Developing and Testing a Practice Theory: An Interactional Perspective

This article describes the development and testing of a grounded, holistic general theory of social work practice based on an interactional perspective. Theory-building focuses on people, interaction, context, and time. The author discusses the impact of social workers' skills on the development of working relationships with clients and on the outcomes of services. The eight skills examined in the study are combined into two groups: workers' skills for helping clients manage their problems and workers' skills for helping clients manage their feelings.