《西方社会工作》课程论文
Using the life cycle and the inner and outer forces model to analysis a casework
姓名 杨君刚 学号 11094776 班级 社会工作09—1 学院 文学与法政学院
中国矿业大学 2011—2012学年第一学期
Abstract: In this article I will apply the life cycle and the inner and outer forces
Using the life cycle and the inner and outer forces model to analysis a casework
model we learnt in the class to analysis a casework I once came across。 Firstly I introduce the two important theory applied in the social work area to us， then I try to use them to explain the problems in this casework， lastly I attempt to make some suggestions useful to help the client using some social work techniques and skills.
Key words： casework; the life cycle theory； the inner and outer forces model
With the development of social work practices， large a mount of techniques and theory were brought in the area of social work profession. Although they may be borrowed from many other discipline and domains, they really contribute to the maturing profession. In this article I would like to take advantage of the life cycle theory and the inner and outer forces model to analysis a casework I came across during my summer holiday， when I was going on a field trip to a social work center in Zhengzhou, in Hennan province。
Firstly， we should get to know something about these two relevant theories briefly. It is known to us that the life cycle concept was once used by Erik Erikson, who was a psychologist and adapted his formulation of a life cycle from basic Freudian theory。 He developed an eight-stage classification that everyone had its main life crisis to achieve during every stage, if he could successfully get through it， he would obtain the good characters during every age period， or he might run into some troubles on the road of his life。 However the inner and outer forces model is used mainly to explain why people seem to act at times in strange and unpredictable ways and how they often get into troubles, whose basic assumption is that there are forces developed both within the person and from the person's environment that cause his or her to behave in certain ways and shape one's behavior。
Next I will attempt to use these two theory to analysis my casework briefly。 In this casework the client was a girl, who was about 14 years old, a middle school student at grade 9.the basic information was that she had difficulty in learning lessons and usually felt herself so inferior that she almost lost confidence in doing anything。 By talking with her deeply， I learnt that she was the only child in her family， without any sisters or brothers else, besides her parents more or less neglected her study， the reason that she felt lonely and homeless on her daily life seems to be considerable and reasonable。 During the talk， she described that she had never done well in her study ever since she was a primary school student, and she complained that her parents never cared about her study， so this seemed to be one outer force actor that contributed to her bad work. By more communication with her， I came to realize that her father was a worker repairing cars and her mother had no job staying at home， both of whom rarely communicated with their daughter so that the girl didn’t feel warm in her family。
So when we analysis this casework, the reason why the girl don't perform well in either her study or her daily life is mainly that her family doesn’t function well. without so much support from the family, she can’t obtain energy from the outer force， nor does she has confidence in achieving something. That is also why she felt
herself inferior in her inner heart. Day by day such a inner force in return influence her mind when doing something. As a result, these inner force and outer force both influence her behavior in daily life. On the other hand, considering Erik Erikson’s life cycle theory， the girl is about 14-year—old（stage 5 in life cycle， between 12 and 17)，whose life task seem to be “identity\" according to the theory。 But in my opinion， I think we shouldn’t take the task “identity” so seriously, although she has already seemed to enter the stage 5(during the stage period, one’s task is to be “identity”)， we should pay more attention to her last stage (stage 4， industry)。 It is she didn’t finish her task “industry” that leads to her today’s situation where she can’t manage herself and feel frustrated usually。 So we should encourage her parent to give her more support on all sides， helping restructure her confidence, doing more achievements， in this way， we may lead her to enjoy a better life。
Using the life cycle theory and the inner and outer forces model， in my opinion， we can help her continue to finish her life task-industry on her stage 4， and we can complete this goal following these advices：
(1) give her more encourages when we communicate with her and encourage her to make more tries ， helping increase her inner force ;
(2) make some simple task for her at first， so that she is able to achieve it by her effort， in this way, we may make more successful experience on impression of herself, restructuring her confidence;
(3) communicate with her parents and suggest they spare more time to keep their daughter company， when they have free time， so that the client can feel the support from her family；
(4) encourage the client participate in her contemporary activities， learning to communicates with them， so that she will not feel lonely any more； (5) coordinate with her teachers in the school and make a description of her situation to them， advising that the teachers pay more attention to her study，so that she can make some progress with the teacher’s help, building up her confidence .
lastly we can apply the life cycle theory and the inner and outer forces model to analysis the casework and help make some professional suggestions to change the client’s bad situation, using the theory we learnt in the books。 We try to change the client’s attitude to herself by communicating with her and encourage her to make more try, accumulating her inner force， then we take advantage of the client’s outer force, both her family her teenagers and her school teachers, giving her more attentions and care, so that she adapt herself to the environment well。
References
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理工大学出版社. [2］ 陈琦。刘儒德。《当代教育心理学》。北京: 北京师范大学出版社，1997
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［4］ 乔斯·B·阿什福德。王宏亮《人类行为与社会环境：生物学、心理学与社会学视角》， 北京:
中国人民大学出版社