PRC Social Worker key terms

A way of understanding clients that treats the individual and the surrounding social and physical environment as one interacting unit, so assessment always asks how the fit between person and setting produces the presenting problem.

A framework, drawn from Bronfenbrenner, that pictures development as occurring inside nested layers of influence - family, school, community, institutions, culture - and locates problems in the transactions among those layers rather than inside the person alone.

Erikson's account of eight life stages, each presenting a crisis such as trust versus mistrust or generativity versus stagnation, whose resolution shapes a person's sense of identity and capacity for relationships.

The theory that early caregiver bonds create internal working models of self and others, which guide expectations, emotion regulation, and behavior in later relationships, including how people respond to separation and loss.

Bandura's explanation that people learn by observing models and anticipating consequences, so imitation, reinforcement, and beliefs about one's own efficacy shape which behaviors are acquired and performed.

A perspective treating the family as an interdependent whole whose members continuously affect one another, so that a symptom in one member is read as information about the balance and communication of the entire unit.

A standardized multigenerational diagram of a family using symbols for gender, births, deaths, marriages, and separations, which helps a worker spot recurring patterns of illness, conflict, or caregiving across generations.

The ability to keep functioning and recover after hardship, produced by the interplay of personal characteristics, at least one supportive relationship, and community resources that cushion the effects of risk.

Mental maneuvers, usually outside awareness, such as denial, projection, or rationalization, that manage anxiety by keeping threatening thoughts and feelings out of conscious awareness or by disguising them.

Two contrasting orientations: the residual view treats welfare as a temporary safety net for people who fail in the market, while the institutional view treats it as a normal, permanent service available to all members of society.

A contributory protection scheme, like SSS, GSIS, or PhilHealth, where members and employers pay premiums and benefits are earned through contributions rather than by proving destitution.

Tax-funded, non-contributory help given to people who meet a defined eligibility test, such as the social pension for indigent senior citizens or emergency relief for disaster victims.

A poverty program that pays regular cash grants to poor households on condition that children attend school and family members use health services; the Philippine version is the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.

The transfer of service delivery responsibilities and resources from national agencies to local government units under the Local Government Code, which made provinces, cities, municipalities, and barangays key providers of social welfare services.

Under the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act, the channeling of a child in conflict with the law away from formal court proceedings into community measures such as supervision, counseling, or restitution.

Republic Act 9262, which defines and penalizes physical, sexual, psychological, and economic abuse of women by intimate partners, and provides protection orders and support services for survivors.

Republic Act 7277, which guarantees equal opportunity and access for persons with disability in employment, education, health, and public facilities, and prohibits discrimination against them.

The individualized method in which a worker builds a relationship with one client or family, assesses the person-in-situation, and delivers planned services aimed at restoring or improving social functioning.

A method that uses small, purposeful group experience to help members meet needs, change behavior, or complete tasks, guided by the stages of group development and by attention to group dynamics.

A method of helping residents and people's organizations identify shared problems, plan together, and act collectively on community issues, often through participatory research and mobilization of local resources.

The planned, time-limited professional connection between worker and client, built on acceptance, empathy, and genuineness, whose only purpose is to serve the client's agreed goals.

Short-term, focused work that helps a person regain equilibrium during an acute disruption, using rapid assessment, emotional support, practical planning, and linkage to services.

A brief, structured model in which worker and client agree on specific problems and on tasks to be done between sessions, with progress reviewed and the work ended within a set timeframe.

Coordinating assessment, service planning, referral, monitoring, and follow-up for a client who needs several services, so that a fragmented system of providers works together on the person's behalf.

Action by a worker to press for a client's or group's rights and interests with people who hold power, ranging from speaking for one individual to campaigning for changes in policy or practice.

An orientation that begins assessment with clients' capacities, resources, and aspirations rather than with deficits, and builds intervention on what the person and community already do well.

The supervised, agency-based practicum in which a student carries real cases and applies classroom knowledge, values, and skills under guidance, integrating theory with actual practice.

A written agreement between student and field supervisor specifying learning objectives, planned activities, supervision arrangements, and how the student's performance will be evaluated during the placement.

A detailed written reconstruction of an interview, including what client and worker said, the worker's observations and feelings, and an analysis, used to develop skill through supervision.

The agency-based practitioner or social work staff member who guides a student's daily work, teaches practice skills, and judges whether the student is meeting the placement's learning objectives.

The principle that clients have the right to make their own decisions, including choices a worker disagrees with, limited only where there is serious risk of harm to the client or others.

The duty to keep client information private and to disclose it only with the client's consent, or when law or serious danger to life makes disclosure necessary.

A client's voluntary agreement to services or to release of information, given after the worker explains the purpose, methods, risks, benefits, alternatives, and the right to refuse or withdraw.

The limits that keep the working relationship centered on the client's needs and exclude personal, sexual, financial, or other secondary relationships that could exploit the client or cloud professional judgment.

The continuing development of awareness, knowledge, and skill that lets a worker practice respectfully and effectively with people whose culture, language, religion, gender, or ability differs from the worker's own.

A situation in which two or more professional obligations conflict so that any action violates something important; resolving it requires identifying the principles at stake, consulting, weighing consequences, and documenting the reasoning.

The profession's formal statement of values, principles, and standards of conduct that guides practitioners, informs decision-making, and provides the basis for handling complaints and disciplinary action.

The value holding that all people deserve fair access to resources, rights, and opportunities, and that social workers must act against discrimination, poverty, and structural arrangements that produce inequality.

The ethical obligation to practice only within the limits of one's education and experience, to seek supervision when needed, and to keep knowledge and skills current through continuing professional development.