“Forming a Support Rhizome” in Social Work for Single-Mother Family Living in Communities: Using the Glaser School of Grounded Theory to Generate a Useful Model from Practice

Abstract

This study used the approach of Glaser School of Grounded Theory(Glaser 1978, 1998)for generating a useful practice model of social work to support single-mother family living in communities, as a means conceptualize the social work practice. The results indicated that social workers “forming a support rhizome” for single-mother families. Several concepts were considered to account for the “isolated single-mother family.” They included factors such as “disharmony between mother and support systems” and requirements such as “construction of a flexible relationship for mother at the center of synchronization and difference”, “construction of a trade-off relationship between mother and children”, and “construction of a support system that incorporates these differences,” resulting in the “self-organization of a support system with single-mother family and relevant organizations,” which involved “forming a support rhizome” centered on a useful practice model of social work to support single-mother family living in communities.