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Chapter 7. Systems and Ecological Practice
Systems and ecological ideas aid the integration of interpersonal interventions with interventions that engage families, communities, and social organizations. This approach focuses on the interaction of personal factors with social factors. The goal is to help people adapt themselves and their reactions to their social environment. These interventions evolve as show by the rise in importance of âgreenâ policy issues such as sustainability in society that in turn has been reflected in innovations in social work and care services in the social environment.
Terminology
Systems The idea of systems focuses on the web of connections between, and the resources of, families and groups and on helping those connections to function at the highest possible level. Systems are entities with boundaries within which physical and mental energy is exchanged internationally more than they are across the boundary.
Life stressors Stressors bring energy to a systemâa person, family, or communityâin the form of stresses. Life stressors are transitions and events that disturb the fit and adaptedness between the person and environment, leading to stress that is beyond coping ability.
Fit and adaptedness Individuals and their social environments may be seen as having a degree of fit between them as well as having a degree of adaptation between the individual and the environment.
Networks Systems ideas suggest that part of social functioning is to initiate, maintain, and improve social networks and social support; social networks are an important component of systems and ecological practice.
Resilience A practice objective emerging from ecological thinking is resilience, or the capacity to bounce back from adversity.
Energy In the context of systems ideas, energy is actions, resources, and information; the resources may include effort or money or time. In effect, if help or information or money is provided for a family, energy is provided in the family system.
Levels of systems Larger systems contain smaller systems; these may be referred to as macrosystems, mesosystems, and microsystems. The focus of concern in social work may vary among the systems depending on the situation.
Closed systems Some systems are closed either completely or virtually; one can think of a thermos being a closed system containing food or drink which is relatively unchanged in the short term.
Open systems When energy crosses a systemâs boundary, the system becomes an open or permeable system. Some open systems are very permeable but the boundaries still define an area where the interactions are more common within the boundary than across the boundary.
Input Systems receive energy via inputs across the boundary. For example, social work interventions may give information or resources, and the system changes because of this input.
Throughput When energy is used within a system, the energy changes what is going on in the system and thus there is throughput, or change due to energy being used.
Output When energy is passed from inside to outside the boundary, that energy has some effect on people or things; the system changes when energy leaves and so do the recipients of the energy.
Feedback loops Outputs often lead to further inputs into the system; this linkage between outputs and inputs into the system is referred to as feedback loops.
Entropy Systems use their own energy to maintain themselves thus meaning that without inputs from outside the boundaries the system will eventually run down and die.
Steady state Systems that receive input and thus incorporate change without changing their fundamental identity are said to be in steady state. This may be referred to as being resilient in the face of change.
Equilibrium A system that is able to maintain its fundamental nature even given changes due to input is said to be in homeostasis or equilibrium.
Differentiation As systems receive inputs, change and grow more complex, and generate more kinds of more components over time they are said to differentiate them.
Non-summativity The idea that a system is more complex than the individual components is often described by the term âthe whole is more than the sum of its parts.â
Reciprocity When one part of a system changes, that change tends to affect all of the other parts and in turn they change. This may happen within a system or between systems.
Equifinality and multifinality Systems ideas help social workers understand how the same result may be achieved in more than one way (equifinality) while similar circumstances may lead to different results (multifinality) as parts of the system interact in different ways. As a result, these ideas help the social worker understand the complexity of human relationships and why outcomes for similar actions vary.
Synergy Social systems may possess synergy, or the ability to create their own energy to maintain themselves. Marriage is an example of potential synergy whereby the persons build up bonds within the marriage and make it stronger.
Key Ideas
Systems theory spread after the merger of social work into a single professional entity. In the USA and the UK the merger of multiple separate professional organizations within social work in the 1950s and 1960s was followed by the growth of systems theory as part of a reaction against psychodynamic theory in the 1970s. Another factor that encouraged the growth of systems theory included the merger of separate government agencies into integrated social work organizations throughout Europe that provided a context for understanding how the public and the private interact and how various change agents might be involved. Other factors included systems theoryâs acceptance and analysis of existing social orders rather than analyzing and attacking them as with radical and critical theory.
Systems theory integrates individual help into broader social interventions. Systems theory integrates social interventions with those that deliver individual help and provides for psychological practice as well as social reform. However, the systems theory focuses on trying to maintain the status quo rather than bringing about radical social change. These systems ideas provide a way to bring into play multiple factors but the resulting complexity is a barrier to clear prescriptions for action.
Systems theory uses complex, multifactorial explanations. Social work applies systems approaches to allow the inclusion of a broad range of factors, interacting in different ways, in the particular system that they are working in. However, systems theory says that all of these factors are interconnected and thus the elements in the system could readjust to a change in any single factor. As a result, it is hard to predict how all of the interactions in a system will work to achieve the desired outcome.
Social work includes general systems theory and ecological systems theory.
interactive, interconnected web of life where everyone is reliant on everyone else; linking science and spirituality; and creating a partnership model of human relations and society that focuses on living with other people as being the most important in life rather than ourselves.
Issues
Systems ideas bring social into social work but not the full implications of social change. Critical theory proponents argue that there is only a limited usage of systems and ecological ideas in social work. Systems ideas in social work tend to focus on how systems maintain, reproduce, and adapt themselves rather than on the possibility, desirability, or inevitability of widespread change. This appears in part due to social works limited use of cybernetics, biology, and the social sciences. However, existing systems theory does benefit social work by incorporating social factors as well as psychological functioning thus examining individuals in the context of their family and social environment. Social workâs emphasis on the interconnectedness of individuals with other individuals and groups is in contrast to practitioners in fields such as healthcare, clinical psychology, and counseling.
Some systems ideas such as adaptation suggest the desirability of a status quo. Many social work practitioners are cautious about assuming their task is to get people to adapt to the expectations of others. They identify three problems. One is that by stressing adaptation clients may be pushed into believing that they need to adapt to the realities of the pressures on them; a second is that total adaptation may be seen as possible and desirable; and the third is that persons may adapt too readily to the expectations around them while there may be better resolutions. Alternatively, systems-oriented practitioners suggest that broader systems ideas suggest that looking at the appropriateness of the surrounding reality and that total adaptation does not address the realities of conflicts and inconsistencies in life.
The complexity of multifactorial explanations may be a barrier to clear prescriptions. Systems theory allows social work to include a great variety of factors based on the concept that everything is connected and so prediction is very difficult. Systems theory by its nature does not tell the practitioner what is going to happen but rather suggests that by giving the system a push in one part other changes will occur. One way of understanding systems theory is to think about the contrast between systems theory and cognitive-behavioral therapy and other theories that use a linear cause-and-effect explanation. One argument for the cause-and-effect approach rather than systems theory is that it may be more efficient to look at resolution rather than trying to explain or understand the situation.
Ecological systems theory focuses on psychological and individual equilibrium. Systems ideas in social work often treat the physical environment as a backdrop to traditional views of service. The role of the physical environment in constructing interpersonal relationships and how human behavior affects the environment does not allow for the complexity of interdependence and the value of diversity in both human and natural forms. For example, the individualistic approach to ecology focuses on conserving the existing environment rather than looking at social change to solve ecological problems. Alternatively, the eco-social approach uses ecological ideas to politically combat social exclusion; eco- feminism uses ecological systems theory to understand how existing political and social systems oppress womenâs concern for sustainable and sustaining environments.
Americans and Europeans have adopted systems and ecological practice in much different ways. General or ecological systems theory is in virtually universal use in the U.S. and thus almost all introductory and generalist textbooks assume this perspective; American texts on systems and ecological practice tend to become introductory texts. On the other hand, systems and ecological approaches are not significant models of practice in Europe even though European texts use some systems concepts. While European countries exhibit awareness of systems theory, such as in family therapy, the literature related to ecological systems has much less influence on the profession. Therefore, there are few connections between systems and ecological ideas with other social work theory in the non-US theoretical literature while in the US these ideas are central to most forms of practice.
Looking holistically may lead to over-assessing. By looking holistically at a wide range of systems in the clientâs life may take in too broad a range of factors and matters beyond the clientâs understanding and genuine consent. Examining a broad range of factors may be in conflict with the limited access to information faced by the social worker; in addition, the social worker may not be able to involve those factors in treatment. Finally, the client may not accept or understand the inclusion of some factors in treatment, such as family interactions rather than a childâs responsibility for problems.
Social justice is one of the most importance arguments for including social factors in social work practice. Social workers must relate the help they provide to clients to achieve a secure, health, and satisfying life with the need of all human being to achieve those objectives as well as to make sure to balance present support for client with resources available in the futureâif resources used now help might that use hurt future generations? Social work and the environment literature includes three common themes: seeing people in their physical place integrates human activity and well-being with the physical environment; sustainability and living well in our place; and using multidisciplinary processes that include practitioner at every level of services needed to respond to environmental crises.
Family therapy illustrates the contributions of systems theories. Family therapy practice examines interactions between people as part of their family group and includes structural family therapy that attempts to alter family relationships by observing patterns and altering malfunctioning structures; strategic family therapy that focuses on peopleâs day-to-day strategies for influencing other family members and maintaining their own identity; and systemic family therapy that explores possible hidden social rules within the family that are adversely affecting relationships.
Residential care practice also illustrates the contribution of systems theories. Residential care facilities are self-regulating systems that are to some degree closed, establish norms, and attempt to minimize risk and so establish homeostasis. Residents are part of a complex system embedded in a larger community system and containing smaller systems within the residential care facility. The systems idea of boundaries helps with limiting the complexity of particular issues or relationships. Similarly, the idea of feedback loops helps with identifying interaction among factors.
Final ThoughtsâŚ
Systems and ecological practice provides assistance to social workers in a number of ways.
Interacting with persons from other professions: In communicating with persons whose professional focus emphasizes individuals, such as healthcare and education, systems and ecological ideas can be used to help point out how changing the dynamics and resilience of the family or community can help individuals.
Clarifying options: Systems and ecological ideas aid in identifying systems that affect the individual client and so are appropriate for indirect intervention by the social work or colleagues.
Exploring intervention with just a part of the system: Systems and ecological idea help with understanding of how changing just one part of an individualâs behavior can influence others or help them better cope, such as by strengthening their spirituality in order to better cope with illness.
Explore adaptations by the client and by the environment: Systems and ecological ideas aid the social worker in seeing âboth sidesâ of the relationship between the client and the environment and thus are better able to work with both the client and the eco-systems in which the client is located.
Better see the potential and limits of sustainability: Systems and ecological ideas help the social worker in seeing whether the proposed changes in a client will be support, or not supported, by resources in the surrounding environment. For example, if their behavior changes will the workplace or family accept them?
