complete note of Casework

Methods of Social Work
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Chapter 1
Getting Started
1. Social Work Review
2. Methods of Social Work
 Primary methods
 Secondary methods

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Social work review
The first thing that anyone wants to know about a
subject is its definition, but definitions often have little
meaning until one has some comprehension of the larger
area within which a part is to be described. The definition
of social work has already been described in the previous
classes as “social work is an art, science and profession to
help the person with their problem to solve them and obtain
the better social living and relationship”. There are many
other definitions given by different writers which are
prevalent for the academic study. These definitions are
basic beginning of the social work which is not enough to
understand the complete phenomenon of the social work
practice. Since social work itself cannot be understood
without knowledge of its characteristic problems,
objectives, and methods, these will first be given
consideration towards their understanding through different
methods. To understand the social work in detail one need
to be familiar with the methods, techniques, practices and
other various integration of the social work.
Methods of social work
Social Work methods are purely professional
knowledge, not barrowed from any other disciplines. It is
also called social work practice. These methods and
application differentiate social work and many others social
sciences that base mere on theoretical knowledge. For
instance, sociology, psychology, anthropology and
philosophy all lack specific methods like social work
although having well advanced theory. A method is well
understood to be an orderly way of procedure and therefore
it is always carried out towards achievement of a specific
aim. Social work methods is such method that social
workers use to help people of all ages and from various
sections of society to enhance their social functioning and
to cope more effectively with their problems. Social

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workers don’t pick and choose what problems and issues
they would like to address. They see a problem even a very
difficult problem, and try to help people solve it. They must
prepare themselves to help people with individualized
personal problems on the one hand and very broad
problems that affect whole organizations and communities
on the other. Methods of social work are grouped as
primary method and secondary method.
1.Primary method
These are that systematic and planned way of
performing an activity, which is fundamental to Social
Work. These are just like roots of social work, which give
birth to other branches.
1.1 Social Case Work
1.2 Social Group Work
1.3 Social Community Organization
2.Secondary method
These are secondary because it facilitates the primary
methods. There are also the derivatives of primary
methods.
2.1 Social Research
2.2 Social Action
2.3 Social Welfare Administration
These methods are the important part of social work that
makes social work practice different than any other
theoretical knowledge. Among these methods primary
method will be the first method which will be elaborated
and theoretically understood their concepts, techniques,

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principles and processes. Each of the methods have
different types of principle, techniques and process while
intervention procedure for the elimination of the problems
of individual or group. The above mentioned methods will
be elaborated in next chapter.

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Chapter 2
Social Casework
1. Historical Evolution of Social Case Work
2. Concept of social case work
3. Definition of Case work
4. Principles of Case work
5. Component of Case work
6. Stages and phases of Case work
7. Tools in Case work
8. Techniques of Case work
9. Supportive and Psycho-social counseling
10.Concept of Family
11.Roles of Family
12.Family Dynamic
13.Recording

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Historical evolution of social casework
Social casework is a method of helping people
individually through a one-to-one relationship. It is used by
professionally-trained social workers in social work
agencies or organizations to help people with their
problems of social functioning. Problems of social
functioning refer to situations concerned with social roles
and their performance. Though social work as a profession
is a product of the twentieth century, social work as a
helping activity is as old as mankind.
Historically, charity and philanthropy have always been
concerned with religious, educational, and personality
building activities, as well as with the relief of destitution.
There have been always in every society, though in small
numbers, people who were interested in helping others.
There were individuals who were known to be receptive
and responsive to the needs and difficulties of their fellow
human beings. These helpers who existed in every period
of human history were the precursors of the modern social
worker, who uses casework to help people in trouble.
The practice of casework is humanistic attempt for helping
the people who have difficulty in coping with the problem
of daily living. It has been in practice since ancient time on
different basis of charity, philanthropy, individual help etc.
Beginning of social casework in west and east
Individuals in every society right from ancient times
were helped by others to solve their problems. All religions
encouraged the helping of the poor and helpless people.
However it took professional shape in the late 19th and
early 20th century. The social work of St. Vincent de Paul
in the 16th and 17th centuries and of Ozanam in the 19th
century was considered remarkable in the history of social
case work. They help the people through the art of friendly
visiting to individualize people at home. German systems
of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, directed perhaps

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more to the control of mendicancy than to the study of
individuals, nevertheless yielded data on social conditions
and on behavior. Edward Denison, Sir Charles Loch,
Octavia Hill, and few of the English leaders, developed to a
high point the theory and practice of personal service,
personal responsibility, and careful study of each case.
Later on, Mary Richmond set out the first rational and
systematic approach to the analysis of individual social
situations.
Early Beginnings
The Association for Improving the Condition of the
Poor (A.I.C.P.) formed in America in 1843 approached the
problem of poverty more individually than had been
previously it was. The aims of A.I.C.P. were to visit the
poor at homes, to give counsel, to assist them practically in
obtaining employment, to instill in them self-respect and
self-reliance, to inculcate the habits of economy and
whenever absolutely necessary to provide such relief as
should be suited to their wants. The first professional
School of Social Work was the New York School
established in 1898. The establishment of this institution
indicates that social work had sufficiently large body of
knowledge and skills by that time. Further the need was felt
for better trained professionals as complicated modern
problems could not be handled in traditional ways.
Charity Organization Society
In 1877 USA established American Charity
Organization Society. One of the aims of the society was to
find out the ways and means of helping the poor and needy
and thus to organize individualized service. The society
used volunteers called “FRIENDLY VISITORS”. They
were kindhearted volunteers who visited poor families to
assess their needs and to provide help, guidance and advice.
They made their visits in act of charity and not expecting

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any monetary rewards. They collected data about the needy
individuals and families and helped them after assessing
their needs.
Friendly Visitors replaced by Paid Agents
The term Friendly Visitor was replaced by “Paid
Agents”. The term Friendly Visitors was subsequently
supplemented by the term “Paid Agents”. These Paid
Agents developed systematic procedures in performing
their task. They collected data about the needy individuals
and families and helped them after assessing their needs.
Paid Agents also maintained records including personal
data and the type of help given to clients. The collective
experience of Friendly Visitors and Paid Agents facilitated
the understanding of human behavior. With the
development of Schools of Social Work, Friendly Visitors
received training and instructions about the method of
investigation, diagnosis and treatment from experienced
social worker.
The first training program for the casework
The first training program for the casework started
during 1914-1917. Casework at this time was based more
on medical model. For some time casework was only
confined to sick persons, i.e. a sick person to be treated was
the priority. The term “work with case” was used for the
first time in national conference in USA. The first
professional training program especially for the casework
was started in the form of summer training. The impact of
this training program resulted in the need for more
substantial training and schools of social work attached to
the agencies came into existence. When these schools
started regular training program they were recognized as
professionals in social casework
Mary Richmond and Francis McLean offered specialized
service to thousands of clients. Social casework journal of

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family service association grew out of efforts of this great
pioneer movement. The first book in case work “Social
Diagnosis” was published in 1917 by Miss Richmond.
They introduced the principle of individualization and
clients rights to self-determination. Richmond found that
diagnosis is a process consisting sequence of steps in order
to facilitate the worker to arrive finally at his/her definition
of social situation and personality of client.
During 1920s
At this time caseworker adopted the new
psychoanalytical approach to understand the client and
their problems. These caseworkers found the
psychoanalytical theory and the concepts in psychology
very useful in casework movement. This psychoanalytical
theory was given by Freud and known as Freudian
psychology made strong impact on casework. Thus it was
the era of psychiatric development of social work. Focus of
caseworker was on psychic forces within the individuals.
Professionals also began to move into other fields like
prisons, school, etc. Gradually several schools of thought
developed with many points in common and number of
differences. These schools were based on the theory of
Sigmund Freud and Otto Rank.
During 1930s
It was the era of sudden changes in life-style that lead
to economic depression. Casework had to consider the
economic factors, which were causing distress to the
clients. It was realized that economic distress could lead to
emotional disaster and breakdown. The social and
economic need of great differentiation refocused
sociological and reality consideration for social work and
compiled action on the part of federal government. At this
time many work programs such as federal emergency relief
act, the work progress administration, the public work

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administration and the civilian conservation corporation
emerged. Thus major outcome of the depression was
establishment of governmental public assistant program. It
relieved the voluntary agencies from the task of providing
economic help. Caseworker was able to devote more time
in dealing with clients inter personal problems.
During 1940s
Case workers were exposed for formulation of ego;
psychology based on observation of human characteristics.
During the war there was increase in personal problems on
the part of clients due to financial crises. Emotional
problems also increased. To meet these needs and to solve
these problems family agencies were started. Later on,
some casework theoretician began to examine sociological
concept like social roles, social systems, social class etc.
This shifts the focus from self to social setting.
Caseworkers are now more aware of their own contribution
to human welfare. As a profession it has now gained more
popularity. One of the current trends is increased stress on
the importance of research. Also there is growing
awareness that personality and environment are
interdependent.
American influence in India
American casework influences the use of casework in
India as the first professional social work. i.e. casework
started in India. This was done by American School of
Social Work. The content of casework was taught as the
course. In 1936 Sir Dorabji Tata Graduate school of Social
Work, now known as Tata Institute of Social Science
(TISS), was started to impart training to those who had a
University degree in the field of social service. Thus, the
training for the social work was changed into a full time
career oriented educational program. Casework as a

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theoretical course and as a method of practice in the
academic program started from the year 1946.
Development of casework in Nepal
The literature of every religion contains the names
and activities of teachers and sages who gave of themselves
and their resources to help others. The ancient Hindu
Shastras and the Buddhist philosophy of Nepal emphasize
the activity of dhana or giving. There are different stories
of Gautama Buddha who was born in Nepal tells of his
kindness and understanding of the individual which led to
the transformation of a prostitute and a murderer.
Buddhism help should be given to relatives and friends.
Thus, one can see that casework, in its limited meaning of a
helping activity existed from time immemorial. But
casework as a professionalized activity is an event or
happening of the 20th century, and in this development, the
focus of concern has been people in some kind of distress
and who cannot help themselves.
As a profession the development of casework was
influenced by India. The training for the social work was
changed into a full time career oriented educational
program. Casework as a theoretical course and as a method
of practice in the academic program started from the year
1996. Initially social casework was practiced in relatively
few agencies and institutions but nowadays social casework
is practiced in many agencies, institutions and organization
such as hospitals, clinics, courts, industry, military
organization, family welfare agency, child welfare agency,
institution for the aged, destitute, orphans etc.
Concept of Social Case work
Social case work is a primary method of social work
which is concerned with the adjustment towards the
satisfying human relationship, better family life, improved

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schooling, better medical facilities and better relationship
between religious groups. Social Case Work is one of the
basic methods of professional social work which is
concerned to help and assist individuals, in finding
solutions to their problems. This will help the people or
individual in his /her adjustment and development.
Sometime due to certain internal or external factor an
individual fails to use existing facilities. In such situation
social case worker helps him to gain his strength back and
overcome the malfunctioned situation of the sufferer. Thus,
social case work is one to one relationship with the person
which help individual for his/her adjustment and
development. It is the systematic way to handle person with
the problems. A person with problem comes to a place
where social worker who is called as social case worker in
this context helps him through well-defined process.
Case work, is indispensable as a foundation for social
planning and social action. It has the same philosophy but it
has not the same techniques. The social case work is
carried out through its five components which are person,
problem, place, process, professionalism. These
components can be shortened as p5 for the easy
understanding. Each components stand for their own
property and function in the case work method.
Person: An individual may be man, women, girl, boy, old
aged, children, handicapped, etc.
Problem: Worst situation related to social, economic,
psychology, drug abuse, politics etc.
Places: It can be office, hospital, clinic, welfare center,
rehabilitation, etc.

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Process: Case study, social study, problem identification,
intervention, evaluation, etc.
Professionalism: The faithful and honest relationship with
client and agent.
Thus, in the social case work a person with problem
comes to social case worker to get rid of the problem and
the social case worker uses various methods or process to
solve the problem of a client. The relationship between the
two people is always professional and faithful in nature.
The aim of the social case worker is to help people or
family to mobilize their capacity for the solution of
problem that brought them to the agency. The internal and
external forces of the client are motivated in such a manner
so, that the client may solve his problem. Social case
worker does not make a person entirely free from his
problem but helps to be free from these problems through
his assistance.
Definition of social case work
The process of social case work involves the study of
individual problems in its total setting. It is concerned with
the understanding of individual as the whole personalities
and the adjustment of the individual to socially healthy life.
As a method of social work, it involves a very careful
observation of a problem. Social case wok has been defined
in various ways by various writers.
"Social case work consists of those processes which
develop personality through adjustments consciously
effected, individual by individual, between men and their
social environment."
Mary Richmond (1922)

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"Social case work may be defined as the art of doing
different things for and with different people by
cooperating with them to achieve at one and the same time
their own and society's betterment."
Mary Richmond (1917)
“A process used by certain human welfare agencies to
help individuals to cope more effectively with their
problems in social functioning.”
Helen Harris Perlman (1957)
“An art in which knowledge of science of human relation
skills in relationship are used to mobilize capacities in the
individual and resources in the community. Appropriate for
better adjustment between client and all or any parts of his
total environment.”
Swithun Bowers
“Social case work is the method of affecting the
understanding of the needs, resources and reactions of the
individual.”
Robert Lee Barker
“Social case work is the art of helping an individual in
developing and making use of his/her personal capacities
to deal with problems which he/she faces in his/her social
environment”.
Dr. Jonathan Swift
“Social case work which is both a tool and area of work
consists of processes which develop personality through
adjustment consciously affect individual by individual
between man and his social environment”.
Gordon and Hamilton

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Thus, the social case work is both art and science of
resolving individual problems in social area, for individual
and society are interdependent and social forces influence
behavior and attitude of an individual. The above definition
explains the understanding of the social case work in
relation to the society and individual with respect to their
surrounding and the social forces.
Objectives of Social Casework
The social case work is fundamental beginning of the
social work which has different objectives, behind this
social case work. Every methods of social work have
certain objectives that seek to fulfill by implementing
different process of intervention to the individual. Some of
the objectives of the case work can be understood by the
following points given below.
1. To understand, identify and solve the internal and
external problems of an individual.
2. To strengthen the power of client.
3. Look the problem in problem solving process.
4. To help people to use his/her capacity to solve
problem.
5. To bring the adjustment between the individual and
his situation.
6. To develop individual personality.
Basic Assumptions of Social Casework
The main work of social casework is to enable an
individual in solving a problem through self-efforts. The
social worker’s job is to provide adequate help and
guidance. According to Hamilton the chief assumptions of
social casework are:

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1. Individual and society are interdependent and
complimentary to each other.
2. Various factors operative in the society influence
human behavior and attitude.
3. Some problems are psychological and some are
interpersonal in nature.
4. In the process of social casework conscious and
controlled relations are established for achieving its
aims.
5. Social casework enables an individual to solve his/
her problems by channelizing his/her energy and
capacity positively.
6. Social casework provides everyone equal right to
progress. It also provides help to every needy and
disabled person.
Philosophical Assumptions
The ultimate goal of social casework is to establish
harmonious relationship between individual and the society
to which he belongs. According to Grace Mathew there are
certain assumptions, which constitute the fundamental
structure of social casework. They are generated out of the
collective thinking and traditions in casework. These
philosophical assumptions are:
1. Every human being has to be considered as a person
with dignity and worth.
2. Human beings are interdependent and it governs
their interaction in social groups.
3. There are common human needs for growth and
development of individuals. The existence of
common needs does not negate the uniqueness of
individuals. Every individual is like all other human
beings in some aspects and like no other individuals
in certain aspects.

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4. Every individual has within him/her, the potential
for growth and achievement and he/she has a right
to the realization of this potential. From this it
follows that people has capacity to change.
5. Society has an obligation to help those who do not
have the means for the realization of their
potentials.
Characteristic of the social case work
The character shows the nature and the quality of the
work that has to be with in the process of solving the
problems. The different natures of the social case work are
mentioned below:
1. One to one relationship
The relationship between client and case worker is
one to one relationship.
2. Professional in nature
The relationship between client and case worker is
always professional in nature.
3. Goal oriented
Case worker is always oriented towards their goal.
It is always oriented towards solving the problems of
the clients. This will help client to develop personality
in the society.
4. Process
Case worker is always goal oriented and to attain
goal, social case worker has to follow the definite
process or methods for solving problems like
identification of problems, diagnosis of problems and
treatment.

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5. Client centered / focused
All the activities in case work is always focused
towards client. This client centered activities help the
client to solve or get rid from his/her problem.
6. It is an art or skill
Problem solving is also one of the art or skill of
case worker various problem solving technique are used
by the social case worker to strengthen the client’s
capacities.
7. Practice in specific setting
This case work is practiced in specific setting and
specific place like counseling center, juvenile home,
hospitals, rehabilitation center etc.
8. Client and case worker are interdependent
In social case work, case worker and client are
interdependent to each other. Case worker help client to
solve problems. But without client case worker doesn’t
have existence. Thus, their relationship is taken as two
sides of the same coin because without one the
existence of another is impossible.
9. Improvement of condition
Social case worker help the client to improve his
social, psychological and emotional condition.
10. Proper use of tools and techniques
In social case work different tools are used to get
required information about the client and his/her
problems. The frequently used tools are home visit,
interview, observation etc. Similarly, proper use of
technique like counseling, diagnosis, treatment etc. and
tools helps to solve problems of the client.

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Principles of the Case Work
The principles of social casework are applied in
establishing close relationship between social caseworker
and the client. Relationship is the medium through which
changes are brought in the behavior and personality of the
client. The term relationship in social casework was used
for the first time by Miss Virginia Robinson in her book,
“A Changing Psychology in Social Case Work” in 1939.
Thus the purpose of establishing relationship is to help the
client with his/her psycho-social needs and problems. The
relationship between caseworker and client may be more
strengthened by using certain principles.
1. Principle of individualization
No two persons are alike in all qualities and traits.
Their problems may be the same but the cause of the
problem, the perception towards the problem and ego
strength differs in every individual. Therefore, each
individual client should be treated as a separate entity and
complete information is required to establish close relations
in order to solve his/her problem from root.
2. Principle of meaningful relationship
The purpose of establishing relationship in social
casework is to change the behavior of the client or to
achieve adjustment in maladjusted situation. Meaningful
relationship is developed in social casework by
demonstrating the interests in client. He/she is convinced of
the caseworker’s warmth as an individual and conveys
respect and caring for him/her. In return, the caseworker
helps the client to trust in his/her objectivity and feel
secured as worthwhile individual.
3. Principle of acceptance
Social caseworker accepts the client as he is and with
all his/her limitations. He/she believes that acceptance is

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the crux of all help. It embraces two basic ideas --- one
negative and one positive. He/she does not condemn or feel
hostile towards a client because his/her behavior differs
from the approved one. Later on, he/she tries to modify
his/her behavior step by step.
4. Principle of communication
Communication is a two-way process. There must be
proper communication between caseworker and the client,
which helps, in proper understanding of each other. It is the
road to the identification of the client’s problem. The
function of social caseworker is primarily to create an
environment in which the client will feel comfortable in
giving expression to his/her feelings. It depends on a proper
communication.
5. Principle of expression of feelings
Purposeful expression of feelings is the recognition of
the client’s need to express his/her feelings freely,
especially his/her negative feelings. The caseworker listens
purposefully, neither discouraging nor condemning the
expression of those feelings. Sometimes he/she even
stimulates and encourages them when the expression is of
therapeutic nature.
6. Principle of controlled emotional involvement
The social caseworker tries to understand the client’s
feelings and emotions but he/she himself/herself does not
involve emotionally in his/her problems.
7. Principle of non-judgmental attitude
The non-judgmental attitude is a quality of the
casework relationship. The caseworker does not blame the
client for his/her problem nor does he assign any
responsibility for his/her miseries. He/she only evaluates
the attitudes, standards or action of the client.

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8. Principle of client self-determination
The client’s self-determination is the practical
recognition of the right and need of clients to freedom in
making his/her own choices and decisions. But this right is
limited by the client’s capacity for positive and constructive
decision making.
9. Principle of self-awareness
It means that caseworker should know his/her own
strengths and limitations in dealing with client’s problems.
If he/she feels that the problems of the client are beyond
his/her capacity, the client should be transferred to the
appropriate authority.
10. Principle of social functioning
Social functioning means the functioning of the
individual in his/her social roles and relationships, with
emphasis on his/her relation to the environment. The
caseworker tries to assess the roles of the client and his/her
capacity to perform these roles.
11. Principle of tuning behavior
Man has body, mind and intellect as three instruments
of experiences through which life constantly pulsates.
These three instruments have their own distinct
characteristics in each person. Hence each person has
unique personality. There is need of tuning three
instruments for right perception and thinking. The social
caseworker does it.
12. Principle of social learning
Social learning is a pre-requisite to the changes that
are inevitably involved in problem- solving. The social
learning processes involve:

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1. Arousing and focusing attention and concern.
2. Organizing and evaluating the problem and
planning future action.
3. Searching for and acquiring new information.
4. Providing opportunities to the client for new
experience.
13. Principle of confidentiality
Confidentiality is the preservation of the secret
information concerning the client, which is disclosed in the
professional relationship only. In the process of social case
work, the client discloses many of his secret facts to the
social case worker which help for the treatment. Similarly,
the case worker gets many information of client in his
home visit or in interview. All these facts must be kept
secret. In other words, the client must have total faith
regarding his secret disclosed by him will remain
confidential. Confidentiality in case work is taken as
professional code of ethics. There is little reason that leads
for the confidentiality.
Components of casework
The social case work is the integrity of different
elements and a material which forms the nucleus of the
social case work. The nucleus is the crucial part that
consists of different component while social case works
practice. The practitioner has to understand each and every
component of the nucleus of social case work to carry out
better intervention process. There are five components of
social case work known as 5 p’s.
1. The person 4.The process
2. The problem 5. Professionalism
3. The place

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1. The Person
The person is a man, woman or child or anyone who
finds himself/herself, or is found to be, in need of help in
some aspect of his social-emotional living, whether the
need be for tangible provisions or counsel. As he/ she begin
to receive help, he/she is called a “client”. A client is one
who seeks professional help, one who employs the help of
another or one who is served by a social agency or an
institution. The person live in environment and interact in
the environment is influenced by physical, social, cultural,
economic and political aspects. The main aim of social case
worker is to facilitate the individual to adopt, to restore, to
reshape or to reinforce his functioning as a social being.
The client is a person with both needs and a problem(s).
The problem may be related to a client. The person’s
behavior has purpose and meaning to gain satisfaction, to
avoid and dissolve frustration and to maintain his/her
balance- in- movement. To understand a person, it is
important to know his/her parts of personality that is the
person’s behavior. To understand human behavior and
individual difference, Grace Mathew has given the points
like:
1. An individual behavior is the result of his/her
experience. Behavior is his/her reaction, feeling,
thinking etc. with the surrounding.
2. For growth and development of human, it is
essential to meet certain basic needs (according to
Maslow).
3. Emotional needs are real and they can be met or
removed through intellectual reasoning.

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4. Behavior is purposeful and is in response to the
individual physical and emotional needs.
5. Other person’s behavior can be understood only in
terms of one’s own emotional and intellectual
aspect.
According to the Sigmund Freud, the process of human
personality is the combination of id, ego and super ego. To
understand a person it is necessary to understand the
personality of the individual that is substitute into 3 parts.
 Id: It is unconscious which is known as the life force
in the individual that is the combination of energy and
needs. This drives him to wants and to will. All our
motives are in the interest of our biological and
psychological aspects. As a person behavior achieves
his goal, he experiences satisfactions both consciously
and unconsciously.
 Ego: It is the person’s mental image a kind of self-
expectations hope to solve the conflict. It is to
mobilize and experience feeling in the way that are
satisfying to the self and to external world.
 Super ego: super ego is a dynamic system of the
prohibitions, expectations, standards, values and ideas
which a person has in relation to other individuals and
to his society. It guides the individual.
2. The Problem
Problem, according to the America Heritage
dictionary is a “question or situation that presents
uncertainty, perplexity or difficulty”. This definition is

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rather inadequate without elaboration for defining in this
chapter.
Human beings face difficulties in day-to-day living, many
of which are handled adequately with resources at hand.
These are difficulties of living that fall within our coping
abilities and strategies. When difficulties assume
dimensions that strain our coping capacity and go beyond
our competence in handling, they become problems. People
who seek casework service are those who encounter
problems. Problems of living may be caused by unmet
physical or psychosocial needs or by the inability to
perform one's social roles owing to any causes. Physical
needs pertain to the biological needs of food, shelter,
clothing, and the psychosocial needs pertain to love,
recognition, security, opportunities for not only intellectual
and emotional growth but also for fulfillment of one's
potential. A problem which defies an individual's coping
skills may be the end result or derivative of other problems
or difficulties that remain unsolved from an earlier point of
time. A human problem cannot be considered an isolated
happening or an entity in itself. It is usually the end point or
one point in a chain of cause-effect relationships. The
problems reported by clients to the agency, or in other
words, problems for which help was sought, may be
classified in different ways.
According to Grace Mathew the problems can be
categorized as follows:
1. Problems related to illness or disabilities
2. Problems due to lack of material resources
3. School related problems

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4. Problems related to institutionalization
5. Behavior problems
6. Problems of marital discord
7. Problem situations needing a follow-up service
8. Needs related to rehabilitation of people
handicapped by disabilities
9. Predicaments and difficulties of clients caught up
in problems that have been regarded as social
problems like gambling, prostitution, alcoholism,
drug addiction and unmarried motherhood.
3. The Place
The place is a social service agency or a social service
department of another kind of human welfare agency. The
place to which the individual with problem reach for help is
called social agency. The agency is an organization
designed to express the will of the society or some group of
people in society welfare. Its purpose is to help individuals
with the particular social handicaps which hampers good
personal or family living and with the problems created by
faulty person-to-person, person to-group or person-to-
situation relationships. This agency’s purpose and functions
come to life in the person and professional performance of
the case worker. Social case work agencies differ one from
the other in a number of ways, and they depend upon the
factors like money, knowledge and competence of staff in
agency, interest, resources available and community
support etc. but there are three major factors that determine
their classification:

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1. Their source of support-; public taxation (child
welfare, physical and mental health programs etc.) or
voluntary contribution.
2. Their source of professional authority-; primary
agencies carry full authority and responsibility for
their social functions and secondary agencies derive
their authority and responsibility from the host
agency.
3. Their special function and area of concern-; primary
agencies both public and private, may define certain
areas of social need as the particular fielding in which
they give services. Secondary, case work help is
related to the work of some other profession, such as
medicine, education or law and to its specific
knowledge and purpose.
Perlman has described some of the characteristic of the
organization.
1. An agency embodies a society’s decision to protect its
members against social breakdowns, to prevent their
maladjustments and/or to promote the development of
better or higher levels of humans functioning.
2. Each social agency develops a program by which to
meet the particular areas of need with which it sets
out to deal.
3. The structure of an agency identifies and assigns
separate and joint responsibilities, authorities and
tasks to each personnel and demarcates the
relationship among various functions in the total
agency body.

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4. The social agency is a living, adaptable organism
susceptible to being understood and changed, much as
other living organisms
5. Every staff member in an agency speaks and acts for
some part of the agency’s function, and the case
worker represents the agency in its individualized
problem-solving help.
6. The case worker, while representing his/her agency, is
first and foremost a representative of his/her
profession.
4. Process
The process in case work is a progressive transaction
between the professional helper (the case worker) and the
client. It consists of a series of problem solving operations
carried out within a meaningful relationship. The end of
this process is contained in its meaning: to influence the
client person that he/she develops effectiveness in coping
with his/her problem and /or to so influence the problem as
to resolve it or reduce its effects. Social work problem
solving is finding a way through feeling, thinking, and
acting. It progresses over time in a cyclical, irreversible
manner that is focused on removing blocks to need
fulfillment that individuals cannot remove with their own
resources. In order to understand what the case work
process must include in its problem-solving help, it is
necessary for the social case worker to take stock first of
the kinds of blockings which occur in people’s normal
problem-solving effort. These six factors are among the
most common:
1. A problem cannot be solved if the necessary tangible
means and resources are not available to the person.
2. Sometimes, people are unable to solve their problems
simply out of ignorance or misapprehension about the

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facts of the problems or the facts of existing ways of
meeting it.
3. If a person is drenched by emotional or physical
strength. He/she needs to mobilize himself/herself.
4. When problems sets off a conflagration of feeling, a
person’s thought processes, delicately attuned as they
are to his/her emotions become clouded and tumbled
about.
5. Some people find problems in solving a difficult
situation because they have never developed
systematic habits of orderly methods of thinking and
planning.
In the case work relationship, a constant medium is
provided that is accepting, nurturing and supporting at the
same time that the stimulus of problem-solving work is
injected to promote the client’s effort to feel, to be or to act
in the ways leading to his/her better social adjustment.
There are various methods and phases in problem solving
process like:
1. Preliminary statement of the problem.
2. Statement of preliminary assumptions about the nature
of the problem.
3. Selection and collection of information.
4. Analysis of information available.
5. Development of a plan.
6. Implementation of the plan.
7. Evaluation of the plan.
6. Professionalism
Relationship between any two people is the condition
of their being connected in a significant way. We
experience various kinds of relationships in our lives.
Parent-child, sibling-sibling, uncle-niece relationships are
examples. These are permanent and unalterable, lasting as

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long as one lives. On the other hand, relationships between
two friends, neighbors or classmates are temporary. The
doctor-patient, teacher-student, supervisor - supervisee,
lawyer-client are examples of professional relationships.
One can broadly classify relationships according to quality
also.
It follows from the above discussion that the social worker-
client relationship is a professional relationship, and that it
has to be positive in nature. Only a positive relationship can
serve as a means towards the desirable end of helpfulness,
the type of helpfulness that provides scope for the exercise
of casework principles. During a process of social case
work a relationship is built between client and social case
worker which is professional in nature for certain time until
the client recover its strength and become self-dependent.
Professional relationships have some common
characteristics. They are bound by time to specific
purposes. When the purpose is met, the relationship comes
to an end. This professionalism involves the process of
sharing responsibilities, recognition of others rights,
acceptance of difference to stimulate interaction to solve
problem of the client.
Stages and phases of Case work
Casework process is the ongoing movement of the
continuing development of the case involving several
activities , some carried out by the social worker alone,
some by the client alone and some by the worker and the
client together. Social casework entails different steps
during the practice of the social case work. To solve the
problem of the client the client has to visit the agency or the
social worker who vow to help the client and uses the best
ways to solve the problem of the client. During the process
of solving the problem different stages were followed
accordingly by the worker and also by the client. The
different steps were given below:

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1. Intake phase
2. Study phase
3. Assessment phase
4. Treatment phase
5. Evaluation and monitoring phase
6. Follow up and termination phase
1. Intake phase
This is the first stage of social case work process. The
client who is in need of help will meet the agency for the
professional help by the social case worker. During this
period the relationship between two person of unequal
position and power is developed. The social case worker
accepts the client as a person who is in a very stressful
situation. He respects the client personality and promise to
solve the problem of the client. In other word, the social
case workers picks up the client from stressful situation and
help him/her to regain personal and social balance which is
satisfying in the relationship. During rapport building
process the case worker tries to have following information
regarding the client.
1. The stage of the problem at which the client is in.
2. Through whom or for what reason the client comes to
this agency.
3. The nature of relation to the problem, cause of the
client’s problem and how client see the problem.
4. His/her adjustment to the social function in job,
family, society etc.
5. The state of his physical and mental health.
6. His appearance including dress, hairstyle etc. in his
first meeting.
7. Level of motivation, how quick the client has desire
or need to get rid of the problems.

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8. Nature of family, family status, norms and values,
relationship with family members.
2. Study phase
Social, study is a systematic study of the client and
his/her circumstances in relation to his/her problem. In this
phase the case worker makes initial assessment or diagnosis
of the client current relevant past and possible future modes
of adaptation to stressful situation to have normal living
situation. It requires an analysis of social, psychological
and biological determinants of client’s current stressful
situation. The case worker should get following
information regarding the client’s problem.
1. Nature of problems.
2. Significance of problems.
3. Cause of problems.
4. Effort made by client and his family members to cope
with problem.
5. Nature of solution.
The case worker can obtain data related to the client by
questionnaire methods interview and recording methods.
After getting data the case worker develops hypothesis for
understanding the client and his situation for the further
process.
3. Assessment / diagnosis phase
Assessment is aimed at finding answers to three major
questions: What is the problem? How has it arisen? What
can be done to solve it? The operation underlying social
assessment is that of making a conceptual picture of the
problem, leading to a plan of action. It means linking up the
contributory factors meaningfully with the help of

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theoretical knowledge. Further collecting of data and
deciding the best course of action to solve the problem is
carried by case worker. This helps to arrive at the exact
possible situation of the client and also help to understand
both psychological and personality factor which leads the
client to difficulties. Data related to assessment or
diagnosis can be collected by interview observation, lab
test etc. Diagnosis or assessment should contain following
information:
1. Nature of problem and client relationship.
2. Nature of person who bears problems.
3. Nature and purpose of agency and kind of help it can
afford or make available.
Types of assessment or diagnosis
1. Clinical diagnosis:
 In this diagnosis the person is described by the
nature of illness. Like typhoid, hypertension,
hepatitis etc.
 The clinical diagnosis is used in medical field.
 It is used in minimum case work practice.
 It is very important in medical and psychological
field.
2. Etiological:
 In this process the worker tries to find out the cause
and development of the present difficulty.
 The case worker also searches about the history of
the client.

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3. Dynamic diagnosis:
 Proper evaluation of the client’s current problem.
 Role of psychological, biological, social and
environmental factors for problem evaluation.
 No attempts to dig life history of client.
 Case worker and client are engaged in appropriate
action or treatment.
The steps used in diagnosis process
1. Case worker begin to focus on problematic
behavior.
2. Behavior and client’s environment are studied.
3. Complex behaviors are breakdown into clear
components.
4. Data are collected by various methods.
5. Information and data are summarized to find out
any major problems for treatment.
6. Selected data are used for treatment in the final step
of diagnosis.
4. Treatment plan / Intervention phase
According to Hamilton, “Treatment is the sum total of
all the activities and services directed towards helping the
individual with solution of their problems.” The treatment
is the main part of social case work with different steps and
techniques. The case worker should plan about the
treatment in different way thoroughly. The treatment plan
is different in different case works according to the change
of the client, problem, situation etc. But every social case
work is done through the same methods. The focus in

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treatment should be given to the immediate problems. Total
social casework process includes three stages or three
phases they are the beginning, middle and ending. While
treatment or intervention process different techniques are
used for the identification and eradication of their problem.
The techniques used in the treatment are as follows:
1. Support :
Social case worker should give total support to the
client to improve his weak personality. In this process
social case worker tries to make good and strong
relationship with client.
2. Clarification:
The social case worker should be clear on the client’s
personality, family background, personal history, family,
history, social aspect etc.
3. Insight:
The social case worker tries to find out the actual
cause of the client’s problem. He goes deep into to the
clients mind and find out the root causes of his problems.
This is possible only with the help of the client and family
members near and dear ones.
4. Identification:
Here the social case worker will identify the client’s
total personality, his problems, strength, weakness etc. This
will help the client to get rid of his problems.

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5. Resource utilization:
Social case worker should use all the resources
available to improve the progress of client like yoga,
meditation etc. Some case worker tries to find out good
jobs for the client if he is unemployed one or help client to
get loan to start his own business.
6. Evaluation:
After completing all the above techniques, the case
worker should record his work with the client, so that he
can evaluate his work easily. During evaluation if the case
worker finds his work not satisfactory, he can make further
correction. Thus, his evaluations also help for the better
follow up process.
7. Modification of environment:
Sometime after solving problems there may be a
chance that problem may arise again so the case worker
should make the client’s environment suitable for his
personality group. (e.g., In case of drug addiction and
alcoholism the family members will not accept and behave
with client properly.) Thus, the social case worker must
provide counseling service to the client’s family to change
or modify as environment for the client to overcome from
his personal problem.
Objectives of social case work treatment
1. To prevent social breakdown and bring back to social
functioning.
2. To conserve clients strength.
3. To restore social functioning of the client.
4. To provide happy experience to the client.

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5. To create opportunities for growth and development
of the client.
6. To preserve psychological damage to client.
7. To increase capacity for self-determination.
8. To increase client’s social contribution.
5. Evaluation and monitoring
Evaluation is one of the important steps in social case
work. Evaluation is the activity of ascertaining whether
casework service has achieved the desired result in a case.
It is the social worker's reviewing of all the other
components of the casework process to make an appraisal
of the result. Evaluation is also an ongoing activity,
although as a component of the casework process, it finds
full scope and expression only after a period of activity.
As the social worker continues to offer the service or
services, evaluative discernment occurs to him/her at
specific points of time regarding the strength, weakness or
gaps in his/her social assessment and regarding the success
or failure of his/her ways of helpfulness. Evaluation
provides feedback to the case worker regarding the client
like:
1. Whether the treatment plan is successful or not
according to the desire.
2. Whether the established goal has been achieved or
not.
3. Modifications in program are essential or not.
4. The client is being helped in real sense or not.
These all will help the social case worker to monitor the
activities of client. If goals are not achieved in case work,

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then it is called crisis in social case work process. Non
motivated client becomes challenge to social case worker.
Dealing with such client and situation requires special
knowledge and process. This special knowledge is used as
term as crisis intervention.
Importance of Evaluation
1. Evaluation helps to check the efforts of the case
worker in case working.
2. It helps to know what are outcome.
3. It helps to check the efforts are meaningful or not.
4. It helps for the further strengthening the relationship
between the case worker and client.
5. Provides motivation to the client to work towards his
goal.
6. It helps to check the effectiveness of the process or
services.
7. It also helps to tell the public that the process used by
the case worker is beneficial and effective.
8. Social case worker can enhance his own image and
also helps to increase public relation of the agency.
6. Follow up and termination
It is necessary to check the work done by the case
worker. For this the social case worker needs to do follow
up process after evaluation of the activities done during the
intervention. This will help the agent to get the information
regarding the client’s improvements. The follow up process
is to be done to help the client to maintain the
improvements and to get information about the client and
his problem. During follow up the client is helped to

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discuss the problem which he is still facing. If client require
he is referred to the proper source for help and service. If
he is improving in social functioning he is not prefer. The
follow up should be planned in descending order.
(e.g., the social worker will meet the client in descending
order like after two week, then in a month, then six month
and a year.) Following this follow up process will lead to
the termination process. The follow up process can also be
done by reviewing the record, by asking the questions
through telephone calls, home visit, observation etc.
Termination refers to the process of formally ending
the individual social worker-client relationship. It is a
feature of practice with a variety of client systems, from
individuals and families to task groups, coalitions, and
communities, and it occurs regardless of the duration of the
helping relationship. Terminations can occur when goals
are met, when clients make a transition to other services,
when time-limited services are concluded, and when social
workers or clients leave the helping relationship. Even if
clients are likely to “come and go” form service over a
period of time as their concerns and needs change, it is
important to draw closure to each unique episode of care.
The notion of ending is often introduced at the beginning of
service, when the social worker notes the likely duration of
care, the number of sessions allotted, or the goals that will
guide the helping process. In some time treatment models,
the fixed length of care is part of informed consent
discussions at the outset.
For e.g., the social worker might explain, “we believe that
brief treatment is effective and helps both you and me make
efficient use of our time together. So we’ll begin today by

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getting an idea of the goals you want to work on and the
best way to use our time over the next 6 to 8 weeks to
achieve those goals.”
Whether in short-or long-term therapy models, successful
termination involves preparing clients adequately for
separation from the social worker and/or group and
accomplishing other tasks that facilitate the transition from
being a client to being “on one’s own”:
1. Evaluating the service provided and the extent to
which goals were accomplished.
2. Determining when to implement termination.
3. Mutually resolving emotional reactions experienced
during the process of ending.
4. Planning to maintain gains achieved and to achieve
continued growth.
The significance of these tasks and the extent to which they
can be successfully accomplished are determined in large
measure by the context in which the helping relationship
takes place. The intensity of the termination process is
affected by factors such as the type of contact (voluntary or
involuntary), the size and characteristics of the client
system, and the nature of the intervention used. Emotional
reactions will vary depending on the nature and length of
the helping relationship. That is, involuntary clients and
those with more structured and time limited services will be
less likely to experience a sense of loss at termination than
those who have engaged in longer and more voluntary
relationships with the social worker. For example,
termination of a time-limited educational group may be less
intense and require less preparation of members than would

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the ending of an ongoing interpersonal support group or
discharge from a residential treatment setting. Terminations
from brief crisis intervention, case management, or
discharge planning relationships may differ in intensity
depending on the nature of the needs met and the length of
service. Termination from family sessions may be less
difficult than those from individual work, because most of
the client system will continue to work and be together,
albeit without the social worker’s involvement.
Tools in social casework
A tool is anything that serves as a means of operation
in the practice of a trade, occupation or a profession. The
tools of an occupation like carpentry, being concrete,
tangible and determinate lend themselves to sensory
perception. Casework tools, on the other hand, are abstract
concepts, and not concrete instruments or things that can be
handled by one's limbs. The tools used in casework are:
listening, observation, interview, relationship and home
visit. The word "tool", which immediately produces the
mental image of concrete things, cannot be easily explained
when it is used as an intangible, non-material entity.
Two common meanings of the word "tool" may be adapted
to explain the term "casework tools".
1. A means of contact with something or a means of
access to something. Casework tools are means of contact
with clients. They are also means of access to information
about the client, his family and his problem. This meaning
is applicable to all the five casework tools. Observation and
listening may be considered as tools within tools as they are
components of interview, relationship and home visit.

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2. A means for transmitting energy or force towards
something. Here the word "tool" refers to a channel,
medium or venue for the transmission of energy or force.
This meaning is applicable only to three of the casework
tools, interview, relationship and home visit, which serve as
channels for the transmission of information, knowledge
and help. They are the channels through which casework
techniques become operative. Casework techniques are
systematic procedures of helping.
The utility of casework tools is along three dimensions:
(1) Getting information directly about clients
(2) Getting information indirectly about clients
(3) Giving help to clients. Direct information is from
What the client says and getting direct information is a
characteristic of all the five tools. It will be seen that
indirect information is obtained through client's non-verbal
communication and sometimes from what the client omits
to say. Getting indirect information, as a dimension, applies
mostly to observation and in some contexts to listening.
The third dimension — giving help to clients — applies
only to interview, relationship and home visit. As implied
earlier, these three tools function as conveyors for the
transmission of help.
1. Listening
Listening is a basic casework tool. Active, attentive
listening is purposeful. The purpose is to understand the
speaker's words and feelings as accurately as possible, for
which mental concentration is necessary. The listener has
to pay attention to what is said, what is not said, and what
is suggested. Listening, therefore, becomes a consciously
performed activity for the social worker. It is also an aspect
for the practice of the principle of acceptance.

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There are two types of listening, one is active listening and
second is passive listening.
1. Active listening means the listening that took place
face to face between client and social worker.
2. Passive listening means the information that is
collected from the secondary source like recording,
data etc.
There are some common obstacles to active listening,
knowledge of which is necessary for one who wants to train
himself/herself as an effective listener.
Obstacles and solution to Listening
1. Distraction of various kinds takes a listener off the
path of active listening.
2. The listener's anxiety or fear concerning the speaker
can become a block to good listening.
3. Selective listening which refers to the mental
tendency of hearing only what one likes to hear
prevents effective listening.
There are a few guidelines which will help the social
worker to develop the habit of effective listening.
1. It is important to maintain eye contact with the client
during conversations.
2. The social worker must ensure, though it may not
always be possible, that the place where the
interviews with the clients take place, is quiet, with
minimum external distractions.
3. As a preparation for interviews with the client, the
worker should clear his/her mind of internal pre-
occupations and preconceived ideas or opinions of the
client.
4. The ears should be trained to listen to everything that
the client says.

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5. What the client says or what (s)he appears to be,
cannot but evoke thinking in the mind of the social
worker.
2. Observation
Observation is the practice of noticing features about
people, things or situations, and in the context of casework,
the purpose is to use the observed data for understanding
the client and his situation. Specially, in the cases like
robbery, prostitution, anti-social activities this method is
used. By this information related to the cases like
relationship, behavior between teacher and student, gender
discrimination in family and society, behavior or workers
in organization etc. can be obtained. Every parent can use
this method to bring change in behavior and attitude of
their children. Similarly, this method can help a lot to bring
the real data of the client. The caseworker has to take
cognizance of the following with reference to the client:
1. The general outward appearance.
2. Facial expression, posture, gestures, etc.
3. The characteristics, particularly the emotional
nuances of interactions that take place between clients
and others, including their family members.
The social worker should not have any difficulty in paying
attention to the client's personal appearance — his/her
clothes, level of cleanliness, and such like. The human face
occasionally reflects the feelings within and to the social
worker facial expression is a matter for observation.
Feelings like sadness, anger and hostility do not need
verbal expression to indicate their presence; there will be
tell-tale signs on the face that bespeak the unexpressed
feelings. Similarly, the individual's postures, gestures, tone
of voice and body movements are also meaningful. Many
of our clients do not feel comfortable on their first day of

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visit to a social work agency. They may be ignorant about
what a social worker does and what they can expect from
the agency. The pressure of their problems and their having
to talk to a stranger about it add to their discomfiture. The
confusion and tension that the client experiences within is
likely to make him fidgety and restless. The way (s)he sits,
and the manner in which (s)he participates in the
conversation with the social worker should be observed
carefully for indications of his/her emotional state of mind
whether (s)he is tense or relaxed, trusting or suspicious,
receptive or inattentive. Knowing what the client feels or
getting at least some clues to his/her feelings is helpful in
that the social worker can prime himself/herself to respond
appropriately.
For instance, a client who feels ill at ease can be helped to
feel more comfortable.
Types of observation
1. Participatory observation
This method is used usually by being the part of the
problem or situation. If the information or data is collected
by the researcher by becoming the part of the situation is
called participatory observation. The investigator actively
participates as a member of the group to observe the cause
of the problem or the situation. In this process the group
members may or may not identify the investigator.
2. Non-Participatory observation
In this the observer or the investigator does not
participate in the activities of the group to be studied but
simply remain or present in the group is called non-
participatory observation. The observer feels independent
in this method and observes every activity.

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3. Controlled / structured observation
If observation is done with pre-planned and
structured questionnaire than it is called controlled or
structured observation. Social case worker uses this method
with structured questions, check list of the items to be
observed and recording sheet. Data collected from this kind
of observation helps to compare progress of the client.
4. Uncontrolled observation
Researcher does not have any control over the
research according to the purpose. Researcher observes in
research area without any disturbance or interruption is
called uncontrolled observation. For example, the
researcher observing on the activities of the animals to
study them, they capture or record it without any control
over them.
5. Indirect observation
In indirect observation social case worker observes
clues of post behavior or events that cannot be observe
directly. In this type of observation social case worker has
to depend on audio or visual document. Police investigation
of criminal activities is a popular example of indirect
observation.
3. Interview
The casework interview refers to the meeting of the
social worker and the client in a face to-face conversation.
It is not a casual conversation but a professional activity on
the part of the social worker, because the conversation is
geared to specific or general purposes. The purposes may
be one or more of the following:
(1) To obtain information from or impart information to the
client
(2) For studying and assessing the client's problem and
related situation

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(3) To give help.
An interview is a piece of social interaction with one
person asking a number of questions and another person
gives the answer. In this method the case worker collects
data directly by his active participation. It is also known as
participatory method of data collection.
During the process of interview, the interviewer collects
different information. This is one of the most effective and
reliable method of fata collection. The questions asked in
interview may be open ended or close ended. And the type
of questions depends up on the type of interview. The client
is a perfect stranger to the agency on his/her first visits. The
social worker has to gather data regarding the problem,
how the client perceives it, what (s)he has done about it,
some data about the client himself/herself, his/her family
and his/her resources. When a client is not able to furnish
the required information, members of his/her family are
interviewed for the purpose.
Interviewing is a two-way process. Just as information is
received by the social worker, so also information is
imparted to the client regarding official procedures and
other matters about himself/herself, his/her role as a social
worker, and about the function of the agency. Information
about the self is all the more important for those clients
who come to the social worker not of their own volition but
through other people's coercion. The client is also informed
about other services.
Interviewing as a professional activity requires that the
social worker prepares himself/herself for the occasion.
After reviewing the previous interview or interviews with
the same client, the social worker should make note of the
gaps in information, the ambiguities that need clarification
and one's own lapses and shortcomings that need to be
replaced with skills of handling. Keeping these points of
review in mind, the next interview should be planned for

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eliciting fresh data, clearing doubts, testing assumptions,
assessing facts and for using techniques appropriately. The
interview should be good to collect the proper information
regarding client and his/her problem.
Qualities of good interview
1. Voice and language of interviewer must be clear and
commanding.
2. Interviewer must have good and attractive
personality.
3. (S)He must have knowledge and training regarding
subject matter.
4. Materials used in interview must be familiar.
5. (S)He must be free from political, religion and other
aspects.
6. (S)He must understand feelings and thoughts of
interview.
7. Must be able to dissolve in that society and situation.
8. Must be simple in habit, thought, language etc.
9. Must be free from phobia.
10. Must have enough time should be able to give time.
Types of interview
There are different types of interview on different basis.
1. Interview on the basis of informant
a) Personal interview
When interview are collected from only one
informant is called personal interview. Confidential
information is collected by this method.
b) Group interview
When information are collected from large number
of people than such type of interview is known as group
interview. Usually 20 to 25 people are used to gather
information. In this method the interviewer must be able to
handle the situation.

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2. Interview on the basis of methodology
a) Non-directive interview
In this method as interviewer conducts interview in
an uncontrolled way. In this method questions are not
prepared beforehand. Thus, this method is also known as
unstructured method. Especially, for research and life
history interview, this method is adopted.
b) Directive interview
This interview is conducted with district question.
Hence, it is also known as schedule-cum-interview or
controlled interview or structured interview.
c) Focused interview
The interviews which are highly focused regarding
the issue related to national level, special subjects, incident
to find out the cases and solution is called focused
interview. This type of interview is conducted by mass
media like radio, television, newspaper etc.
d) Depth interview
This interview is conducted for finding the depth of
the issue and problem up to its root. In this interview the
researcher or social worker keeps on interviewing with the
client to get to the depth of the root cause of the problem or
the issue.
e) Critical interview
The use of critical analysis on to the clients thought
and belief is known as critical interview. In this interview
the interviewer tries to find the thoughts and belief of the
client towards their problems and the cause of the issues.
f) Prolonged interview
This is the longest type of interview which is
intended towards the specific subject related to the client

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problem. This type of interview is conducted to find the
solution of the related specific issue of the client.
3. Interview on the basis of function
a) Diagnostic interview
When the objective of the interview is confined to
investigating an issue or problem; it is called diagnostic
interview.
b) Treatment interview
The process of interview that involves the
treatment of the problem of the client is called treatment
interview.
c) Research interview
Interview conducted for the purpose of data
collection or hypothesis building in a research is called
research interview.
4. Interview on the basis of formality
a) Formal interview
The interview which is formal in nature and that is
structured with different pre-prepared questionnaire. This
interview has some formality that has to be followed and
meet while interviewing with the client
b) Informal interview
The interview which is not formal in nature and not
structured with any steps or rules is called informal
interview. It does not have any rules to follow while
interviewing the client.
4. Relationship
The worker-client relationship is another casework tool
that needs to be delineated. Relationship between any two

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people is the condition of their being connected in a
significant way. We experience various kinds of
relationships in our lives. First of all, there are the
relationships derived from being members of one's family
and kinship groups. Parent-child, sibling-sibling, uncle-
niece relationships are examples. These are permanent and
unalterable, lasting as long as one lives. On the other hand,
relationships between two friends, neighbors’ or classmates
are temporary. The doctor-patient, teacher-student,
supervisor - supervisee, lawyer-client are examples of
professional relationships. One can broadly classify
relationships according to quality also. A relationship
between two people, characterized by hatred is a negative
relationship; nevertheless, it is a relationship. Likewise, a
relationship marked by affection is a positive one.
It follows from the above discussion that the social worker-
client relationship is a professional relationship, and that it
has to be positive in nature. Only a positive relationship can
serve as a means towards the desirable end of helpfulness,
the type of helpfulness that provides scope for the exercise
of casework principles.
Professional relationships have some common
characteristics. They are bound by time to specific
purposes. When the purpose is met, the relationship comes
to an end. Unlike family relationships which are diffuse and
permeate many areas of human life, professional
relationships pertain only to the areas surrounding specific
purposes. For e.g., take the teacher-student relationship.
The student's academic life is a matter of legitimate interest
and attention for the teacher, who thereby assumes
responsibility regarding how the student spends his/her
time in school. The teacher is not concerned what the
student does after school hours. The parent-child
relationship, on the other hand, is all inclusive. There is
hardly any aspect of the child's life that is not pertinent to
the parents' view. In family relationships, mutuality is also

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implicit in one form or other. Parents take care of children,
and when parents grow old the children, who are adults by
that time, are expected to take care of the ageing parents.
The dyadic pair in a professional relationship, however, is
not bound by any consideration of mutuality. There, the
mutuality concept is replaced by market economy, in the
sense that, the professional service gets paid through some
kind of monetary arrangement.
In a professional relationship, as between a doctor and
patient or a social worker and client, the professional
person uses two types of authority, one based on his/her
knowledge and the other sanctioned by society for the
practice of one's profession. Because of his/her knowledge
and skills (S)he is able to apply suitable procedures for
helping the patient or client. The possession of knowledge
and skills is instrumental in obtaining a certain amount of
conferred authority for the practice of his/her profession.
The social case work implies two types of relationship with
client. They are as below:
1. Professional relationship
2. Treatment relationship
Professional relationship
This is the relationship between social case worker
and client which is started at the beginning of the problem
solving process with the promise of solving the problem of
the client. The case worker focuses on need of the client
only to solve the problem. During agreement the places is
fixed for the interaction like office, institution agency or
any other organization. During problem solving the social
case worker gives ideas views or solutions to the client
which is professional in nature and the two person meet at
the fixed time period. The relationship is open between
client and social case worker and the priority is given to the
satisfaction of the client.

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Treatment relationship
This is the satisfaction and problem alleviation
oriented relationship which is oriented towards reducing
the problems of the client by different treatment methods
and process. It helps the client to gain maximum
satisfaction of understanding the situation and heading
towards resolution of the problem.
5. Home visit
Conducting the interviews in the office of the agency
has certain advantages. It provides for privacy and prevents
distractions. It invests a certain degree of formality and
professionalism in the conversation, to the extent that the
clients are encouraged to view the interviews seriously. But
to some clients, the formality of the office may be
threatening, provoking them to put on masks that hide their
real selves and feelings. For such people, having one or two
interviews at home will be a welcome relief. There are also
some other considerations which make home visits an
important and necessary casework tool.
First of all, there is the likelihood that the client perceives
the social worker's visit to his/her home as an indication of
the social worker's interest in his/her welfare. Recognition
by the client of the social worker's interest and concern is
desirable as far as the progress of the casework process is
concerned. Furthermore, there are clients whose fatalistic
attitude to life's problems and the resultant resignation to
problems prevents them from doing anything. Social
workers have to go to them rather than wait for them at the
agency. One or two home visits may not bear any fruit;
more visits will be necessary. Repeated home visits by
social workers are recorded in some of the Survey of
Casework Records (SOCR) cases, the social worker's
persistence paying off in the end.
Home visit is definitely advantageous in that it enables the
social worker to observe the home environment of the

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client. Importantly, the interactions which take place
among the family members lend themselves to the social
worker's observation from which the social worker is able
to make useful inferences about the attitudes and
relationships within the family.
There was the case of Lakshman (15 years) who was
referred to the social worker for poor academic
performance and aggressive behavior. Lakshman lived in a
one-room tenement with his parents who asserted that they
loved Lakshman very much, that they gave him everything
he wanted and that they expected him to do well in school.
Even the T.V. set was bought for him, they declared.
During every visit, the social worker found the whole
family in front of the T.V., including Lakshman, who had
his school books open in front of him but his eyes on the
program.
On one visit, the social worker was talking to Lakshman
about his school report, suddenly and unexpectedly, the
father began to beat Lakshman, scolding him loudly for his
failure in the examination. The contradictions in parental
handling could be easily seen by the social worker during
home visits.
6. Recording
Recording is one of the essential tools of the social case
work. The term ‘recording’ indicates the noting down of
the facts or sequences of activities or events. By
maintaining records social case worker can improve his
professional skills and techniques. The social worker
records many other things as the case progresses. His/her
work diary is meant for jottings on events as they happen.
The jottings cover names, addresses, dates, notes on
interviews, points of importance gleaned from
conversations with people other than clients collaterals and
resource persons, observations, inferences and elements of
the casework process.

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From the data which are in a jumble in the work diary, the
social worker organizes systematically the content of the
formal case record, which is a formal or official record
maintained at the agency. The casework record serves some
important purposes. It is humanly not possible to retain in
mind all the information related to a client. Writing
becomes necessary for formulating the social assessment
and plans of action in each and every case. Putting down
the events and related aspects in black and white helps the
social worker in evaluating his/her own work. So the
practice of recording regularly is the features of the case
along with the helping activities facilitate the casework
process.
Casework records are necessary from administrative
considerations as well. They provide the data necessary for
reviewing periodically the work of the agency, from
perspectives of quality and quantity of service. From the
content of the case records the administrator is able to find
out how, where, and in what, the social worker's
professional time is spent and this kind of reviewing is
necessary to assess the effectiveness of the work of the
agency.
Purposes of recording in casework
 Helps in diagnosis and treatment.
 Enables more effective interviewing and intervention.
 Useful for organizing and structuring of
information/aids orderly thinking.
 Refreshes the memory of the worker/increases
retrospective understanding.
 Enables better planning for subsequent interview.
 Useful as a guide to new worker in correcting past
mistakes.
 Useful as an index for correction of polices.
 Ensure continuity if any caseworker discontinues a
case.

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 Administration useful for future reference.
Techniques of social case work
Casework techniques are the procedures of helping
the client. They are the wherewithal through which the
client gets the experience of being helped. The client may
not perceive the procedures as specific units or
characteristics of his/her contact with the social worker, but
(s)he will generally experience the fact of being helped.
Supportive Techniques
The supportive techniques are indeed necessary, because
they obviate the use of defenses by the client. The
supportive techniques and the techniques that cater for the
material and non-material needs, thus remove some of the
obstacles for change. Most of the remaining obstacles can
be removed by means of counseling, unless they are too
deeply entrenched and also complicated by other factors.
1. Acceptance
Acceptance is one of the basic techniques of helping.
The abstract principle of acceptance is made a reality
through the technique of acceptance. It is a way of
approach, an ongoing disposition through which the client
feels that (s)he is welcome to the social work agency and
that the social worker wants to help him/her. Acceptance by
the social worker is conveyed through words, the tone of
the words and the overall behavior which is visible to the
client. Further, it is characterized by the worker's warmth
and courtesy to the client, his/her demonstration of interest
in the client, his/her geniality and cordiality. The way the
client is received, given a seat and listened to, is important
in creating an atmosphere of acceptance.

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2. Assurance
In certain contexts, the client needs assurance regarding
the authenticity of his/her feelings and that (s)he will not be
judged, or ostracized for his/her feelings. The client has to
be helped to understand the difference between feelings and
doing. One may feel murderously angry at another person
but does not have to feel guilty as long as one does not
commit the murder or do any other thing that causes harm
to the person against whom (s)he has the angry feelings.
Feelings of any kind are neither wrong nor blameworthy,
but certain acts carried out under the force of feelings can
be unlawful and wrong because of the harm it causes
others. For example; In the SOCR, there were a few female
clients who had told the social workers at one time or the
other that there were times when they wished that their
alcoholic husbands were dead. The common observation
was that, after making this angry statement they felt
embarrassed and guilty. The social workers were not
shocked at hearing such statements nor were they inclined
to reprimand the client for expressing such feelings. But
they were accepting and assuring in their responses that
conveyed the message: "I can understand your feelings of
anger. It is human and natural to have these feelings in such
circumstances''.
3. Facilitation of Expression of Feelings
It has been stated before that for the client, the
expression of feelings is necessary; it is now added that
facilitation of expression of feelings becomes a technique
for the social worker. The accepting attitude on the part of
the social worker does make it easy for the client to vent
his/her feelings. Strong feelings, when bottled up, can
create blocks in thinking and thus impair one's problem
solving abilities. Feelings like anger, guilt, sorrow, despair,
and such others consume considerable mental energy,
leaving very little for problem solving. Hence, it is

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necessary for the client who is carrying a load of emotional
material, to unburden himself/herself. The social worker by
careful listening, by asking appropriate questions and by
refraining from judgmental statements, facilitates
expression of feelings by the client. The social worker acts
as a prompter and prodder.
4. Accrediting and Building of Self-Confidence
It has to be remembered that the social worker cannot
take over the client's problem, however helpless the client
may be. All techniques should be directed towards making
the client an active participant in problem solving, and for
that, the client needs to develop self-confidence. Pointing
out the client's strengths and giving him/her due credit for
the tasks (s)he has been able to perform successfully, is
helpful in building up self-confidence.
5. Encouragement and Reassurance
Encouragement and reassurance need to be used to
clients' advantage in casework. It is a common experience
of social workers that clients are generally reluctant to do
unfamiliar things without strong encouragement, albeit
doing such things is necessary to improve the situation.
6. Emotional Support
All the techniques presented and discussed in this and
preceding pages constitute the supportive techniques in
casework. They provide emotional sustenance to the client
and are used with the goal of making the client fully
affirmed and sufficiently strengthened to take the next step.
Giving emotional support is a term commonly used in
social work parlance, with the speaker using the term to
mean as if it were a single technique. Realistically
speaking, the term refers to a cluster of techniques, that is, a
combination of all or some of the techniques discussed
above. Therefore, emotional support may be considered as

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a multiple technique. Emotional support, when effectively
used, makes the client hopeful, bolsters his morale and sets
the stage ready for his participation in problem solving.
Almost all clients need emotional support in order that they
may feel comfortable with the social worker, the agency
and themselves to be able to use help to handle their
difficulties.
7. Change of Physical Environment
The change of physical environment is another
technique which will be necessary for some clients for
better functioning. For example; some of the children who
were referred to the community centers for poor academic
performance were children who had no facilities at home
for quiet study. Their dwelling places were often
overcrowded with too many persons living in a small area
of space and there was no nook or corner where they could
sit and read. Arranging a place for them which they could
use for a few hours every day for study was helpful. Even
these small changes demanded persistent efforts on the part
of the social workers. Effecting more substantial changes
like finding a place of accommodation for clients who were
pavement dwellers was beyond the capacity of the social
worker, though in a few cases, plots for huts could be
procured in slums.
8. Enhancing Information and Knowledge
Imparting knowledge, like any other casework
technique is used according to the needs of the situation
and the client. In these situations the social worker's role is
almost like that of a teacher, teaching about human needs,
relationships and how parents could involve themselves in
growth producing relationships. But the teaching in
casework practice has to be carried out in an indirect
manner without making the client self-conscious or
uncomfortable about his lack of knowledge.

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Counseling Techniques
In a broader sense, counseling techniques are
inclusive of the supportive techniques because in the
beginning phase of the social worker-client transactions,
use of supportive techniques is necessary for initiating a
positive relationship. They are presented as two categories
to highlight the fact that with regard to some client’s
casework service does not go beyond the application of
supportive techniques and the techniques for enhancing
resources. When they are considered as two sets of
techniques the meaning becomes clear with the statement
that, counseling techniques are always preceded by one or
more of the supportive techniques. But supportive
techniques are not always followed by counseling
techniques. Counseling techniques helps client in such a
way that the client find him/herself capable of dealing with
problems at present. Counseling may also solve the
problems of the client in the near future.
1. Reflective Discussion
Reflective discussion is discussion between the social
worker and the client based upon the client's deep thinking
on the different areas of his/her life that have a bearing
upon his/her problem. Most of the problems of living need
thinking through, for finding constructive solutions. At one
point or other, in the social worker-client relationship, the
client has to be enabled to view his/her problem objectively
by separating the actualities of the situation from the
feelings and impressions surrounding it. There is a need to
look at the various aspects of the problem, its antecedents
and the likely consequences. It may be necessary to trace
the development of the problem and be aware of the parts
played by self and others, knowingly or unknowingly.
Then, there is the question of what can be done now? By
means of appropriate questions, empathetic remarks, and
statements linking the various elements of the problem, the

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social worker should be able to draw out the client's
capacity for thinking and to help him/her to reflect upon the
different aspects of the situation. Reflective discussion as a
multiple technique may span a part or the whole of one or
more interviews.
2. Advice
Advice is a technique in counseling. In casework
literature, most of which has originated from the West,
advice is not ranked high in the list of techniques for
various reasons. But it is used considerably, and with
advantage in casework practice in India and some other
country. In the Indian socio-cultural tradition, advice is
something which is sought, given and accepted without
misgivings. Social work clients do ask for advice and even
at times when it is not asked, it may be given or provided, it
is given objectively, is based on sound knowledge and on
the client's genuine need for it. There is also the condition
that advice-giving is not followed by any attempt of
coercion or compulsion to make the client follow the
advice. Advice-giving can avoid the bad flavor that is often
associated with it, by the social worker's thoughtful act of
initiating reflective discussion on the matter advised. Take
the question of family planning. Many clients with large
families struggling with problems of poverty will need
advice on family planning. But it is not just a message
conveyed by the social worker to clients; it is a matter that
has to be discussed. The client will have queries needing
answers and anxieties that need to be allayed.
3. Motivation
Closely connected with advice is 'motivation', (a
multiple technique) a term which is commonly heard in the
field of family planning. One who advises guides and
finally persuades a man to undergo sterilization operation is
called a motivator. In casework, motivation refers to

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influencing the client to take a course of action that is
considered good for him and his family, or that is necessary
for solving the problem he faces. Expectedly, some clients
respond normally to the social worker's techniques of
advising, informing, and imparting knowledge by doing
according to the line of action indicated. Here, the
implication is that the emotional readiness to act in a new
way happens by way of a chain reaction. There are,
however, clients who listen and participate attentively in
the casework interview and even decide to take up a course
of action but fail in the last step that is, actually doing.
They cannot get themselves to the doing part. The
emotional readiness to act in a new way is not there. In
such cases, the social worker may have to provide
additional stimulation, inducement or spurring to activate
the client. Then the entire process of advising, discussing,
informing, teaching and spurring becomes motivation.
4. Clarification
In some contexts, clarification is called for before the
client can be motivated for a particular line of action.
Clarification means conceptually disentangling the various
factors of a situation, to render it more comprehensible to
the client. It would involve explicating one or more
elements of the situation that are not perceived correctly by
the client. For Example, There was the case of Shirin. She
was a prostitute and she was unwilling to go for a medical
test for sexually transmitted diseases. Clarification of the
factors linking prostitution to the disease was necessary
before she could agree to take the test.
5. Modeling
Clients do learn from what the social worker says and
also from what (s)he does. Since the social worker
converses purposefully and responsibly, some clients learn

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helpful and constructive ways of communication from their
experience of the social worker's pattern of communication.
When the social worker presents a prototype of behavior
with the idea that, the client may learn new forms of
speaking and doing, it is the modeling technique at work.
Supportive and Psycho-social counseling
Support plays a vital role in social case work. Social
case worker must provide full support to help the client to
get rid of his/her problems because it provide client with
courage and confident to tackle problems. Thus, counseling
provided to the client must be supportive in nature.
The term psycho-social is made of two word “psycho” and
“social” where psycho means relating to psychological or
mental and social means the factors relating to social
behavior or society. Thus, Psychosocial means the
combination and the interaction of the psychological and
social factor in relation to the thought and behavior of the
person.
The individual and his environment are inter-related with
each other. The change in one system creates change in
other system. In other words behavior and personality of an
individual is the product of psychological factors and
environmental factors. Thus, problem inclined is not only
due to psychological factor but also due to environmental
factors but also due to environmental factor where the
individual live. The psychology and personality of any
person is affected by social, cultural as well as religious
factors. If individual is not good then the society will also
be the same. In other word to make the better society we
should make a good individual.
Similarly the actual behavior and appearance of the person
is also a result of biological and social factors. The
differences between individuals are due to differences in
heredity characters and influences in environment. It is

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very important to know the pattern of person behavior
which is determined by biological factor and which is by
social factor. Thus, problems in individual are due to
different factors like environment, social, culture, religious
and heredity. For solving the problem the caseworker must
have knowledge about these problems and must use
different techniques of intervention like supportive and
counseling systems.
Factors related to psychosocial counseling
1. Social relation and environment of present and past
should be focused.
2. External influence has to be addressed in order to
promote better adjustment between his/her surround.
3. Specific approach should be used to collect data or
social evidence like social study, diagnosis and
treatment process.
4. Each person and each family is unique, thus must be
studied and listen separately.
5. Gathering information and understanding clients
dilemmas.
6. Observation and arrangement of data in order.
7. Conduct early interview for gathering information.
8. Observe clients non-verbal behaviors and psycho-
social study of children, parents, teachers and other
concerned people.
9. Many problems emerge due to the development phase
of individual and family life cycle therefore early life
history’s data is to be taken for psychosocial study.
10. After determining the most probable strategy
treatment need to be done.

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