Social diagnostics

The Social diagnostics deals with the knowledge and assessment (diagnosis) of the whole sphere of life of a person. The procedure, the process, the ability and the teaching to recognize is the social diagnostics.

history

The term social diagnostics was introduced into German-speaking countries by Alice Salomon , based on a translation from the American by Mary Richmond . In her work Social Diagnosis from 1926 Salomon devoted herself to this topic.

The fruitful developments during the Weimar Republic in the field of social work / social diagnostics were interrupted by National Socialism. Social diagnostics was misused by National Socialism for selection processes (see Kuhlmann).

The movement of the 1970s and 1980s brought new aspects to social diagnostics by significantly changing the client's image. The clients are now seen as active participants in the diagnostic process (see Harnach-Beck).

Discussions about social diagnostics are currently finding their way back into the field of social work. Publications are created on the German-speaking market.

Social diagnostics in social work

Three steps (see Michael Galuske - Methods of Social Work):

1. History: collection of relevant data for the case
2. Social diagnosis: summary, compression and interpretation of the collected data by the specialist
3. treatment

When used professionally, social diagnostics can significantly enrich social work by enabling data collection in a structured, systematic manner.

It's about a finding, an assessment of complex issues. In order to arrive at conclusions that are as comprehensible and logical as possible, structured procedures are used that make it possible to collect complex facts, to organize the contents and to summarize them in an essence, a diagnosis. It is a possibility to identify, structure and order the concerns of a client (see Cormier & Nurius & Osborn)

The diagnostic process itself can already have a problem-reducing effect by showing, structuring and helping to classify problem content. Social diagnostics can be understood as a partnership process (cf. Bebensee) between specialist and client (although the relationship between specialist and client is asymmetrical). The quality of the results depends largely on the successful design of the diagnostic process.

literature

• Alice Salomon: Social Diagnosis. Welfare care in individual representations, Bank 3. Carl Heymann Verlag, Berlin, 1926
• Andreas Bebensee: Social diagnostics as a dialogical process of gaining knowledge. In: Soziale Arbeit, Volume 68, H. 12 (Dec.), pp. 456–462, 2019
• Maja Heiner: Diagnostics and Diagnoses in Social Work . Lambertus-Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3784117244
• Gert-Holger Klevenow / Alban Knecht (2013): Social diagnosis in labor administration. In: Soziale Arbeit, Vol. 62, H. 1 (Jan.), pp. 18–24
• Peter Pantucek: Social Diagnostics. Procedures for the Practice of Social Work. FACTS supplement 1 . Böhlau-Verlag, 2nd edition, 2005, ISBN 3205773500
• Peter Pantucek / Dieter Röh (eds.): "Perspectives on social diagnostics. On the status of the development of procedures and standards." LIT Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3643500748