Answer

Application of Social Work Theories

Juana through the book, Across a Hundred Mountains outlines a split between the narratives of a woman in her 30s and a ten-year-old girl. Juana discusses the travails of immigration including the risks of crossing the border of the United States, the fate of those left behind and the mixed experience among the people who crossed the borders making it to El Otro Lado, the other side. Juana narrates her tragedies beginning with a flood and how they were unable to keep the flowing water out of the cardboard shack. Considering the ecological system model, there are various things that a social worker looks into the client. These include the client’s cultural, physical and social environment in their relationships. Further, social works observe their clients in the whole family context and their social surroundings (Payne, 2014) usually, the ecological framework observes the status of immigrants about their health, acculturation, social and emotional status and how they cope up with various challenges. Looking into Juan’s ecological system, the social environment was not good enough to enhance positive development (Grande, 2007). She underwent a lot of problems such as losing her siblings, mother’s mental health problems and not being aware of the father’s situations.

Oraganista (2007) developed an acculturation formula analyzing the stress factors that the immigrant underwent in their journey. Being an illegal immigrant Juana feared her security, deportation and general health. This impacted o her ability to cope and the acculturation. The stress among immigrants could be due to ethnicity and different cultural environment. Further, the condition of Juana’s mother and her traits of survival mechanisms fit into strength theory making them seek help from a social worker.  

Since they changed the environment, it is required that social workers understand that the Hispanic moved from one environment to the other. Since the environments were of different cultures, the adaption mechanism outlines by the ecological model enabled them to adapt and survive. Therefore, social workers should apply various mechanisms and social work theories like ecological life systems when handling Hispanics and Latinos who have undergone acculturation.