A presentation at Heritage University at CBC Week 08 in October 2019 in Pasco, WA 99301, USA by Jacob Campbell
Location: CBC Campus - SWL 206
Time: Wednesday from 5:30-8:15
Week 08: 10/07/19 — 10/13/19
Reading Assignment: Hepworth et al. (2016) Chapters 8 & 9
Topic and Content Area: Assessment
Assignments Due: Reading Quiz
Other Important Information: N/A
Assessments give a social worker the ability to “gathering information and formulating it into a coherent picture of the client and his or her circumstances” (p. 187)
When we are thinking about assessments, we generally think about them as being multidimensional.
Although a social worker’s assessment will be guided by the setting in which the assessment is conducted, certain priorities in assessment influence all social work settings.
Initially, three questions should be assessed in all situations:
As students, and especially BA social work students, we want to discuss a little bit of the limitations of this. It should be self evident, but…
[Whole Class Activity: Discussion] Who general gives diagnoses? (think about autism and who general ascribe those diagnoses)
Students role in understanding clinical practice
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is a collection of diagnoses of mental disordered accompanied by the typical behaviors and symptoms you might see in a particular diagnosis.
[Discussion] How much do you know about the DSM?
[Discussion] What is the purpose of the DSM
—> Click
While the DSM is prolific and used everywhere, there are some problems that are related to the DSM?
[Discussion] What are some of the problems people have with use of a medical model for diagnoses
Shackle, E. M. (1985). Psychiatric diagnosis as an ethical problem. Journal of Medical Ethics, 11(9), 132–134. doi:10.1136/jme.11.3.132
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) is an important tool for understanding and formulating mental and emotional disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 2013b).
For each disorder, the manual uses a standardized format to present relevant information. The sections contain:
To emphasize strengths and empowerment in the assessment process, Cowger (1994) as cited in the text book made three suggestions to social workers:
from saleebey, D. (2009) The strengths perspective in social work practice (2nd ed.) Pearson Education inc: Upper Saddle River New Jersey
4 quadrants
And
The following is a short video. So, you all have at least gotten your AA. I want to do a short little test to see how well you can count. We are going to watch a short movie clip of two teams (a black one and a white one) passing the ball. Make sure that you keep an accurate count!
[Activity] Watch the video clip
[Discussion] How many did you count? How many of you noticed the gorilla moon walking through the background?
Context is important when we think about our clients situations.
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:
Good practice requires social workers to use a variety of communication methods to encourage the client to tell his or her story.
Social workers’ initial contacts with clients will concentrate on…
Good practice requires social workers to use a variety of communication methods to encourage the client to tell his or her story.
Social workers’ initial contacts with clients will concentrate on…
A portion of the assessment should include information regarding the the various systems they interact with
People commonly interact with the following systems:
Determining unmet needs, then, is the first step in identifying which resources must be tapped or developed.
In determining clients’ unmet needs and wants,it is essential to consider the developmental stage of the individual, couple, or family.
[Whole Class Activity] Discuss how we asses needs along with the difference between needs and wants.
I wanted to show how I write my notes.
The following are the general parts of a MSE
[Discussion] Do we use formalized words in our documentation?
[Discussion] Mental Status Examination vs Mini Mental Status Examination
General appearance is one aspect that is evaluated by workers as a part of a diagnostic process.
—> Appearance
Along with the appearance is…
Facial expressions and psychomotor activity are both included in the general appearance of the client.
Speech and language is also a part of the general appearance.
Reporting on emotions is an important aspect of client assessment as well.
Neurovegetative (autonomic - acting or occurring involuntarily) can be signs of depression. Neurovegetative symptoms are symptoms leading to dissociation from society as a whole.
Symptoms include physical, emotional and cognitive changes. When the symptoms combine as in depression, they work in unison to cause a further decline in the mental state of the patient. This downward spiral can be overlooked until the depression is in an extreme state.)
Another area that is that of a clients cognitive functioning.
As well there can be…
Thoughts and perceptions are another area that we evaluate.
I wanted to spend some special time just looking at suicide risk assessment.
The first step is to listen to risk factors. For adults they can be:
for youth, the following are some areas that we might want to consider.
Have you have thoughts about death or suicide?
I’d like to ask you more about that.
The biggest things to get more details about:
Then finally we have to assess other risk factors
(Hepworth, et al., 2017)
(Adapted from Houston-Vega, Nuehring, & Daguio, 1997, pp. 97–101)
(Ross, 2000)
