Through its discipline-oriented approach to social work, this introductory textbook integrates foundational content areas from the Council on Social Work Education with the contemporary themes of empowerment, strengths, and human rights and social justice.

It is the first textbook to fully incorporate the strengths and empowerment perspective while examining values and ethics, cultural diversity, social justice and human rights, social work practice, human behavior, populations at risk, and policy and services.  In addition, the text details the roles of the social worker as consultant, resource manager, and educator, and presents an easy-to-understand paradigm that shows students how the partnership between practitioners and consumers takes place at all systems levels.