Social Work with Families: Content and Process

Social workers have worked with families for over 100 years. Drawing on this rich history, the authors develop a clear, flexible approach to couples and family therapy, which accommodates family and individual intervention, multiple methodologies, and the institutions where social workers practice. To create this approach, Robert Constable and Daniel B. Lee draw upon the contributions of family therapy, symbolic interactionist social psychology, as well as a century's tradition of social work with families. Using social work as an overall framework, the authors show how to use, draw on, and integrate a variety of schools of thought into therapy.

A teaching goal of this book is to elaborate the process and content of social work with families. Content and process are used to integrate various theory bases. Process is an interaction sequence, taking place between family members at different stages of family development, and with the social worker. Content reflects the purposes of the intervention, helping families reconstruct relationships. The many case studies and examples reflect the content and process of situations that social workers encounter every day in family work.

Robert Constable is a social work practitioner with families in Valparaiso, Indiana and in Chicago. He is professor emeritus in the school of social work at Loyola University Chicago and continues teaching assignments in the U.S. and overseas. Professor Constable has published extensively in social work, including the widely used School Social Work: Practice, Policy, and Research, now in its seventh edition.

Daniel B. Lee is professor of social work and family therapy at Loyola University Chicago. He has been in private practice in individual, marital, and family psychotherapy since 1987 and is the author of over 100 journal articles.