Person-in-Environment: A Brief Explanation

This post was originally published on March 4, 2019.

Person-In-Environment theory is a social work concept that seeks to address the challenges of an individual within the context of their environment. According to Mary Ellen Kondrat (oxfordbibliographies.com):

This perspective is based on the notion that an individual and his or her behavior cannot be understood adequately without consideration of the various aspects of that individual’s environment (social, political, familial, temporal, spiritual, economic, and physical). A person-in-environment perspective is said to provide a more adequate framework for assessing an individual and his or her presenting problem and strengths than an approach that focuses solely on changing an individual’s behavior or psyche, or one that focuses solely on environmental conditions”.