Applied Psychology for Social Work, 2nd Edition (Transforming Social Work Practice)

145 Pages·2010·0.86 MB·English

by  Ewan Ingleby

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Applied Psychology
for Social Work
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Applied
Psychology for
Social Work
Second Edition
EWAN INGLEBY
Series Editors: Jonathan Parker and Greta Bradley
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First published in 2006 by Learning Matters Ltd.
Reprinted in 2007
Reprinted in 2008
Second edition 2010
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission
in writing from Learning Matters.
© 2010 Ewan Ingleby
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978 1 84445 356 6
The right of Ewan Ingleby to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by
him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Cover and text design by Code 5 Design Associates
Project management by Deer Park Productions
Typeset by Pantek Arts Ltd, Maidstone, Kent
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Bell & Bain Ltd, Glasgow
Learning Matters Ltd
33 Southernhay East
Exeter EX1 1NX
Tel: [phone]
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Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Introduction ix
1 Introducing social workers to psychology 1
2 Psychology and communication 19
3 Attitudes and beliefs 37
4 Psychology and mental illness 53
5 Child psychology 73
6 Psychology and old age 91
Conclusion 109
Answers to self-assessment questions 113
References 117
Index 123
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank colleagues and students at New College Durham and Teeside
University for their contribution to the debates and discussions that have contributed to
this book. I would also like to thank Professors John Fulton of Surrey University and John
Davis of All Souls College Oxford for encouraging me to persevere with reconciling study-
ing, writing, teaching and administrating. I also need to thank the staff at Learning
Matters, particularly Kate Lodge, Di Page and Jonathan Parker for their patience and
developmental comments. I am particularly grateful for the support of my parents and my
wife Karen and children Bernadette, Teresa and Michael. Without them tomorrow would
always be a much harder day.
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Introduction
This book has been written for student social workers needing to study and apply psychol-
ogy to their own practice. Although psychology is typically studied in the first year of the
degree programme as a separate module it is a subject that links to much of the rest of
the academic curriculum. It is a subject that makes an especially important contribution to
understanding human growth and development. Applying psychological therapies to
social work can be a way of raising standards and ensuring good practice. This objective is
as relevant today as it ever has been. As Mithran Samuel (2006) observes about social
work in general, social care professionals are becoming overwhelmed by paperwork at the
expense of working with service-users (online: www.communitycare.co.uk).
If the centrality of the service user experience is lost it can mean that social work becomes
akin to a bureaucratic exercise, what Michelle Binfield (2006) phrases as:
A lack of understanding and an unwillingness to address a multiplicity of needs (online:
www.communitycare.co.uk).
This is the reason why this book discusses the application of psychology to social care. It
may be argued that of all the social science modules available to social workers psychol-
ogy is especially important because it offers potential explanations of complex aspects of
human behaviour and development. According to the Department of Health it is impera-
tive that human growth and development is taught to all social workers. This
recommendation can be put into effect upon realising that psychological therapies can be
used with service-users who have many differing needs. My own realisation of this impor-
tant point occurred when working with service-users with mental health needs and
learning disabilities. I had previously studied academic psychology and enjoyed interpret-
ing aspects of my own personality in relation to the textbook psychological theories. This
interest was put into perspective upon experiencing the ways in which service-user behav-
iour can be influenced through the application of psychological therapies. Like many social
workers I wanted to go into the profession to help those in need of being helped. On
reflection, the experience of care planning through applying psychological therapies to
particular service-users was one of the most satisfying aspects of residential social work. It
is a memory that will always stay with me. It is one of the reasons for producing this book.
A major aim is to convey the idea that applying psychology to social work can make pro-
fessional practice much more effective. Applying psychology to social work can become a
means whereby a balance is offered between what is intrapersonal and particular to the
social worker alongside what is interpersonal and accepted as being general good practice
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