The casework process comprises various components. The components of casework have been termed as 4Ps by Perlman. The conceptual understanding of 4Ps helps a caseworker to understand the client in relation to his/her surroundings. These components are:
Person
Problem
Place
Process
Person
A person is an individual who comes to the agency seeking help as he/she is facing maladjustments in his/her psychosocial surroundings. The individual can be of any background, age or ethnicity. He or she is not in a position to solve his/her problem by self and requires external help. According to the psychoanalytic school of thought the problems often occur due to unfulfilled needs. As every individual has certain needs and strives to fulfill these needs to derive satisfaction. If any of these needs is not fulfilled then it may lead to conflicts and frustration. The case worker needs to identify these unfulfilled needs to help the client. The person should not be judged and be accepted by the caseworker for a helping process. It should be recognized as a person in totality of its environment.
Problem
The problem is a situation or event which impairs the normal functioning of the individual. Problems arise from some needs or accumulation of frustration or maladjustment, and sometimes all of these together. The problems may be interpersonal or intrapersonal. The interpersonal interpersonal problems may be because of behavioural problems, environmental issues or lack of resources. Intrapersonal problems are due to the failed coping mechanism and a weakened ego of the individual. Problems also arise due to clients’ unsuitable approach to meet life’s demand. This may be due to lack of skills and competence and leads to stress and anxiety. This stress also affects his/her family and community.
According to Perlman
- In social casework a problem is that which affects clients social functioning.
- Since the problems are multifaceted and dynamic, the client and the worker may agree to select a unit of the problem and work on it at a time.
- Problems in an individual functioning tend to produce chain reactions.
- Problems have both subjective and objective significance.
- Not only do these objective and subjective aspects coexists, but also either one may be the cause of the problem
Place
The person comes to a place called an agency to seek help. According to Perlman it is an institution where the person in problem comes for professional help. It is here that the initial formalities for a client worker relationship is completed. The place provides certain resources needed for the helping process. The place can be outside the agency also but it should be an agreed place by both the client and the worker.
- The place should be such that there should not be any distraction while the client is sharing his feelings with the worker.
- The caseworker also needs to ensure that confidentiality is maintained at the place.
- The sitting arrangement should be such that client and worker are face to face
The place or the agency develops programs through which it provides help to the client. These programs and type of support provided depends on the competence and skills of the staff and the funding sources. The agencies are primary and secondary based on the knowledge authority. Primary agencies have an established system of knowledge and have authority and professional expertise in a particular area (e.g deaddiction). They design and develop intervention models. Secondary agencies may be a unit of primary agency and dealing with a branch of the problem area.
Place or an agency is also classified on the basis of funding sources. Public agencies are funded by the government and voluntary agencies are funded by private donors.
Process
According to Perlman, the process in casework is a progressive transaction between the professional helper (caseworker) and the client. The client is helped through a step by step process which is systematic and organized in nature. It is a series of problem solving operations carried on within a meaningful relationship. The process strives to influence the client so that he/she is able to develop coping mechanisms to deal with his/her problem or to influence the problem so as to resolve or reduce its effects on the client. The process starts from understanding the needs of the client and moving towards diagnosis of the problem and finally treatment of the problem. During the process it is identified whether the problem is due to
- Lack of resources
- Lack of information or competence
- Drained emotional energy
- Weakened ego
- Prolonged emotional trauma
- Lack of habit of organised and systematic thinking to deal with a problem
The casework process engages the client to identify his problems and means to cope with it. It entails mainly 3 steps, that is:
- Study: this is a fact finding step where all types of information related to the problem is gathered from the client.
- Diagnosis: During this phase the facts are assessed and the root cause of the problem is identified. The caseworker with his expertise assesses upto what extent the problem is environmental or psychological.
- Treatment: In this phase the client is helped to take actions to cope with his problem based on the diagnosis of the problem which may be counselling, resource mobilization, competence building, referral for therapy etc.
The client caseworker relationship does not abruptly end after providing treatment but it takes place in a phased manner called termination phase. At the end the whole process is evaluated and any gap is recorded for future reference.