During the 1890s and the first three decades of the 20th century, social work in the United States developed a community-based direct practice approach to family assistance and social reform. The basis for this method was a situational view of social life that emphasized the use of interpersonal and transactional methods to achieve social and…

Although many in the social work profession have written about empowerment, few have offered a description of the empowerment process from the perspective of clients and workers in high-risk communities. This qualitative study presents a model of empowerment practice from the perspective of frontline workers, the challenges they faced, and the…