THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS
2.3 STRENGTHS PERSPECTIVE
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Central to African life is the concept of Ubuntu (living through others). Social workers should thus understand traditional social safety nets (Ross, 2010). In Afrocentric social work, social research should also focus on traditional cultural practices. Afrocentric social workers are also encouraged to familiarise themselves with the material cultures of African communities (Thabede, 2005). These include clothing, shelter and food, among other things. Beliefs central to African life should also be recognised. These include the belief in witchcraft, ancestors and the Supreme Being. Social workers should also understand traditional cultural rituals such as circumcision and passage rituals. Afrocentricity will continue to evolve as more information on African people comes to light and as greater demands are placed on African people (Bangura, 2012).
Afrocentrists seek advocacy agency in every given place where examination, critique or analysis of African people happens (Asante, 2014).
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is thus opposed to the deficit/problem-solving model. It tells a much wider story about what people are doing to make things happen and succeed despite the odds, rather than letting things happen as passive by-standers in their own lives. Much of the available literature on the strengths perspective comes from social work and psychology. According to Guo and Tsui (2010), generalist strengths-based practice in social work originated in response to criticisms of the mainstream disease-based psychotherapeutic model and it is based on ecosystem and empowerment theories. The strengths perspective represents a paradigm shift from the problem-based approach.
The strengths perspective recognises that for most part of life, people face adversity, become resilient and resourceful and learn new strategies to overcome adversity.
According to Rankin (2006), the strengths perspective constitutes a fascinating and refreshing way to look at clients and their circumstances and is characterised by positive and optimistic view of people confronted with challenges of life. This perspective aligns with building resilience of service users and their families. This perspective requires that individuals, families and communities be seen in the light of their talents, competences, possibilities, visions, values and hope. It requires an accounting of what people know and what they can do. The social worker involved should compile an inventory of resources existing with and around an individual, family or community. The strengths perspective is an ecological perspective that recognises the importance of people‘s environments and the multiple contexts that influence their lives (Scerra, 2011).
Coping behaviours such as prayer, meditation and spirituality are recognised as important assets in times of the adversities of life. It is also important to recognise that
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strengths are culturally defined and strength in one culture may not be strength in another culture (Goodluck, 2002).
According to Grant and Cadell (2009), this perspective recognises the resilience of individuals and focuses on the potentials, strengths, interests, abilities, knowledge and capacities of individuals rather than their limits. Strengths-based perspective rose to prominence as an alternative to the conventional psychoanalytical social work which focused on the deficiencies of social work clientele. Norman (2000) argues that this perspective has changed focus from personal defects to the discovery of strengths, identification of risk factors and protective factors. Strengths-based approach is based on empowerment and ecosystem theories. It holds that all service users have got their strengths (Guo & Tsui, 2010). According to Guo and Tsui (2010), it does not label service users as dysfunctional, defective or ill while at the same time it differs from the empowerment model in that it does not view clients as powerless. The strengths perspective involves systematically examining clients‘ survival skills, abilities, knowledge, resources and desires that are necessary in the helping process. Central in to the strengths perspective are the assumptions that individuals have the capacity to grow and change, are resilient and possess knowledge about themselves. The strengths perspective assumes that individuals are responsible members in a viable group or community and are experts in their own lives (Nissen, 1998).
Central to the strength perspective are the concepts of strengths, empowerment and resilience, membership, healing and wholeness, dialogue and collaboration (Saleebey, 2001; Rankin, 2006). The social worker who uses this approach should respect client‘s strengths, engage client motivation, collaborate with the client in therapeutic work and
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avoid the victim mind-set. This perspective is based on the premise that all human beings have strengths, capacities and resources. People usually demonstrate resilience rather than pathology in the face of adversity. Healy (2005) identifies five principles of the strength perspective and these are adopting an optimistic mind-set, focusing on client‘s assets, collaborating with clients, working towards the empowerment of clients and creating a community. Social workers should believe in the strengths of the individual, family or community to take power and responsibility. Social workers who subscribe to the strength perspective resist paternalistic ways of interacting with clients and provide for patients to pursue their agenda as they define it.
The strength perspective also provides that though illness can be harmful, it can also be a source of challenge and opportunity. Redko, Rapp, Elms, Snyder and Carlson (2007) argue that, throughout life, people learn through adversity and challenges and can produce skills and emotional assets that enable them to survive through hardships.
Another concept similar to the strengths perspective is the Interpretive Anthropological Framework (IAF) designed by Hodge 2001. It was designed to understand the personal subjective reality of spirituality in clients‘ lives and it advocates that:
an individual‘s relationship with the Ultimate is a key strength which facilities coping, defeating loneliness, promoting a sense of mission and purpose, instilling a sense of personal worth and value, and providing hope for the future.
rituals, inherent in every spiritual tradition have been widely associated with positive outcomes and can serve to ease anxiety and dread, alleviate isolation, promote a sense of security and a sense of being loved and appreciated.
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participation in faith-based communities is also a significant strength which has been associated with increased empowerment, realisation of personal strengths, coping ability, self-confidence, lovability and a sense of belonging.
The strengths perspective is not natural to the world of helping and service (Graybeal, 2001). According to Laursen (2000), rather than focusing on individual and family weaknesses or deficits, the strengths-based social worker collaborates with clients to discover individual and family functioning and strengths. The underlying principle of the strengths perspective is the belief that clients have unique talents, skills and life events in addition to specific unmet needs.
The strengths perspective has the following assumptions:
people have many strengths and have the capacity to continue to learn , grow and change,
focus of intervention is on the strengths and aspirations of the client,
social environment is seen as full of resources,
service provider collaborates with clients,
interventions are based on the client‘s self-determination,
there is a commitment to empowerment,
problems are seen as the interaction between individuals, organisations or structure rather than deficits within individuals, organisations or structures.
(Miley, O‘Melia & DuBois, 2011; Hammond, 2010).
The strengths perspective is a philosophy and a practice model generated within the field of social work. It is an alternative to viewing clients as pathology units. According to Nissen (1998), one model gaining popularity in the strengths perspective is the Asset
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model which focuses on external and internal characteristics of a client that serve as protective factors in adversity. The strengths perspective is against programme models that do not include a search and the role for strengths of the clients.
2.3.1 Strengths-based Practice in Social Work
The strengths perspective emanates from social work values of client‘s self- determination, empowerment, and inherent worth and dignity. The strengths approach involves systematically examining the client‘s survival skills, abilities, knowledge, resources and desires that can help in meeting the client‘s goals. The major focus in strengths- based social work is the collaboration and partnership between the client and the social worker (Rangan & Sekar, 2006). Social workers should enhance the strengths of service users as these have been found to make them resilient in periods of adversity. ―The strengths-based approach transforms the professional relationship of social workers and service users from an unequal dyad to an equal collaborative partnership for problem solving‖ (Guo & Tsui, 2010:237). The strengths-based approach enables social workers to approach clients with a positive attitude. The belief in strengths-based perspective is that without collaboration, it will be difficult to understand all the aspects of the client and his/her family.
2.3.2 Basic Assumptions of Strengths-based Social Work
The following are lexicons of strengths perspective as presented by Saleebey (1992) and (Pulla, 2012).
Capacity for growth and change: The strengths perspective believes that people have the capacity to grow and change.
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Knowledge about one’s situation: The approach assumes that people have knowledge that is important in defining their situations.
Resilience: According to the strengths perspective, people are resilient. In the context of the strengths perspective, resilience is seen as the opportunity and capacity for individuals to navigate their way through challenging circumstances by means of psychological, social, cultural and physical resources that may help them overcome those trying circumstances and provide them with an opportunity and capacity, individually, and collectively, to meaningfully negotiate life following that adversity:
Membership: The strengths perspective believes that people need to be citizens. In other words, they should be responsible and valued members in a viable group or community
Strengths and interventions: Individuals are experts in their lives and are doing something to better their situations.
The strengths perspective compels social workers to understand and believe that everybody has internal and external assets, competencies and resources. According to Saleeby (2000:127), ―we are called to venerate the remarkable abundance of human experience, to acknowledge that every individual, family or community has an array of capacities and skills, talents, gifts, wishes and wisdom that in the end are the bricks and mortar of change‖. The strengths perspective believes that everyone who struggles learns from the struggle and develops capacities and traits that act as resources in moving forward in life. It holds that people have dreams, hopes and visions though they may be wedged in disease, oppression, poverty and misfortune. Central to the strengths
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perspective is the concept of empowerment. A professional utilising the strengths perspective should help individuals, families and communities see and utilise their capacities, see options open to them, understand the barriers they face and improve their quality of life. Social workers are encouraged to collaborate with clients to move clients to their visions and aspirations.
According to Saleeby (2006:10), the strengths perspective is made up of three elements which can be summarised with the acronym CPR.
C- capacities, competence and character P- promise and possibility
R- resources, resilience and reserves.
According to Saleeby (2000), social workers utilising the strengths perspective should believe the client and believe in the client. They are encouraged to believe the stories brought by clients and should engage them in practice. They are also encouraged to affirm and show interest in the clients‘ view of things. They should further serously take the narratives and stories brought by clients to them. These narratives assist in discovering who the client is and the virtues they possess. A social worker utilising the strengths perspective should focus on the dreams, hopes and visions of the clients.
They should also make an accounting of the assets, resources, reserves and capacities within the client and the environment. Social workers should believe that there are forces for healing, self-righting and wisdom within or around the person or family. They should, therefore, search for these and employ them in the service of achieving goals on the path to the client‘s dream. The strengths perspective believes that people‘s
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strengths make them resilient in periods of adversity. According to Guo and Tsui (2010), the new attitude represented by strengths-based practice was welcomed by powerless people in disadvantaged situations such as new immigrants, low income groups and patients with chronic illnesses. The strengths-based model does not label service users as dysfunctional, defective or ill. Programmes that enhance resilience are applied to strengthen strengths-based practice.
However, it is important to note that scholars do not agree with what constitutes a strength. Certain scholars such as Goodluck (2002) mention that the strengths perspective is not yet a theory in social sciences though others such Waller (2001) recognise it as a theory.