ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a multifactorial social work theory, the so-called Person-in-Environment Empowerment Theory (PIE-ET). The PIE-Empowerment Theory brings two central perspectives in social work history together: the Person-in-Environment perspective and the Empowerment perspective. The chapter also describes the need for an overarching social work theory aimed at minimizing the risk of tunnel vision. It argues that social workers always consider the need for such working hypotheses to be tested; in other words, they do not see it as simply 'the best' but are willing to replace it by a better working hypothesis if need be. The social worker maximizes the client's Quality of Life in close collaboration with the client, by engaging the power of two factors: the strength of the person and the strength of the environment. PIE-ET tries to achieve a theoretical synthesis by adopting a multifocal or multifactorial lens which underpins a multimethod approach.
