Assistant Social Worker (China) key terms
Assistant Social Worker (China) · Get comfortable with the vocabulary.
- Acceptance
Respect for a person dignity and worth without automatically approving harmful behavior, surrendering professional boundaries or promising a particular legal outcome.
- Self-determination
Participation by the person in decisions affecting their life within the actual capacity, safety and legal conditions relevant to the situation.
- Empowerment
Support for people to recognize and use their strengths, choices and resources, distinguished from making every decision on their behalf.
- Strengths perspective
An approach identifying capabilities and resources while still examining risks, barriers and needs rather than requiring denial of difficulty.
- Ecological perspective
An approach examining interactions between the person and relevant environments, rather than explaining every issue solely through individual traits.
- Casework
Individualized professional work using an assessed helping process with a person and relevant systems, distinguished from a promise to solve every problem.
- Group work
Purposeful work in which group interaction and shared activity contribute to agreed aims, rather than merely seating several clients in one room.
- Community participation
Meaningful involvement of affected people in a community process, requiring attention to access, representation and differing interests.
- Needs assessment
A structured examination of relevant needs, strengths, resources and priorities, distinguished from assuming that a referral already establishes the full problem.
- Informed consent
Agreement based on relevant understandable information and applicable capacity and voluntariness conditions, with limits that need actual contextual assessment.
- Confidentiality
Appropriate protection and use of personal information under relevant responsibilities and lawful limits, not an unconditional promise of absolute secrecy.
- Professional boundary
A limit supporting an appropriate helping relationship and role, including recognition of needs beyond the worker competence or authority.
- Referral
Connection with an appropriate service or professional for a defined need, with attention to consent, information, access and follow-through.
- Supervision
Structured professional examination of practice, judgment and development, distinct from merely approving every action or transferring all accountability.
- Case formulation
A reasoned account linking the available evidence, needs, strengths, hypotheses and intervention priorities, which should be revised when evidence changes.
- Output
An activity or product delivered by a service, such as a session or contact, distinguished from the resulting change in people circumstances.
- Outcome
A change relevant to the agreed objective, requiring a clear definition and evidence rather than a count of completed activities alone.
- Program evaluation
Systematic assessment of a program processes and results using appropriate questions, evidence and limitations, not an automatic causal conclusion from a trend.
- Counterfactual
The outcome that would have occurred under a different condition, which is not directly established by one before-and-after observation.
- Advocacy
Purposeful work to represent or support an issue or interest through appropriate channels, with attention to evidence, authority and affected perspectives.