Person/environment construct: positivist versus naturalist, dilemma or opportunity for health social work research...

The purpose of this paper is to indicate that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the social work purpose of simultaneous attention to persons in their contexts. In fact, the productive pull of both perspectives is what separates social work from other helping professions. Indeed, it is what separates health social work from other health professions. What has created difficulty, however, has been the predominant lens through which person and environment have been investigated, understood and manipulated. This paper compares two major models of knowledge building in an attempt to identify the consequences for research and practice in social work. Examples are provided from both research and practice that derive from these differing perspectives in an effort to clarify the choices social worker health professionals make when encountering a person-in situation.