Constructivism and the Environment: A Cognitive–Integrative Perspective for Social Work Practice

Abstract

The cognitive–integrative (C–I) perspective approach to clinical social work practice is based on the notion that individuals adapt by searching for and constructing meanings that will enhance their sense of security and continuity and serve their goals. The meanings that people construct are a function of their experienced-based cognitive systems for understanding and the nature of the information available to them. These two dimensions provide the foci for social work interventions. To help clients develop more adaptive meanings, social workers can assist in generating more favorable informational cues and/or in developing more flexible systems for understanding. While the C–I perspective adheres to a constructivist position, it also acknowledges the influence of meanings that are socially constructed or that inhere in the physical environment on personal renditions of meaning.