Social Work Assessment: Case Theory Construction

To intervene effectively, social workers need to make sense of clients and their situations. A case theory approach to assessment pro-vides a framework to formulate assessments that are clear and directly related to the real-world problems clients present Explaining the problem situation, case theory forms the foundation for selection of intervention strategies and methods to achieve change. Build-ing case theory requires practitioner abilities to form concepts, relate concepts into propositions, develop hypotheses, and organize these into a coherent whole. Including case background information, observations and relevant professional literature, case theory pre-sents an accurate and cogent comprehension of the client Two case examples of depression illustrate the important relationship among concepts, empirical referents, propositions, general theorles, and intervention, highlighting how case theory guides practice. AN OVERARCHING INQUIRY DIRECTS this article: How do social workers figure out what is going on with clients? Embedded within is another question: What is the point of this knowledge? I offer here a case theory framework for use by social workers to make sense of cli-ents and their situations and connect that comprehension to treatment planning and intervention