This course is a prerequisite for field instruction. Emphasis is placed on understanding the relevance and use of theory for practice, and how diversity in race, ethnicity, culture, gender, sexual orientation and socioeconomic circumstances contributes to and influences personality development as well as the systems within which this takes place. The course content covers normal life-cycle development from infancy through childhood from the perspective of ecological systems theory. This course must be taken prior to beginning field work. In the context of the same framework and variables described in Human Behavior I, this course covers normal life-cycle development from adolescence and young adulthood to later adulthood.
Emphasis is placed on communication skills and the beginning stages of the problem-solving process.
Special attention is given to the significance of human diversity for interpersonal helping. Offered only in the fall semester. Students who drop SOWK 481 must also drop SOWK 480. This course presents a conceptual framework of social work intervention and covers the common elements of social work practice. It combines development of the ecological perspective with the problem-solving model and the development of basic social work skills.