Ateneo - UPO

Social work and its distinctive features: its focus, aims, and the helping professions. Professional social work.

Helping in social work from the perspective of service users (the pursuit of well-being, agency, and participation in the helping process) and from the perspective of future social workers (levels of social work intervention, the methodological process, social work models, approaches and paradigms, the three-dimensional perspective, and reciprocity).

Reflections on social work methods: initiating the intervention, the assessment process, and questions concerning planning and action.

The main tools used in helping practice: interviews, professional writing, home visits, meetings, group work, and an introduction to community and collective social work.

Throughout the course, particular attention will be paid to the dimension of power in social work practice. The power exercised by social workers will be examined, discussed, and critically reflected upon through contributions from social work practitioners and scholars at both national and international levels (with further readings and references provided by the lecturer during the course and in the bibliography).

Books:

Fargion, S. (2013). Il metodo del servizio sociale: riflessioni, casi e ricerche. Carocci Faber.

Allegri, Palmieri, Zucca, Il colloquio nel lavoro sociale, nuova edizione 2017 Carocci.

Sanfelici, M. (2017). I modelli del servizio sociale. Dalla teoria all’intervento. Carocci.

Book chapters or sections:

Folgheraiter, F., (2003),Teoria e metodologia del servizio sociale, FrancoAngeli, Milano, (Prima parte: pp. 23-190)

Krumer-Nevo, M. (2021). Fra Alterizzazione e solidarietà: Interventi in casi di crisi con minori a rischio. In Speranza radicale: Lavoro sociale e povertà (pp. 247–260). Erickson.

Sanfelici, M., Guidi, P., Melchiorre, E., & Pinto, L. (2026). La consulenza sociale video-mediata: Evidenze per orientare la pratica. In M. Sanfelici, U. Nothdurfter, & A. Bilotti (Eds.), Tecnologie digitali nel servizio sociale: Apprendere dalla ricerca per orientare la pratica (pp. 32–52). FrancoAngeli.

Articles:
-Ferguson, H., Disney, T., Warwick, L., Leigh, J., Cooner, T. S., & Beddoe, L. (2021). Hostile relationships in social work practice: anxiety, hate and conflict in long-term work with involuntary service users. Journal of Social Work Practice, 35(1), 19–37. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650533.2020.1834371
-Krumer-Nevo, M. (2008). From noise to voice: How social work can benefit from the knowledge of people living in poverty. International Social Work, 51(4), 556-565.
-Pinto, L. (2020). Il “campo preoccupato”. Il lavoro sociale con i contesti giudiziari. Prospettive Sociali e Sanitarie, 2020(1), 35-38.
-Raineri M.L., Calcaterra V.(2017), Per un social work antioppressivo. Riconoscere e contrastare le discriminazioni nel lavoro sui casi, in Lavoro
Sociale, Erickson, Trento.
-Scarscelli, D. (2019). Conoscenza, potere e controllo della devianza nel lavoro sociale in un’ottica anti-oppressiva. Studi sulla questione criminale, 14(3), 89-110.

The course aims to provide students with the fundamental concepts concerning the aims and methodology of social work in general, and the functions of social workers in particular. These concepts will be addressed by highlighting their connections with the core principles of social work and situating them within the contributions of selected national and international scholars in the field of the helping professions.

Main learning objectives:

To introduce students to the exercise of the professional role, grounded in the main methodological and theoretical foundations that underpin professional practice in real-life situations.

To foster reflective and analytical skills that support students in understanding social phenomena relevant to the communities in which social work can intervene.

To enhance students’ capacity for critical reflection on the exercise of the professional role, with particular attention to service users’ perspectives and to the need for social workers to recognise their own power within helping relationships developed with individuals, families, and groups.

To introduce students to critical reflection on the pervasive ethical dimension of social work, with particular attention to ethical dilemmas and to recognising the stereotypes and prejudices that shape each person’s perceptions and actions in everyday life.

Passing the exam in Principles and Foundations of Social Work

Lectures, interaction with experiences shared and enacted by key informants, simulations, group work (including possible in-class presentations on the topics explored), and written exercises.

The course is a prerequisite for admission to the field placement.

Oral examination (possibility of a written exemption test, to be considered during the course)

Social work. Its distinctive features, focus and aims; differences between social work perspectives and clinical approaches.

The social work perspective on people’s life problems:needs, problems, agency and the pursuit of well-being (the biopsychosocial model of action as a framework for reconsidering the tendency to focus exclusively on the individual dimension of problems).

Foundations of professional social work knowledge and practice:** social work methodology and its interconnection with the ethical dimension of practice.

The main models, paradigms and approaches informing social work practice in Italy and internationally.

The social work methodological process: its stages, relational positioning, decision-making processes, assessment, planning, reflective practice, opportunities for participation, and evaluation.

The main tools of helping practice: interviews, professional writing, home visits, meetings, group work, and an introduction to self-help and mutual aid groups.The use of digital technology


The professional relationship: emotional implications and practical aspects of building helping relationships, including different perspectives and critical issues.

The professional self: recognising stereotypes and prejudices; reflexivity; dealing with error; power.

The social worker’s power:reflections, case studies and research aimed at fostering critical reflexivity on the exercise of power in social work practice.

By the end of the course, students will be able to master the fundamental analytical distinctions underpinning professional social work practice. They will have engaged in a reflective learning process focusing on the main tools used by social work professionals, with particular attention to the perspectives of service users.

More broadly, students will be able to distinguish and interconnect the different disciplinary levels involved in helping practices, with particular reference to the specific responsibilities of professional social work, adopting a multidimensional understanding of the institutional, cultural, and personal contexts in which problems arise.