The Life Model of Social Work Practice

Originally published in 1980, this was the first textbook to apply the ecological approach to practice. Germain and Gitterman have extensively updated and expanded this classic text. In this edition, they have adopted a useful new "life course" model of human development, which incorporates into the ecological framework an understanding of the unique experience of each individual within its historical, societal, and cultural context. The new edition also provides practitioners with an innovative schema for assessment and intervention with respect to difficult life transitions and traumatic events, environmental pressures, and dysfunctional interpersonal processes. Practice illustrations have been updated to reflect today's major social issues, including AIDS, homelessness, and violence.

Carel B. Germain was Professor of Social Work Emerita at the University of Connecticut. She is the author of Human Behavior in the Social Environment and editor of Social Work Practice: People and Environments.

Alex Gitterman is professor of social work at Columbia University. He is the coeditor of Mutual Aid Groups: Vulnerable Populations and the Life Cycle and editor of Handbook of Social Work Practice with Vulnerable Populations. He is editor of Columbia's series, Empowering the Powerless: A Social Work Series.