Generalist Social Work Practice: An Empowering Approach (5th Edition) [Hardcover]

Karla Krogsrud Miley (Author), Michael W. O'Melia (Author), Brenda L. DuBois (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0205501443 | ISBN-13: 978-0205501441 | Publication Date: July 2, 2006 | Edition: 5

The Fifth Edition of this innovative text continues to emphasize a generalist, empowerment-oriented approach, along with practice strategies and techniques for working toward individual client and social change. The Fifth Edition updates the contemporary themes of social work practice into an integrated practice process. New resources extend the research base, add breadth and depth, and position this book as a defining work for articulating an empowerment-based method of social work practice.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Overview:

The fifth edition of this innovative text continues to emphasize a generalist, empowerment-oriented approach, along with practice strategies and techniques for working toward individual client and social change.

 

Highlights of the Fifth Edition:

·        The integration of material on practice, human behavior, policy, and research makes this text a unifying piece of any social work curriculum and a good fit for the new CSWE Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards

·        New boxes in each chapter highlight the connection between practice, policy, and research.

·        Sensitizes students to human diversity and ways to increase cultural competence in practice.

·        The comprehensive instructor's manual and test bank, written by the authors, completely outlines the book and offers activities, exercises, and handouts for each chapter.

 

 

What Reviewers Are Saying:

“The major strengths of this text include the following: (1) a generalist framework that reflects the multi-faceted nature of contemporary social work practice; (2) an empowerment-oriented approach that views clients as partners in the helping process; (3) a readable style that is accessible to a broad audience; (4) fundamental concepts that are applicable to a wide range of social work practice environments.”

 

--Andrew Scharlach, University of California–Berkeley

 

 

“Overall, I consider this to be an excellent text. The best one I have yet found for use in teaching generalist practice concepts, process, and methods….”

 

--Cynthia Bishop, Meredith College

 

 

 

[ Insert MyHelpingLab Advertisement ]

About the Author

 

Karla Miley, MSW,LSW is Professor Emerita, Black Hawk College, Moline, Illinois.  She has been a graduate and undergraduate social work educator in Illinois and Iowa for thirty years.  Professor Miley received her masters degree in social work in 1966 at the University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration.  She has extensive social work practice and consultation experience in school social work, health care, child welfare, and aging services.  Professor Miley has served as a member on a number of community agency initiatives and boards. She has published several articles on ethics and empowerment and has co-authored two social work texts on empowerment in social work: Social Work: An Empowering Profession with Brenda DuBois and Generalist Social Work Practice: An Empowering Approach with Brenda DuBois and Michael O’Melia.

Michael O'Melia is an Associate Professor in the St. Ambrose University MSW Program.  He specializes in teaching clinical social work with expertise in generalist, collaborative, and anti-oppressive methods.  O’Melia is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Illinois, working for over thirty years with individuals, couples, families and small groups in child welfare, delinquency prevention, family therapy, and school-based practice settings.  In addition to co-authoring Generalist Social Work Practice: An Empowering Approach, O’Melia is co-editor of Pathways to Power: Reading in Contextual Social Work Practice.  Functioning as a community trainer and program consultant, O’Melia focuses on developing culturally competent practices, working with resistant and mandated clients, and implementing strength-based clinical strategies.  He also sits on the Social Work Advisory Board for Pearson Education, serves as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Rumanian Social Work Review, and contributes as an editor to the Journal of Progressive Human Services.

 

Brenda DuBois, MSW,LCSW, Ph.D. is Professor of Social Work at St. Ambrose University, Davenport, Iowa. She has been a graduate and undergraduate social work educator in Iowa for thirty-three years.  Professor DuBois received her masters degree in social work in 1977 at the University of Iowa and a doctorate in educational administration from Illinois State University in 2002. She has extensive social work practice and consultation experience in public welfare, community planning, organizational development, and program evaluation.  Dr. DuBois serves as a member on a number of community agency initiatives, ethics committees, and as a board member to agencies in the Quad Cities. She has published several articles on ethics and empowerment and has co-authored two social work texts on empowerment in social work: Social Work: An Empowering Profession with Karla Miley and Generalist Social Work Practice: An Empowering Approach with Karla Miley and Michael O’Melia.

 

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 560 pages
• Publisher: Allyn & Bacon; 5 edition (July 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0205501443
• ISBN-13: 978-0205501441
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #405,553 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Average at Best, December 30, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Generalist Social Work Practice: An Empowering Approach (3rd Edition) (Paperback)

I suppose I have an inbred bias toward this book because I didn't care for the corresponding class for which it was originally purchased. In any case, I have always had a problem with books that only stress the empowerment approach and the strengths perspective as the only form of treatment. I didn't like this text because I don't feel focusing on one technique qualifies as a "generalist approach," regardless of how well you can simultaneously juggle micro and macro level issues.
In addition, the book reads like a primer. It is relentlessly generalist in its explanation of things. Some complex issues are only given a brief paragraph-long description. I think it is a good book for someone who has absolutely no idea what social workers do. Those who are looking to mature their skills should skip this book and opt for something more in depth.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Basic Text, March 17, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Generalist Social Work Practice: An Empowering Approach (3rd Edition) (Paperback)

I must admit that I have a bias in the other direction. I not only used the textbook in a couple of courses some of those classes were taught by Michael O'Melia or Brenda DuBois. Their explanations of text material went well beyond the "basic" or "generalist". I would suggest that the knowledge of the professor using the text can make a tremendous difference in how the material is presented. "Strengths" and "Empowerment" have become buzz words within the profession. Many are not familiar enough with the academic foundations and philosophy of this approach to do it justice or credit. Having been taught by professors well versed in the approach helped me see/learn the difference between these words being "catch phrases" and the grounded, encompassing method of practice that flows from them.

I would recommend this text for any BSW or MSW program. I have even used portions of the text for other 300 and 400 level social sciences courses I teach outside social work profession.

1.0 out of 5 stars several hundred pages of the obvious, January 24, 2012

By 

Nicholas F. (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Generalist Social Work Practice: An Empowering Approach (Updated Edition) (6th Edition) (Paperback)

You can learn what you need to know about elementary concepts such as ecosystems and strengths-based perspectives by reading a couple of journal articles. Other than those two topics, this book is a big, long statement of the obvious. It's condescending, written for about an eighth-grade reading level. There are few honest, direct clinical insights or "pearls." The writing is flat and dull. Worst of all, the book comes as a bunch of three-hole-punched pages that you have to insert into a three-ring binder that you, yourself buy. In other words--there's no binding! Cheap, cheap. I had to buy this for a course and the professor never really referred to it.