Social Psychology of Service Delivery: Theories of Helping Processes

Whereas specific social work practice theories or evidence-based practices typically anchor the study of social issues and social work interventions, the focus of this course will be the social psychological sources of change that are viewed as common factors of treatment effectiveness (as well as others that are often treated as “noise” or error variance). That is, we will focus upon aspects of the person, the provider, and social context that facilitate, impede or moderate outcomes within the context of service delivery. We will begin with a close examination of the way we define theories, models or perspectives of the helping process in social work and then pay particular attention to the ways in which the pathway to treatment outcomes have been conceptualized. We will examine individual factors (such as processes of stress regulation and coping; concepts of change motivation, help-seeking and compliance) as well as clinician-level factors (such as attribution, expectancies and clinical-provider relationship) as well as social process (such group processes, intergroup relations, social networks and social support). Finally, we will consider methodologies under discussion in social work for identifying moderators and mechanisms of client change. Students will demonstrate their mastery of material by framing and leading seminar discussion and by providing a close reading/mapping and analysis of selected published articles.