Considering the Physical Environment: An Essential Component of Good Practice

Because social workers do not attend to clients' physical environment with the same precision they bring to the social environment, an important tool in assessment and practice is underused. This article discusses the physical environment and its effect on behavior. Theories about the impact of space organization and concepts useful to understanding people's relationships with their environments are reviewed. Discussion is focused on the application of theory about people's physical settings to social work practice. Case examples are presented, skills for translating knowledge about the environment into practice are reviewed, and teaching tools for training social workers to develop and use an understanding of the importance of the physical environment are discussed.