract
The worker began the group by supporting all of them for being
a part of a support group wherein we would share common
problems and common solutions about parenting. The group
followed a mu-tual aid model and was left open for development by
members. The model could be characterized as the mainstream
model in its allow-ance for the group to set goals and to set
activities for achieving them (Papell and Rothman, 1980).
The worker reached for the commonality of the group members,
including, but not exclusive to parenting concerns. While members
were willing to share parenting concerns, many other concerns were
voiced very early in the group. These concerns included many
stresses associated with single parenthood such as low incomes,
housing problems including problems in the housing project itself,
ex-husbands, boyfriends, relationships with men in general, and
general feelings of anger about their lives. The anger seemed to be
about being left by men in their lives to raise children by them-
selves, with no support and no economic base from which to do so.
Quickly, the group turned into a venting and sharing of feelings
group. This represented the need to have feelings and perceptions
validated and supported.
The worker assumed a role of facilitating the supportive and vali-
dating environment of the group. The members quickly perceived
themselves to have common feelings, problems, experiences. Feel-
ings regarding their circumstances were heard and validated. The
contracted goals for the group expanded beyond dealing with par-
enting to that of supporting each other in dealing with the stresses
of being poor and being a single parent.
The Group Process
Members were reluctant to trust one another with confidentiality
due to their close living proximity. They were also reluctant to trust
the worker who was from a different social class and lifestyle than
they. Acceptance of the worker as a leader came about partially
because of the presence of Lupe, the Head Start teacher aide and co-
worker in the center. Because Lupe was a teacher and a community
resident, her presence served to bridge the gap between the worker
Ruth J. Parsons

and the group, at least temporarily until trust could be built.


How-ever, the trust issues had to be dealt with. As trust began
to form and members felt supported by one another, feelings
about their situation were expressed and heard, the women
were ready to move on to learning more specifically about the
context of their situations and about solutions.
The worker brought expertise to the group in the form of
infor-mation about income and other resources, knowledge
about the housing project system, knowledge about the city
and its resources, and knowledge about parenting techniques.
As members began to voice common problems, specific
problems were targeted for work. The members as well as the
worker shared knowledge and skills about problem resolution.

The '6Environrnental Context" of Single Parenthood

As group members began to share both problems and expertise,


many environmental conditions common to all of them were identi-
fied. These included a teacher in the local neighborhood school
whose racist attitudes were a source of irritation to their children
and to them, the local grocery store owner who charged an cxorbi-
tant fee to cash monthly checks, the local city recreation center
director who dealt drugs and sold them to the children at the ccnter,
broken down playground equipment on the playground, poor light-
ing in the projects making it unsafe for women and young girls to
walk at night for fear of sexual assault, and the housing manager
who dealt unfairly and capriciously with many residents in the proj-
ects. All these issues were integral to parenting, to the environmen-
tal contexts of discipline problems between a single parent and her
child.
One by one these problems were put on the agenda of the
group to be dealt with. Education of the group members about
these issues came from the worker and the members themselves.
The worker was educated by the members as well as taking an
educator role with members. As action strategies were developed
in regards to identified problems, group members became more
convinced that they could take effective action in regards to the
problcms which impacted their daily lives.
18 SOCL4L WORK WITH GROUPS

The group did indeed intervene in the school system regarding


the teacher of concern. They intervened with the city regarding the
recreation center director. They were able to confront the housing
manager about his behavior and a liaison was appointed from the
housing office to work directly with the community residents.
When the local grocery story owner refused to lower his prices for
cashing a check, they led a boycott against the store, and organized
transportation to a major supermarket to buy groceries at a lower
price and to cash checks for free.
As success and some failures came about, the group began to
observe that there were other entities, resources both within and
outside of the community which were concerned with the same
problems they found themselves concerned with. They began to
join forces with some of them. For example, they joined the local
community interagency/citizens action council which was con-
cerned with the whole of the community. Through that council,
they became members of task forces working on specific commu-
nity projects. They were able to get the community council to en-
gage in grant writing for playground equipment and lighting for the
community. They joined with the community council to get a stop-
light at the corner for protection of children for crossing. They
eventually began to serve on citywide task forces for various proj-
ects, as representatives from the community action council.
Although the group experienced success in working collabora-tively
with other community groups, they desired to continue their group for
support, for discussion of parenting and relationships with mcn. For
very specific community projects which they worked as a sub-group of
the community action council. One project they took on was to raise
awareness of the counselors at the local community mental health
center regarding the community. As a group, they were concerned
about the large number of depressed women, some suicidal and
abusive to their children. They observed that when these women went
to the community mental health center for help, they rarely returned a
second time. Thus, they decided to intervene with the community
mental health center itself. They asked coun-selors to come to
women's homes to see them, and to alter the services to fit the culture
and needs of the community. They served as liaisons for the
community mental health center, setting up meet-
Ruth J. Parsons

ings between specific women and counselors from the center.


Over-all, the group's life was approximately 3 years in duration.
Mem-bership changed, but a core group remained active in the
group throughout. Discipline of children was a running theme in
the group's discussions, but it was never viewed as a problem
which was internal to the members, but was viewed in its
environmental context and as being related to many other parts
of the group mem-bers' lives. The women's self esteem, not only
as parents and part-ners in relationships with men improved
remarkably. Conse-quently, so did their parenting skills.
The group sewed initially as a place where the members could
be heard and validated, where they could affiliate with others in
simi-lar conditions and experience commonality with others like
them-selves. Then, a second common theme, negative feelings
and expe-riences with men in their lives emerged and became a
group agenda. That issue provided an opportunity to voice
feelings which needed to be let go of in order for the group
members to relate more effectively to their children, but so they
could get on to other issues in their lives.
Those two aspects of the group provided the members an in-
creased feeling of commonality, increased their ability to think crit-
ically about their situations and they began to share knowledge and
skills regarding their common Then, one by on;, they
ex~eriencedsuccess in collective ~roblemresolution. and
continued to 'target subsequent arenas in wiich to take action.'
The ability to act collectively increased the self esteem and
self efficacy of each member, making her stronger both
individually and as a group member. Eventually, they were
able to function in the absence of a professional leader, and
continued the group in some form for sev-eral years.
While the initial problem was identified as an individual
problem belonging to each woman, the group provided a place for
the com-monality of those problems to emerge and the collectivity
to occur
, for resolution. If the worker had not made the linkage for these
clients to others in similar situations, it is highly doubtful if the
same results would have occurred. If each woman had been as-
sessed as having deficit parenting skills and an individual treatment
plan created for each, with no recognition that parenting ability is
20 SOCIAL WORK W I T H GROUPS

imbedded in its environmental context, the same result is


not likely to have occurred.
The process of empowerment took place in the collective con-
text. Intervention was directed toward both micro and macro sys-
tems, with the group collectivity being the focal point of interven-
tion. Individual change resulted both from new roles obtained from
group action, and from increased self esteem and increased knowl-
edge obtained through the group experience. Macro intervention
resulted not only from social action strategies from the group itself,
but from other community activities in which the group members
participated. This collectively based intervention resulted in both
the process and product of empowerment.

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