Clinical and Social Orientations in Social Work: An Empirical Study

Abstract

Conflict between clinical and social orientations was identified in the social work literature. The notion of two opposing orientations was tested by assessing extent of agreement with clinical-social items on a questionnaire completed by a national sample of 821 practicing social workers. Factor analysis of returns revealed that a clinical-social division does not characterize the attitudes of social workers. Five factors emerged which led to the following additional findings: respondents favored social action and activism by social workers. At the same time, private practice was strongly endorsed. The exclusion of untrained workers from the profession was also endorsed. Some disenchantment with psychodynamic formulations was evident. However, there was no inclination to substitute an environmental approach. The study suggests that the escalation of a clinical-social controversy in the literature has little meaning to practicing social workers who coordinate both functions in their daily work. Clinical-social differences may be an artifact of existing practice theories.