Fall 2025 SOWK 530 Week 05 - Assessing for Strengths
Fall 2025 SOWK 530 Week 05 - Assessing for Strengths
title: Fall 2025 SOWK 530 Week 05 - Assessing for Strengths
date: 2025-09-22 19:35:06
location: Heritage University
tags:
- Heritage University
- MSW Program
- SOWK 530
presentation_video: > Fall 2025 SOWK 530 Week 05
description: >
Week five is asynchronous. Students will read chapter eight of Hepworth et al. (2023) and begin our three-week look into the foundations of assessment. There are discussion forums focused on assessing strengths, understanding the sources of information we might use, and assessment instruments. During the lecture video, we will explore more about assessing for strengths and consider what we look for in understanding troubling behavior. The agenda for the lecture video includes:
- Week five content
- Assessing for strengths
- Areas to explore for behavior
The Learning objectives this week include:
- Analyze the purposes, benefits, and limitations of various sources of information used in social work assessments.
- Identify and reflect on practical considerations in using screening tools and structured instruments in clinical practice.
- Develop strategies for emphasizing strengths in assessment
- Understand where strengths fit into our assessment
- Identify the categories we might evaluate for troubling behaviors
Plan for Lecture Video - W-05
Agenda
- Week five content
- Assessing for strengths
Learning Objectives
- Develop strategies for emphasizing strengths in assessment
- Understand where strengths fits into our assessment
- Identify the categories we might evaluate for troubling behaviors
Week Five Content
Content
- Read Hepworth et al. (2023) Chapter 8 Exploring and Understanding Problems and Strengths
- Watch my lecture video
A-02 W-05 Asynchronous Engagement
The expectation is that each of your replies will be substantive and provide meaningful perspectives, contributing to the forum’s conversation and scholarship. They can be related to the prompts or building on conversations shared by peers. There are five forums for this week, and you are expected to make at least six replies across any of the forums. These forums include the following:
- In the Chapter Eight Content Discussion, students reflect on the role of assessments in practice, considering topics like diagnostic labels, culturally competent assessments, and the value of theory, observation, and client self-monitoring.
- The Assessing Strengths Beyond Those Revealed by Clients forum explores how social workers can uncover strengths not explicitly shared by clients—and when even a “strength” may obscure or complicate the work at hand.
- There are practical upsides and drawbacks of different information we gather within assessment, the forum Advantages and Limitations of Sources of Information for Assessments asks students to explore this.
- The Sources of Information Based on Setting or Population forum gives students the opportunity to think through how assessments might vary based on population and setting.
- Screening Tools and Assessment Instruments are an important setting way that we asses our clients. This forum either asks students to explore related resources and share their findings or to engage in an identified screening tool and reflect on the experience.
A-03 Reading Quiz
Complete W-05 Hepworth et al. (2023) Chapter 08 due by Saturday 9/27, 8:00 AM.
Emphasizing Strengths in Assessments
To emphasize strengths and empowerment in the assessment process, Cowger (1994) as cited in the textbook made three suggestions to social workers:
- Give pre-eminence to the client’s understanding of the facts
- Discover what the client wants
- Assess personal and environmental strengths on multiple levels
Reference
Cowger, C. D. (1994). Assessing client strengths: Clinical assessment for client empowerment. Social Work, 39(3), 262-268. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/39.3.262
Framework for Strengths in Assessment
When we are engaging in assessment, there are four quadrants we might be looking towards.
- Strengths or Resources Vs.
- Deficit, Obstacle, or Challenges
And
- Environmental factors (family, community) Vs.
- Individual or personal factors
Reference
Saleebey, D. (2009) The strengths perspective in social work practice (2nd ed.) Pearson Education inc: Upper Saddle River New Jersey
Conditions Surrounding Troubling Behaviors
Assessment focuses on the conditions surrounding troubling behaviors, the conditions that reinforce the behavior, and the consequences and secondary gains that might result. Questions to address this sequence include:
- When: When do you experience the behavior?
- Where: Where do you experience the behavior?
- Duration: How long does the behavior usually last?
- Consequences: What happens immediately after the behavior occurs?
- Physiological: What bodily reactions do you experience with the behavior?
- Social: What do the people around you usually do when the behavior is happening?
- Reinforcement: What happened after the behavior that was pleasant?
School Context: ABC Data to Build an FBA, so there can be a BIP?