Study On The Awareness And Behavior Change Processes Of Urban Younger Empty Nesters Intervened By Strengths-preferred Social Work

In recent years,services for the elderly in China mostly from the problems perspective,are constantly deepening stereotyped image about the senior citizens,and reflect the reality that our country has been paying less importance on the individual demands of the old in different age groups,and the existence of elders' powers and abilities.However,the strengths perspective,which breaks through tradition,gives balance and consideration to two sides: problems and strengths,and emphasizes that social workers should lead to utilize strengths to solve problems and achieve goals.The study takes younger empty nesters that are increasingly popular cross group living in urban communities as clients,and adopts S Elderly Service Institution that provides strengths-preferred social work services as a research platform.With original transtheoretical model and general processes of social work practice for the rudimentary observation framework,the study explores the rough appearances of urban younger empty nesters in their latter years,the specific problems that the group is facing and the reasons are behind,presents empirical methods and processes from the forefront of the strengths-preferred social work,and clears the clients' changes in awareness and behavior by social work intervention.Finally,by comparing the reactions and statuses at the same stage and refining the core essences in the process of intervention,the study summarizes these elderly clients' periodical characteristics and effective practical operation of the strengths-preferred social work.Though the comparative analysis among many cases,it's found that: firstly,clients' actual problems are diverse and complex,and the first reason for restricting strengths discovery and development is the old themselves.The other constraints include the negative interactions between the elderly and the environment,and the elders' vulnerable images that society shapes and strengthens towards them.Secondly,it's that two factors in causing clients' changes: critical tuning point and social work intervention.“Critical tuning point” is a supplement for the transtheoretical model,in this study contains three aspects: supports from important others,unprecedented experiences and self-cognitive change.The “strengths vocabularies” in social work intervention involve five core elements: self-empowerment promotion,positive resilience cultivation,membership guarantee,strengths-stimulated narration,strengths normalization and capitalization.Thirdly,the most valuable part in this study lies in the establishment of the model that can be called “the strengths-preferred social work practice acting on the change of urban younger empty nesters”.It is a modification to the rudimentary observation framework,shows the cross correspondence between the intervention periods and change stages,the characteristics of clients' awareness,behavior and strengths status in“precontemplation-contemplation-action-maintenance” four change stages,and specific contents and the most effective operations of the strengths-preferred social work practice,in order to clearly reflect the effectiveness of the strengths-preferred social work intervention.