Assignment Details and Guidance

Assignment Details and Guidance

Details of assessment: Applying theories and methods to practice.

Select one of the three case scenariosprovided below and a) drawing upon appropriate theories, undertake a critical analysis of (an aspect of) the situation and b) discuss how you might use one practice framework, method or approach to address the key issues identified.

Develop an analysis of the presenting situation by drawing upon relevant sociological and psychological theories to explore personal, relationship and support issues that may need to be addressed (you should draw upon at least one sociological and one psychological theory).

Select one practice approach from the list below that would be helpful in resolving a portion of the issues you identified, and

briefly outline/describe the approach;examine the approach and your reasons for choosing it;explain how you would employ this approach in this particular situation;evaluate the potential strengths and weaknesses of adopting this approach.

Consider issues of power and oppression and identify how the interests of service users and carers could be promoted and protected;Ensure you provide particular reference to values of partnership, empowerment and anti-oppressive practice.

APPROACHES

Person Centred approach Task centres approach Solution focused approach

Crisis Intervention/Resolution approach Motivational Interviewing Approach Restorative Practice approach

Group Work and/or FGC approach N.B. Guidance will be provided at the Assignment Briefing at the start of the module and re-visited on 5th Feb. Please check the assessment regulations in the Handbook and consider the BA2 marking framework, as this will be referred to when marking your assignment.

Case scenario 1

Maureen42IrishMachinist

Lloyd36JamaicanUnemployed

Maureens children from previous relationship:

Aidan20White BritishIn prison for robbery

Paul15White BritishSchool

Donna12White BritishSchool

Presenting situation

Maureen informed the Duty social worker that she was in danger of harming Paul. Earlier in the day, he had cheeked her and she threw a plate at him so hard that, although it missed his head, it smashed through a door. She feared that she might seriously injure him if the same situation happened again. She had then gone round to see her older sister a current user of mental health services - who advised her to go to Social Services.

Maureen described herself as having become increasingly depressed over recent months and was currently off sick and taking anti-depressants prescribed by her G.P. Paul was starting to truant from school and had recently been cautioned by the Police for vandalism. When Paul was abusive towards her, she said that the way he spoke reminded her of her mother (who had been systematically physically abusive to her during her childhood) and it was at this point that she lost control. She also recognised that, in the violence of her response to Paul, she was acting just like her mother and she hated herself for it.

Lloyd was away visiting his mother for the day and was as yet unaware of what had happened.

Maureen

Maureens parents moved to England when Maureen and her two sisters were very young. Maureen was the middle child. Her father obtained low paid employment as a railway porter. He was well liked in the local immigrant Irish Catholic community. He drank regularly in the Parish Club and spent relatively little time at home. Her mother had to manage all the household often on very little money. She had a strong commitment to keeping up appearances and enforced a very strict and punitive form of discipline in the home. She systematically beat all the sisters throughout their childhood. However, Maureen, from a young age, took on the role of being the defiant one and so she received many more beatings than the others.

Her father took on a passive role and failed to protect the sisters from the beatings. He was not often there, and when he was, he chose to keep quiet to keep the peace. However, particularly when he had too much to drink, his wife would kick him out of their bed and he would get into bed with the eldest of the sisters who had a bed to herself (although all the girls shared a bedroom). This was never talked about and no one tried to put a stop to this. Maureen is still unsure as to whether her sister was subjected to anything explicitly sexual.

At various times, Maureen tried to escape from home, taking her sisters with her. However, no one in authority believed her, and the sisters were returned to their mother and, once back home, suffered particularly serious beatings. On one occasion a social worker called to the house, but was satisfied with Maureens mothers account of how she was bringing up her children and no further action was taken.

Maureen left home at 16, found work and very soon got married to an English man who became the father of her three children. She carried on working throughout, and built quite close social relationships with a number of women with whom she worked in the factory.

Lloyd

Lloyd was born in Jamaica in a rural area. His mother moved to England when he was 4 years old to work as a nursing auxiliary. He was brought up by his grandmother in Jamaica until his early teens when he came to England to live with his mother. He had limited contact with his father while he was still in Jamaica, but lost all contact once he moved to England.

On leaving school, he undertook an apprenticeship and found employment in the car industry. However, he found he was unable to sustain this. He discovered that he was suffering from sickle cell anaemia and he had to take too much time off sick.

Following arguments with his mother, he left home and found a flat of his own nearby in an inner city area. He spent many years messing about hanging around on the fringes of the drug scene, going to clubs and doing bits of casual work. He had a number of short-lived relationships. He met Maureen 8 years ago while working as a bouncer at a nightclub. He has had very ambivalent reactions from both his mother and certain other Black friends about having a relationship with a White woman.

The family

Maureen separated from the childrens father shortly after Donnas birth she found out that he had been having an affair. He still keeps contact with Paul and Donna and they generally stay with him every other weekend. Howeverowever, in her opinion, he is not really very interested in them and is unsupportive when it comes to dealing with issues of discipline. Recently, Donna has been asking not to stay the night there but Maureen has still tried to encourage her to continue with the arrangement Hes your Dad, after all.

Maureen states that she had not found it difficult to parent while her children were younger - problems only arose when the children became big enough to stand up to her. She found it almost impossible to resolve conflicts when they arose all she could do was to shut herself away for hours or days until she no longer felt so hurt. In an earlier argument with Aidan when he was 17 she had told him to pack up and leave. She had cut him off and they had had no contact since.

Maureens relationship with Lloyd has been on a somewhat on-off basis although they never lost contact for any length of time. She finds it hard to let herself get too emotionally close to him, although they have remained good friends. When he has been ill, she has felt compelled to look after him and take him back even if they have been living separately at the time.

She has been ambivalent about allowing him to act as a stepfather in relation to the children and would sometimes take their side against him when he tried to take a more prominent role within the family.

They live on a predominantly white council estate and Lloyd (and to some extent the rest of the family) have been subject to racist abuse - which has, at times, been a factor in his deciding to move out. Maureen is unwilling to move house.

Paul

Paul describes much of his earlier childhood as being happy. He got on well with both his siblings and his Mum. He feels rather let down by his father but this is not a very big issue for him. He also has mixed feeling towards Lloyd he likes him but does not see him as his father in any sense. He also finds it very hard to come to terms with the fact that his mother is having a relationship with a Black man and he hates being seen in public with Lloyd.

What really upset him was when Aidan and his Mum started having rows and he was devastated when Mum kicked him out. He has not seen Aidan for over 2 years and misses him terribly. He has not forgiven Mum for this and still feels very angry.

He sees himself as someone who stands up for himself and this has resulted in increasing conflicts both at School and home. He has reacted particularly strongly against other kids who have used racist insults towards him. When he feels he is in danger of losing it completely at school, he has tended to walk out to avoid getting into situations of head-on conflict and violence. However, while absent from school, he has been picked up by the Police. He is starting to be seen as a bit of a trouble maker on the Estate, and is mixing increasingly with other young people who are also truanting from school, and are becoming involved in taking drugs and small scale theft and burglary.

Donna

Donna has tended to be quite self-contained as a child. She does not like trouble or arguments. She felt very frightened by what happened between Mum and Aidan and now with what is going on between Mum and Paul. She has few friends and tends to worry a lot rather than communicate with others.

Recently, she has felt a bit creepy about the way her Dad is acting towards her. He always gave her lots of hugs and kisses when she was a little girl, but now it does not feel quite right. She tried to raise this with her Mum, but she felt she could not say exactly what was going on and her Mum did not seem to understand anyway.

Understanding the complexities of human behaviour and societal dynamics is fundamental in the realm of social work, where the amalgamation of psychological and sociological theories hold paramount significance. This assignment will focus on theories from both paradigms whilst critically analysing case scenario 1. It aims to explore personal, relational and support issues pertinent to the case, alongside identifying methods and approaches that may contribute to resolving or improving Maureens challenges.

Attachment theory, articulated by Bowlby, highlights the influence of early childhood experiences in shaping pivotal relationships and attachments conducive to social and emotional stability (reference). Central to this theory is that individuals are intrinsically driven to seek proximity towards primary caregivers as a means of attaining both psychological and physical safety. The significance of these relations with caregivers cannot be overstated, as it profoundly influences an individuals attachment style and their capacity to cultivate secure relationships in subsequent life stages (reference).

Bowlby found responsive and sensitive care to be associated with stronger attachments and improved outcomes in socialisation, emotional regulation, and psychological wellbeing (reference, G and G 2006). Contrary to the anticipated outcomes associated with responsive caregiving, Maureens development of an avoidant attachment style can be attributed to unmet childhood needs and trauma. Raised in an abusive and neglectful household, her needs were routinely overlooked, intensifying feelings of insecurity, and impacting her overall development, relationships, and mental wellbeing. Such experiences could have instilled in her a belief that others may not adequately meet her needs, contributing to emotional regulation difficulties and interpersonal disconnection. Consequently, Maureen experiences heightened feelings of loneliness and depression, exacerbating her challenges in forming meaningful relationships and maintaining psychological equilibrium (reference).

Notes:

Attachment theory depression focus, fear vulnerability, image of self worth and identity, cycle of interpersonal disconnectedness, in social settings she may encounter invalidation and people to think that she is difficult but not realise it is due to her attachment style. May be perceived as fundamentally different or unworthy, as an irish woman her experience of oppression intersects with wider societal norms, stigma in Irish community manifest feelings of shame and quilt, despite challenges faced her Irish heritage may serve as a source of resilience, include aspects of critical analysis of Bowlbys theory and other psychologists who differ.

Sociological theory Eriksons psychosocial theory focus on the stage of adolescence and how she moved out at 16 and did not have the normal upbringing of what normal people would do, she left home got married at 16, contrast this to attachment theory understanding the importance of social aspects which attachment theory fails to consider, Maureens exposure to such aspects within the environment have been limited as she got married and divorced and had kids at a stage of development, use research and finding,