DISCIPLINES AND IDEAS IN THE APPLIED SOCIAL SCIENCES

Applied Social Sciences  This definition talks about empowerment of

individuals, families, groups, and communities
 A multi-disciplinary approach
toward reaching goals in life
 Focuses on the application of concepts and
 Formal Help
theories of social science
 Legal, recognized, and professional
 Practical and alternative solutions to societal
issues; collaboration of disciplines Informal Help

Fields of Applied Social Sciences  Casual, conversational

1. Counseling
o Professional guidance given to an
individual by applying psychological
methods
o Guidance counselors, life coaches,
career counselors, personal growth
o Counseling is a helping profession
2. Social Work
o Focuses on the improvement of
individual and collective well-being of
families, groups, communities
o Addresses social issues
3. Communication
o Provide training for careers on the field
of journalism and mass communication
o Write, produce, report, develop news
accurately
o Understand the needs and consumption
patterns of the viewing public
Counseling as a Discipline
 According to Nyustul (2003), counseling is both a
science and an art
 Counseling as an Art
o Subjective, flexible, creative
 Counseling as a Science
o Objective
 A psychiatrist is a counselor who prescribes
medicine
Goals of Counseling (Gibson and Mitchell, 2003)
 Development
o Overall social, personal, psychological
development
 Preventive
o Prevent undesired outcome
 Enhancement
o Enhance special skills and abilities
 Remedial
o Overcome and treat undesirable
development
 Exploratory
o Examining and trying new options
 Reinforcement
o Recognize what they’re doing is fine
 Cognitive
o Basic foundation of learning
 Physiological
o For physical health
 Psychological
o Instill good social interaction, emotional
control, positive self-concept
John McLeod’s Counseling Goals (2003)
 Make critical decisions in life
 Develop ability to cope
 Enhance effectiveness
 Improve quality of life

Guidance and Counseling Act of 2004 Specific Goals of Counseling

 An integrated approach to the development of a  Insight

well-functioning individual  Relating with others
 To establish a kind of connection  Self – awareness
 Self – acceptance
Development and Empowerment
 Self – actualization
 Enlightenment
 Problem – solving
  Psychological education
 Acquisition of social skills
 Cognitive, behavior, systemic change
 Empowerment
 Restitution
 Generativity
Ethical Dimensions of Counseling
 Informed consent
o Agreement; what to expect
 Confidentiality
o Information stays between the parties
 Protection and development
Professionals and Practitioners in Counseling
 Counseling is a helping profession
 Specially-trained and licensed to perform a
unique service for fellow human beings
Roles and Functions of Counseling
1. Individual Assessment
o Promotes client’s self – understanding,
characteristics, and potentials
2. Individual Counseling
o Relationship is established between
counselor and client; core activity
3. Group Counseling and Guidance
o Groups are means of providing
organized and planned assistance
4. Career Assistance
o Provide career planning and adjustment
assistance to clients
5. Placement and Follow-Up
o Emphasis on educational placements in
course programs
6. Referral
o Practice of helping clients find needed
expert assistance
7. Consultation
o Helping a client through a third party or
helping systems to improve its service
8. Research
o To advance the profession of counseling;
it can provide empirically based data
Career Opportunities and Areas of Specialization
1. Marriage and Family Counseling
o Helping couples and families discover
options and opportunities for effective
family living
2. Child and Adolescent Counseling
o Helping children and adolescents
acquire coping skills through promotion
of resiliency, positive attachment
relationship, emotional and intellectual
intelligence
o Common problems of children:
 Child abuse, anti-social
behavior, child depression
3. Group Counseling
o Offers opportunities for members to
learn from observing group members
o Members are encouraged to offer help
to others
4. Career Counseling
o Aids on decisions and planning
concerning career; Wagner model
5. School Counseling
o Refers to the process of reaching out to
students with concerns on drugs, family,
and peers or gang involvement
6. Mental Health Counseling
o Manifested by the challenges posed by
its clientele with mental disorders
Ethical Principles in Counseling
1. Autonomy of individuals
o Right to self – determination
o Clients may act/ think freely even if
others disagree
2. Principle of Non-maleficence/ Benevolence
o All helpers must do no harm
 Riskiness of therapeutic
technique; choosing the helper
3. Principle of Justice
o Fair distribution of resources, unless a
client must be treated differently
4. Principle of Fidelity
o Presence of loyalty, reliability,
dependability, action in good faith
o Confidentiality reveals importance of
fidelity
The Clienteles and Audience of Counseling
1. Neurotic
 o Long term tendency to be in a negative o Witness client progress on his own; end
emotional state sessions, review counseling course,
o Severe depressed mood closure, and discussion of the future
2. Psychotic 6. Research and Evaluation
o Severe mental disorder o Can be undertaken at any point of the
o Detachment form reality process; analysis of raw data
o Symptoms: delusions, hallucinations
Methods in Counseling
3. Personality Disorder
o Long-term pattern of thoughts and 1. Psychoanalytic
behaviors that are unhealthy, inflexible o Free association, interpretation to
insight, resistance
Types of Clienteles
a. Freud’s Psychoanalysis
1. People who abuse drugs b. Adler’s Individual Psychology
2. People who abuse tobacco 2. Affective/ Existentialist – Humanistic/
3. People who abuse alcohol Experiential
4. Women and children o Self – actualization
5. Older adults/ the elderly o Access “genuine self”
6. People with AIDS a. Roger’s Person – Centered Theory
7. Victims of abuse b. Fritz Perl’s Gestalt Theory
8. Gay men and lesbian women 3. Behavioral
o Eliminate unwanted behavior
Work Settings of Counseling
o Replace behavior through positive
1. School (counterconditioning) or negative
2. Community setting (aversive) reinforcement
o Activated by volunteerism 4. Cognitive
3. Private sectors o Focuses on what you think
4. Government o Changing what we say to ourselves

Process of Counseling Social Work as a Discipline

1. Relationship Building  Social work must be responsive and visionary

o Establish connection and rapport
between client and counselor
o Heart/ foundation of the counseling
process
2. Assessment and Diagnosis
o Analysis of the root causes of the
problem; thorough appreciation of the
client’s condition
3. Formulation of Counseling Goals
o Parameter of work and the client –
counselor relationship
4. Intervention and Problem-Solving
o Strategies for intervention; mapping of
different approaches to help the client
o Nonmaleficence; possible risk and
benefits
5. Termination and Follow-Up
o Developed through time as its finds
meaning and relevance
Social Work as a Profession
 Promotes social change, problem solving in
human relationships, and the empowerment
and liberation of people to enhance well-being
 In the Philippines, it is concerned about the
person’s adjustment to her/ his environment –
social functioning
Social Functioning
 Effect on the individual’s performance in her/ his
multiple roles in the society
Scope of Social Work
 Child Development
 Medicine Social Work
  Administrative and Management
 Local Social Work
 International Social Work
 Social Work in Acute Psychiatric Hospital
 Social Work as Community Organizer
Goals of Social Work
 Caring
o Focuses on the well-being or the welfare
and comfort of the individual
o Enhancement of quality of life
 Curing
o Treating people with problems in social
functioning
 Changing
o Active participation of the social workers
in social reforms
Core Values of Social Work
1. Right to Self – Fulfillment
2. Responsibility to Common Good
3. Responsibility of the Society
4. Right to Satisfy Basic Needs
5. Social Organizations required to Facilitate
Individual’s Effort at Self – Realization
6. Self – Realization and Contribution to Society
Principles in Social Work
1. Acceptance
o Respecting clients under circumstances
o Understanding the meaning and causes
of clients’ behavior
o Recognizing people’s strength and
potentials, weakness and limitation
2. Client’s Participation in Problem Solving
o Client is expected to participate in the
process, planning ways, etc.
3. Self – Determination
o Individuals, communities who are in
need have the right to determine their
needs and how they should be met
4. Individualization
o Understanding client’s unique
characteristics and different methods
for each client
5. Confidentiality
o Client should be accorded with
appropriate protection, within limits of
the law, without any harm that might
result from the information given to the
social worker
6. Worker Self – Awareness
o Social worker consciously examines her
feelings, judgments, biases, responses, if
it is professionally – motivated
7. Client Worker Relationship
o The client is in need of help in social
functioning and the worker is in the
position to help
Professionals and Practitioners in Social Work
 Social work focuses on the individual’s social
functioning by assisting the individuals with the
environment, himself, and the community.
Roles in Social Work
1. Resource Broker
o The role is about the direct provision of
material and other resources that will be
helpful in reducing situational
deficiencies
2. Social Broker
o Involves a process of negotiating the
“service jungle” for the clients
o Networking is the linkage to different
sponsors and relationships with
community entities for support
3. Mediator
o Includes acting as intermediary or
conciliator between persons or in-
groups; resolving disputes/ conflict
4. Advocate
o Aims to influence another party in the
interest of the client through arguing,
bargaining, negotiating, and
manipulating the environment
5. Enabler
o Involves the worker’s task of performing
a supportive and empowering function
to facilitate the clients’ accomplishment
of a particular goal or task
6. Counselor/ Therapist
o Intends to restore, maintain, or enhance
the client’s capacity to her/ his current
reality
o Listen and empathize
Functions of Social Work oStudy of behavior and natural processes;
includes the physical state and the
1. Rehabilitative Function
mental state and how this all related to
o Restorative, curative, and remedial
the environment of the individual
actions to a balanced state of social
9. Sociology
functioning
o Systematic study of human society;
o A problem occurs because there is an
studies how they work as a whole in the
imbalance between the people and the
larger society
environment
2. Preventive Function
o Detects impending balance between the
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individuals or groups with the
environment
o Early detection, control, and eradication
of situations
3. Developmental Function
o Ascertains and strengthens the full
potential in individuals, groups, and
communities
o Full use of her/ his potentials and
capabilities

Disciplines of Social Sciences

1. Anthropology
o A holistic study of human beings and
their culture
2. Demography
o The study of human population; studies
how people move from place to place
3. Economics
o Study of allocation of scarce resources in
order to satisfy unlimited human needs
and wants
4. Geography
o Studies the interaction between the
natural environment and the people
living in it
5. History
o Study of recorded past; discipline that
attempts to reconstruct the past given
the available source
6. Linguistics
o Studies the nature of language through
an examination of the formal properties
of natural language, grammar, and the
process of language acquisition
7. Political Science
o Study of politics, power, and
government
8. Psychology