Social work involves interaction between the client and the social worker to come up with the best problem-solving processes. The social worker has the responsibility of helping the client handle their feelings and problems. They work directly with populations such as the seniors, the poor, the convicts, the sick and the mentally ill to help them recognize and deal with issues that pose significant threats to their general well-being. However, for integrity to be maintained in the field, social workers need to acknowledge the importance of understanding the three domains of learning, which include the cognitive, the behavioral and the affective domains. According to Allen and Friedman (2010), the cognitive domain involves learning and recollecting important information as stipulated in the Bloom’s taxonomy of cognitive learning. The affective domain, on the other hand, deals with how the client’s problems affect the social worker emotionally. The social worker, in such a case, needs to develop the appropriate values, ethics, and feelings required in their line of work. The behavioral domain, alternatively, defines the actual behaviors and skills that the social worker requires in order to function effectively. The most important values that a social worker needs to understand is that the client is a unique individual who deserves respect as a human being and that he or she is free to make choices independently without interference.
Cognitive Domain
At this stage, the social worker gathers all the essential information about the client including their beliefs, values, and attitudes. The social worker then comprehends, applies, analyzes, synthesizes and evaluates this information to draw important inferences about the client. Through the face to face interaction, the social worker acquires more information concerning the client’s situation and responds effectively to the various aspects of the client. Apart from responding to the case, the social worker is also required to respond to emotions of the client, the interaction process itself as well as the institution that the social worker represents (Hutchinson and Oltedal, 2014 p. 16). It is vital for the social worker to know the ways to share his or her knowledge with the client and be open to their intuition. This means that communication is considered a critical factor in the field of social work. Social work is deeply rooted in psychology as evidenced by Freud’s psychodynamic theory, which considers the unconscious processes as important for understanding an individual’s psychological and social issues. This theory was particularly important for social workers who deal with clients grappling with psychological disorders such as war survivors or rape victims.
Affective Domain
This stage is concerned with feelings or emotions. The initial meeting between a client and social worker represents an extremely emotionally intense experience for both parties. The social worker needs to read and interpret the mood of the client, which is in most cases negative. Clients who are in a particularly bad mood prefer to keep to themselves rather than interact. Different events trigger different emotions in both the client and the social worker and are usually accompanied by high levels of arousal. In this area, the social worker has to assess and observe the behaviors and expressions of the client and respond effectively. The social worker can determine the emotional quality of the client by listening to the tone of voice and verbal expression (Allen and Friedman, 2010). The community worker should be willing to listen and sympathize with the client as they narrate their problems.
Behavior Domain
As the social worker and the client interact and influence each other, the tensions significantly reduce and the interactions proceed more efficiently and effectively. These interactions usually bring out social rewards or positive outcomes for the client as they share their problems and frustrations. It is imperative that the social worker balances and manages their emotions as well as their emotions of the client and behave openly and sensitively towards the client’s needs. The social worker has the responsibility of creating a climate in the relationship with their client that makes it easy for the client to express their emotions without feeling as if they are giving away their privacy to a stranger. The worker’s primary objective at this stage is to physically encode the information given to them while paying attention to their reflex actions and interpretive movements. The social worker thus takes the role of a parent to the client by helping them work through their problems in the most suitable manner. Through their behavior, social workers create an atmosphere where the client will feel safe letting out their problems and deal with their unconscious conflicts (Hutchinson and Oltedal, 2014 p. 40).
In conclusion, social workers should consider clients as unique individuals with complex issues that require special attention and respect. As they proceed through the various domains in their interactions, the client and social worker develop a meaningful relationship that makes it possible for the former to let out their conflicts and frustrations and address them effectively. It is also essential for the social worker to express integrity and recognize the principles of caring, accepting and respecting their clients while making sure that they take responsibility whenever clients try to hurt themselves.
References
Allen, K. N., & Friedman, B. D. (2010). Affective learning: A taxonomy for teaching social work values. Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics, 7(2), 1-12.
Hutchinson, G. S., & Oltedal, S. (2014). Five theories in social work.
