Social workers tilt at windmills. We want to create a just and caring society. All we have to do is read headlines of local, national, and international news to see the difficulties of the tasks we have chosen for ourselves. When we reflect upon the work we do, we have more evidence that our work may be never-ending. The bright spots, hope, and the vision of a caring world impel us onward. In this think tank, I will show how I have developed models of social processes that I hope others can use in their quests for a more just and caring society. In each of these models, I drew upon the four cornerstones of evidence-based practice: research and theory, practice wisdom, service user wants, preferences, and values, and my own personal and professional values, experiences, and reflections. The two case studies are 1) factors associated with good outcomes when children have experienced complex trauma and 2) a model of intervention with perpetrators of interpersonal violence.

1. Building Models of Social Processes
From the Ground Up:
Two Case Studies
Jane F. Gilgun, PhD, LICSW
Professor, School of Social Work
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, USA

2. Topics
• Theories
•Models
• Top Down Models
• Ground Up Models
• Social Work Specific Models

3. Theories
• A statement of relationships between
two or more concepts

4. Theories
• A statement of relationships between
two or more concepts
• Transportable from situation to
situation

5. Theories
• A statement of relationships between
two or more concepts
• Transportable from situation to
situation
• In practice, we test them for fit in new
situations

6. Uses of Theories
• Helps us see what we might not have seen
otherwise
• Guidance in research
• Sensitizing concepts
• May prevent us from seeing other aspects of
phenomena
• Importance of looking for “negative” cases

7. Uses of Theories
• Helps us see what we might not have seen
otherwise
• Guidance in research
• Sensitizing concepts
• Develop them
• Refine and/or Refute them
• To come up with those that fit phenomena as we
interpret them

8. Models
• Statement of relationships of how things work
• Composed or concepts

9. Models
• Statement of relationships of how things work
• Composed of concepts
• Typically account for processes
• Helps us see what we might not otherwise see

10. Models
• Statement of relationships of how things work
• Composed or concepts
• Typically account for processes
• Helps us see what we might not otherwise see
• Test them for fit
• Modify them when “evidence” (our
constructions and interpretations) supports the
change

11. Intervention Research
• Ideal way to build models of practice
• Deductive and inductive
• Continual evaluation—formative
• Purpose to create a more workable model
• Adaptable to persons and situations
• Requires the use of
• The four cornerstones of evidence-based practice
• Common factors model

12. Examples of Theories
• Emotional expressiveness is the single most
important factor that differentiates persons with
risks for violence and who do not become violent
from persons with risk for violence and who
become violent.
• Beliefs account for why persons become violent
independent of their risk profiles.

13. Examples of Models
• Factors associated with good outcomes
when children have experienced complex
trauma
• Intervention with perpetrators of
interpersonal violence

14. Factors
• Definition of Good Outcomes
• Definition of Complex Trauma
• Factors
• Therapeutic alliance
• Parents’ actions
• Motivations
• Resources
• External factors

15. Interventions
with Perpetrators
• Beliefs
• About violence
• About effects of violence on self & others

16. Interventions
with Perpetrators
• Beliefs
• About violence
• About effects of violence on self & others
• Meanings of Violence
• Experience of Violence

17. Interventions with
Perpetrators
• Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)
• How to access ANS?
• How to ensure trust, safety, build therapeutic
relationships?
• Group work?
• Individual work?
• Accountability
• Reconciliation
• Self
• Others

18. Two Types of Model Building
•Top Down
•Bottom Up

19. Top Down
• “Deductive”
• Examples of Types
• Logic Models
• Theories of Change

20. Top Down
• “Deductive”
• Examples of Types
• Logic Models
• Theories of Change
• Many Possible Variations Re
• Philosophies of science
• Participants

21. Top Down
• “Deductive”
• Examples of Types
• Logic Models
• Theories of Change
• Many Possible Variations Re
• Philosophies of science
• Participants
• Typically
• Outsider perspectives
• Executives & Supervisors

22. Ground Up
• Has “deductive” elements”
• Conceptual frameworks
• Sensitizing concepts

23. Ground Up
• Has “deductive” elements”
• Conceptual frameworks
• Sensitizing concepts
• Seek to add to/modify/refute these elements
• Philosophy of science: phenomenological &
critical realism/contructivism/anti-oppressive

24. Ground Up
• Has “deductive” elements”
• Conceptual frameworks
• Sensitizing concepts
• Seek to add to/modify/refute these elements
• Philosophy of science: phenomenological &
Critical Realist/Constructivist/anti-oppressive
• Sources of data
• Insiders
• Persons who represent client groups
• Professionals familiar with client groups

25. Four Cornerstones of EBP
• Research & Theory
• Clinical Expertise
• Client/Service User Experiences,
Preferences, Wants, Values
• Practitioner Use of Self: Reflective
Practice, Values, Personal Experience

26. The Common Factors Model
• Extratherapeutic Factors (40%) [events external to
service provision]
• Therapeutic Relationships (30%)
• Optimism, Motivation, Capacities (15%)
• Skills, techniques (15%)

27. Motivation
& Expectancies
15%
Therapeutic
Extratherapeutic
Effects 40%
Technique
15%

28. Social Work Specific Models
• Questions are participant-defined
• Perspectives of participants
• Researchers seek to understand
multiple perspectives within
person-environment interactions
• Emancipatory

29. Social Work Specific Models
• Based upon researcher immersion into
social settings
• Explicit about ethics and values such as
anti-oppressive practice and social justice
• Clarity about the links between general
statements about findings and the data on
which these are based

30. Discussion
• What do you think?
• Social Work Specific?
• The Undefined Alternative
• Post-Positivistic
• A definition of science that excludes the scientific
method?
• Non-reflective?
• Non-experiential
• Lack of transparency about values?

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