Social Work Knowledge Application, Critique & Ethical Analysis

This essay provides a detailed analysis of social work knowledge application and critique, focusing on issues such as overcrowding and its impact on families. It delves into system theory, examining its application in social care and work, including open and closed systems, and ecological systems like microsystems, mesosystems, exosystems, and macrosystems. The essay also explores person-centered theory and its relevance to social work practice, discussing hypotheses, circularity, and ambivalence in therapeutic settings. The study emphasizes the importance of understanding the interplay between individual well-being and broader social factors, highlighting the role of social workers in addressing complex challenges faced by individuals and communities, with Desklib providing access to similar resources for students.

Social Work Knowledge
Application and critique

TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Overcrowding and its issue:.........................................................................................................3
Hypothesis, circularity, and ambivalence:...................................................................................4
System theory:.............................................................................................................................4
System theory applied to social care and work:..........................................................................5
Four system in social work:.........................................................................................................8
Person centred theory:.................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Social work is a profession that encourages change, improvement, togetherness, and the
encouragement of people and the communities. Generally, social work operates at three levels
which are at the micro, mezzo and the macro level. It involves practices such as the
comprehension of the human development, its nature and the interactions related to the social,
economic and cultural aspects. Social work includes the following impacts such as the civil
rights, child abuse, decreased mental stigma, insurance of unemployment, compensation of
workers. Social work not only emphasis on the person's internal struggle but also work with
these people to analyse their relationships, history of family , work environment and other factors
that helps in solving the problem or challenge of the individual (Lindner and Woitok, 2021).
Household overcrowding is a situation when the number of occupants are more than the
actual capacity of the accommodating space available whether sustained in rooms, bedrooms or
floor area which impacts a negative outcome on the physical and social area. The negative
effects of overcrowding are connected to the lack of education, infectious disease and social area
related problems. This report will discuss about the overcrowding and the issues related to it,
system theory, its types and its application social care, application of the main social work
theories and models and the ethics applied to the existing practice issues and a critical analysis of
a practice issue specifying the method and the way in which they applied the practice theory and
its involvement within a specific case.
MAIN BODY
Overcrowding and its issue:
Overcrowding is one of the most common but critical issue in the families who cannot afford to
live in adequate space, lack of space create certain problem like social. Overcrowding occurs due
to many reasons, mainly space problem, families living in small apartment or space where
population of family does not match the requirement of resource available in the house (Cable
and Sacker, 2019). I believe too many people in one single area create tension and environment
that impact people, in the case study, three children and their parent is facing issue of
overcrowding. Father unable to meet the demand of their children and lack behind in providing
social living, this family does not understand what are consequence of living as overcrowded,
there are certain issue, these are:

 Social problem: overcrowding means lack of privacy, families living in small space do
not get enough space to perform personal task or carry personal time. Privacy become an
issue when members are grown up and understand each other, in the case study, there is
privacy issue faced by parent. Their children are slowing growing and learning about
social area where physical privacy is important, parent able to carry their personal time.
Hypothesis, circularity, and ambivalence:
Hypothesising should be consider as acting and thinking process both explicit or implicit,
therapist. This simply means understanding what is right and what is wrong, in family therapy
field, connection and its pattern decide effectiveness of therapy in the process. In the case of Mr.
M and family, hypothesis are connection and pattern of the family and their relationship with
each other.
Circularity: Circularity means possibility of undermining the family belief system, this area
focuses on truth and question that are undermined to identify relationship with family member
and their own relationship with each other. Circularity simply mean belief system is based on
questioning process that define relationship with each other (Payne, 2020). In the case of Mr. M
and family, Circularity provide belief and questioning process where children of Mr. M ask
question related to overcrowding.
System theory:
Systems-theory is one of the most effective theory that allow person to understand
interdisciplinary study of system that include society, individual belief and other element.
Society plays vital role when it comes to shaping individual behaviour, it is very clear that there
are certain elements in the system theory each element is linked to each other and bring change
in system (Buergelt and et.al., 2017). I believe in social care, this theory is been used to
understand key element that impact person including social cause.
System theory in overcrowding issue means safety and standard of living. Overcrowding
as social issue highlight certain problem, due to overcrowding social issue may arrive. Under
system theory, client safety and the way to providing them strategies is emerging part of social
system (Clair, 2021). Each element is linked to each other, system theory applied to social care
issue highlight improvement of social area on systematic appreciation of whole system.

System theory applied to social care and work:
System theory can be applied to different area including social work, this theory focus on
personality, choice and hardship faced by individual. Social worker may deploy system theory to
understand issue in the society including overcrowding, this theory state that overcrowding
create dis balance in the system (Cummins, 2017). I believe System theory is divided into
different subsystems, each system have to work perfectly to maintain smoothness in the process.
In the case study, subsystems played vital role, these subsystems are external system or
environment that impact mental and social life of each and every family member.
According to Ruben, (2018) Subsystems may include friends, teacher and other external
individual that impact internal system of family for example if children of Mr. M started to
compare themselves with external system then they fill face certain issue like comparison may
create discrimination, impact motivation to live and impact mental stability, there are two type of
system in system theory which can be use in case of Mr. M to understand psychological
boundaries and element that impact family member and their mental stability, these are:
Open system Closed system
Open system means overall system of the
society that include closed system as well,
every element of the society including social
interaction with external world.
Closed system means internal system of the
family were external factors do not take part in
the process but have great role in the system as
whole including society and system.
Open system: According to Johnson (2021) system theory is quite big enough to understand
each element of the society, open system is one of the most important part of system theory that
highlight social interaction of individual. In the case study, family member interact with external
system including friends and teacher, these interactions allow them to explore different element
including lifestyle of friends and teacher (Ruben, 2018). Children of Mr. M may started to
compare their lifestyle with friends which bring down their motivation and might impact their
mental stability, I believe they are facing issue of overcrowding that simply means social
comparison will impact thought processing.
Closed system: Closed system means internal environment that impact mental stability of the
individual. In the case study, closed system means internal environment of family, Mr. M and his
family is facing issue related to overcrowding which means they lack behind in ensuring privacy.

Overcrowding impact two most important boundaries of system theory, these are; psychological
and physical boundaries, these are:
 Psychological boundary: family member and their psychological boundary was
impacted for example they lack behind ensuring privacy which means mental stability is
affected. Living too closing create tension, lack of space available means individual may
feel frustration, unstable mental stability become reason for social issue like depression
and anxiety (Kearns, 2022). I believe, In the case of Mr. M and family, psychological
boundaries can be seen which heavily impact motivation to live for example; Mr. M think
he lack behind in providing financial stability to his family and fail to meet the demand of
children. Psychological pressure can be seen on Mr. M where his regular activities are
also impacted.
 Physical boundary: Physical boundary play vital role when it comes to overcrowding
issue, lack of space create certain issue like lack of sleep, poor hygiene and contact that
create risk of infection. In the case study, Mr. M and his family was facing issue related
to physical area including risk of bacteria and infection which might impact their social
area.
Ecological system:
Ecological system theory is part of system theory that provide in depth details about
system around individual and how this impact their behaviour and thought processing ability
(Mancilla Garcia, Hertz and Schlüter, 2020). I believe, it is very clear that, development of child
and family is complex process, every system have their own impact on development process.
Each every of ecological system have unique way to impact thinking and feelings of individual,
this system theory ensure care taker remain aware about factors that impact individual. In the
case of Mr. M and family, ecological system play vital role, this allows social worker to examine
those factor that impact child and family, there are certain elements of ecological system theory,
these are:
The microsystem: The first and most important element of ecological system theory that
highlight external factor impacting development of child and family, this may include; school,
teacher, friends, peers and buddies that have valuable contribution in development process. I
believe, in the case of Mr. M and family, microsystem system have their own great impact for
example; school peers of Mr. M children are living stable life and enjoying privacy, here social

comparison can be seen that impact thinking of children (Yarmohammadian and et.al., 2017).
Microsystem have great role in shaping thinking of child, interaction with friends and peers
allow them to explore new world where comfort is primary option where they lack behind,
psychological impact can be seen where children might face depression and anxiety. Social
worker of this family have to work on understanding microsystem factors and need to provide
treatment accordingly.
The mesosystem: The second and important element of ecological system, this allows parent
and teacher to interact with each other for one particular topic that impact child and their
development. Child may not interact with teach or parent for development process but parent can
do, this mesosystem remain between microsystem and impact development process of child
(McLeod and Chaffee, 2017). In this case, Mr. M and his children impacted due to mesosystem
for example if Mr. M and teacher interact with each other, then development of children can be
seen, although interaction need to be positive that allow parent to explore development process.
As a Social worker I need to examine key factor of this element and need to capture overview of
the environment, social worker can work on this family by understanding key factor they tend to
interact with for example social interaction of Mr. M with other people including family, society,
group and other people.
The exosystem: The third and powerful element of ecological system that have great influence
of development of the child, this element focus on those external factors which have different
type of design for example neighbourhood, workplace, friend's house and mass media. These
factor have their own effect on child development (MacDonald, 2018). In the case of Mr. M,
exosystem have great influence development of children for example if child visit their friends
house and observe betterment then they will wish for betterment in their home too which will
impact their positive thinking. Developed neighbourhood may affect thinking of children, stable
neighbourhood house will push them to demand stable house for themselves too. As a social
worker I have to analyse those factor that have great role in this case, for example
neighbourhood and friends place.
The macrosystem: The fourth and important element of ecological system theory, this element
focus on macro factors including society, culture, status, wealth, poverty and ethnicity. These
elements play vital role in system and impact differently, child development process affected due
to these factor. In the case of MR. M, mascosystem have great role because culture, society and

other factor impact children and their development, for example; wealth of Mr. M family lack
behind, they fall under less stable family area as they can not afford more space or better place to
live. Due to less wealth, status is also impacted (Perez-Soba and Dwyer, 2016). Children of Mr.
M might face disturbed growth because of macrosystem and its impact. As a social worker I
have to ensure they follow ethical guideline while addressing this client as they are socially
impacted due to less wealthiness. Social worker can examine these factor and provide solution
accordingly.
The chronosystem: The last and important element of ecological system theory, this impact
child and their development process, this element may include environment and its key factors
like life transition, historical event and personal or parental issue. In the case of Mr. M,
chronosystem may include tension in the house, fight and misbehaviour, due to overcrowding,
these elements can be seen which affect child development process. As social worker, I will
understand which factor have serious impact on children for example; parental issue can be seen
in this case which is serious issue affected development of child and their thinking process.
Four system in social work:
Change agent system: Change agent is person or group, professional or non-professional
outside system that help in bring change to the system agent can be anybody that have their own
method of bringing change in the system. In the case of Mr. M and his family, change agent help
in brining change to the system (Johnson, 2021).
Client system: Client system means individual, family, group, society or organization who
participate in change system and want to help social worker to bring change, these are change
agent but work on their will and interest. In the case of Mr. M and family, client system may
include individual or group and family that have their own method to bring change and help
social worker.
Target system: Target system means those people who will help in bringing change, these
individual have their own perception that can be included in the process of bringing change. In
the case of Mr. M and family, target are those individual who are change agent that help social
worker to bring change in the system.
Action system: Action system means those individual or group and family that work with social
worker to bring change, social worker consider efforts of these individual. In the case of Mr. M

and his family, action system are those individual that participate in bringing change with social
worker.
Person centred theory:
Person centred therapy is one of the most effective approach that allow client to explore
their own thoughts, therapist in this approach allow client to talk and provide details of the
problem faced by them (Freeth, Thorne and Shooter, 2017). Every client deserved to be
respected, valued and treated with dignity. Therapist have to adopt positive approach while
encountering with client and their needs, understanding their behaviour and provide solution
accordingly. According to person centre therapy, client demand positive behaviour or
environment to explore their thoughts and remove bad experience but if therapist adopt negative
approach then client may become more conscious and deny exploring experience or thought.
In the case of Mr. M, therapist have to examine need of client or family, adopting person
centred approach is one of the best way to solve issue faced by client. It is very clear that Mr. M
and his family is facing issue related to overcrowding which means each family member might
have their own needs that need to be fulfilled. Overcrowding is serious issue, client get affected
due to overcrowding, family member including children of Mr. M is facing both physical and
psychological problem. As a social worker I need to adopt person centred approach to solve
problem faced by the family and their member, there are certain principles of person centred
approach, these are:
Treating client with respect, compassion and dignity: in social work, every client need
treatment with respect, dignity and compassion. Worker have to consider those standards that
allow them to meet the demand of client, respecting client and providing them everything they
wish will allow worker to perform treatment effectively. In the case of Mr. M and family, worker
need to respect in the way they live, overcrowding is serious issue. Worker need to maintain a
level of dignity with family member and need to identify their needs for example; children of
Mr. M might be facing lack of respect due to overcrowding and may demand compassion then
worker need to adopt positive approach (Joseph and Bryant-Jefferies, 2018). It is very clear
every family member have their own thoughts and feeling which need to be respected when
addressing overcrowding issue. As a social worker I need to ensure they show dignity to client in
condition they are living, highlighting empathy will ensure client provide in depth details.

Providing coordinate care, support and treatment: every client demand care and effective
coordination to solve problem faced by them, with positive counselling, social worker can
examine problem faced by client and provide them treatment accordingly. In the case of Mr. M
and family, each member need support and care according to their diverse needs for example;
children may demand privacy which is issue in overcrowding, worker need to provide treatment
accordingly by providing them solution to ensure privacy is maintained. As a social worker have
to consider section 325 of The Housing Act 1985, to ensure family is shifted to well organized
place include sufficient space. There are many policies of government that allow worker to
provide care, support and treatment to client to fulfil their needs.
Personalized care and support: These principles is one of the most important principles of
person centre approach that allow worker to get personalized with client to meet their demand.
Worker ensure client get every requirement that made, from care to treatment, worker have
ability to fulfil these demand. In the case of Mr. M, each member of family need personalized
care and support, social worker have to examine needs of each member for example if Mr. M
and his wife is demanding privacy then worker need to support them and fulfil demand
accordingly, as a social worker I can consider policy of the UK government for treatment
including; London Pilot Scheme to ensure they get solution for overcrowding. Worker need to
fulfil personalized demand of client that allow them to become active member of the society.
Allowing client to become independent: Every client have their own needs and demand which
need to be fulfilled, social worker addressing needs of client have to allow their client to become
independent and make their own decision. In the case of Mr. M and family, worker have to
ensure each member of family become independent and make their own decision for example; to
ensure privacy, client need to become independent because worker cannot ensure privacy even in
overcrowding condition (McCormack, 2017). However, children of Mr. M are young that can
not make their own decision so as social worker I need to increase strength and abilities of
children to make their own decision and ensure privacy.
Providing unconditional positive regard and congruence: Every client need positive regard to
overcome problem faced by them, social worker who adopted person centred approach need to
consider positive regard while addressing needs of client (Coulshed and Orme, 2018). In the case
of Mr. M and family, worker need to keep positive regard for each family member by
understanding their needs and demand, for example while addressing children, worker need to

ensure they avoid mentioning drawback of living as overcrowded which can impact their
motivation or while addressing Mr. M and his wife, as social worker I need to ensure that keep
positive regard which means worker need to avoid any negative statement that might impact
motivation of Mr. M and his wife.
Maintaining confidentiality: Every client have their own confidential information which need
to be kept safe by social worker, in person centred approach, worker need to maintain
confidential information of client by ensuring ethical consideration during treatment. In the case
of Mr. M and family, social worker have to consider confidentiality guidelines that allow worker
to avoid leaking any personal details for example while providing treatment, as social worker I
may encounter with personal inform of Mr. M or his family member like identity or level of
income they have (Salway and et.al., 2017). This is one of the most important principle of person
centred theory that impact treatment of issue, Mr. M may provide that information’s which may
be highly confidential and related to government documentation process.
Understanding goals and experience: Every client have their own goals and experience which
need to be understood by social worker, it is very important for the worker to analyse patient
demand which highlight their goals. Adopting persona centred approach will help worker to
examine personal life and experience and provide them solution accordingly (Johnson, 2021). In
the case of Mr. M and family, it is important for social worker to examine experience and goals
of family for example; if children's goals is get stable life which was impacted due to
overcrowding then worker need to work on this goal. As social worker I can promote or motivate
their client to become self independent. Once client or family become aware about goals then
they will work to craft better future goals to make their life better.
Giving responsibility: Giving client responsibility allow them to become more stable,
responsibility is one of the best way to ensure client keep learning and actively participate in the
betterment of their life and current situation or condition. In the case of Mr. M and his family,
social worker have to provide responsibility to each member of the family and measure their
success accordingly for example; giving responsibility to Mr. M and his wife about improve life
quality will allow them to become more aware, worker will provide small responsibility to each
member that will help them to explore development process and become active in solving issue
like overcrowding (Sunega and Lux, 2016). As social worker I need to focus on skills and ability

of worker and need to work accordingly, worker need to avoid any kind of activity that become
burden for the family and its member.
There are certain benefit of person centred approach, these are:
Boost confident: Person centred approach boost confidence of client and allow them to become
more stable, this approach is beneficial because social worker and client both interact with each
other and exchange certain information which is important in development process (Germain and
Knight, 2021). In the case of Mr. M and his family, social worker adopted person centred focus
on boosting level of confidence of each member of the family. As social worker I have to ensure
they follow principles of person centred approach for example while addressing Mr. M and
member, social worker need to show respect avoiding any kind of expression impacting their
development process.
High quality of life: Person centred approach is designed to meet the need of client and to make
their life better and stable, this approach allow social worker to ensure they provide high quality
life experience to client or those strategies that can bring stable life to client (Waters and
Buchanan, 2017). In the case of Mr. M and his family, social worker using person centred
approach will understand each and every family member and their thoughts that impact their life
for example their emotional, social and practical needs. As social worker I have to focus on
removing barrier arrive due to overcrowding issue faced by family member.
Motivate client: Every client need motivation to become stable in their development process,
social worker who adopt person centred approach motivate their client to become more stable. In
the case of Mr. M and his family, social worker need to motivate their client. It is very clear that
due to overcrowding issue, children and even parent have lost motivation, lack of motivation can
be seen in this case. Social worker need to adopt person centred approach that allow them to
motivate their client by fulfilling their needs and demand on time. As social worker I even can
adopt those strategies that allow them to understand their client and focus on their development,
social worker have to focus on development of family member in the process.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it has been concluded that overcrowding arises from the high
social density in household, schools, clinics, it can arise for a shorter period of time or regularly
in the home, public spaces or transportation areas. It has a negative impact on the quality of line
of the people due to increased physical contact, sleep deprivation, lack of privacy and unhygienic