Week 08: Assessment in Social Work
A presentation at Heritage University in October 2020 by Jacob Campbell and is tagged with BASW Program, Heritage University, SOWK 486w
![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… Who gives diagnoses? [Whole Class Activity: Discussion] Who general gives diagnoses? (think about autism and who general ascribe those diagnoses) Students role in understanding clinical practice It’s about have a common language In reading reports Introduction to clinical terminology](https://presentations.jacobrcampbell.com/t3ZACG/deck-5901-large-4.jpeg)
![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 Common language Billing Research](https://presentations.jacobrcampbell.com/t3ZACG/deck-5901-large-5.jpeg)
![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 Not strengths based (other citation…) Possible loss of personal freedom (recommendations of specific treatments) Lifelong labeling Variance of diagnoses among professionals (other citation) 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](https://presentations.jacobrcampbell.com/t3ZACG/deck-5901-large-6.jpeg)
![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.](https://presentations.jacobrcampbell.com/t3ZACG/deck-5901-large-10.jpeg)
![College and life is stressful. The following is a short video clip about managing stress by the BBC. [Whole Class Activity] Watch video clip](https://presentations.jacobrcampbell.com/t3ZACG/deck-5901-large-13.jpeg)
![We are going to talk some about screening tools. The Global Measure of Perceived Stress, original published by Cohen et al. in 1983, is a tool. I didn’t want to choose a tool that would be too intrusive and that might still be useful. In class, I’ve generally printed and had students complete about five different screeners to see how each of them work. Today we will just do this one. [Whole Class Activity] Write on a sheet of paper your rating for each of the numbers (make sure to number your answer) In the last month, how often have you been upset because of something that happened unexpectedly? In the last month, how often have you felt that you were unable to control the important things in your life? In the last month, how often have you felt nervous and stressed? In the last month, how often have you felt confident about your ability to handle your personal problems? In the last month, how often have you felt that things were going your way? In the last month, how often have you found that you could not cope with all the things that you had to do? In the last month, how often have you been able to control irritations in your life? In the last month, how often have you felt that you were on top of things? In the last month, how often have you been angered because of things that happened that were outside of your control? In the last month, how often have you felt difficulties were piling up so high that you could not overcome them? For each question choose from the following alternatives: 0 - never 1 - almost never 2 - sometimes 3 - fairly often 4 - very often Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., & Mermelstein, R. (1983). A Global Measure of Perceived Stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24(4), 385. https://doi.org/10.2307/2136404 Example taken from the New Hampshire Department of Employee Assistance Programs: https://das.nh.gov/wellness/Docs/Percieved%20Stress%20Scale.pdf](https://presentations.jacobrcampbell.com/t3ZACG/deck-5901-large-14.jpeg)
![Score yourself Reverse your scores for questions 4, 5, 7, and 8. On these 4 questions, change the scores like this: 0 = 4, 1 = 3, 2 = 2, 3 = 1, 4 = 0. Add up your scores for each item to get a total. Individual scores on the PSS can range from 0 to 40 with higher scores indicating higher perceived stress. Scores ranging from 0-13 would be considered low stress. Scores ranging from 14-26 would be considered moderate stress. Scores ranging from 27-40 would be considered high perceived stress. The Perceived Stress Scale is interesting and important because your perception of what is happening in your life is most important. Consider the idea that two individuals could have the exact same events and experiences in their lives for the past month. Depending on their perception, total score could put one of those individuals in the low stress category and the total score could put the second person in the high stress category [Small Group Activity] Students will be broken up into small groups to consider their scores for the Perceived Stress Screener How accurate was your do you feel this was How is completing a screener useful for the worker How is completing a screener useful for the client [Whole Class Activity] Have discussion about how we can use screeners and why we might use them.](https://presentations.jacobrcampbell.com/t3ZACG/deck-5901-large-15.jpeg)
![The following are the general parts of a MSE General appearance Behavior Thought process and content Affect Impulse control Insight Cognitive functioning Intelligence Reality testing Suicidal or homicidal ideation Judgment [Discussion] Do we use formalized words in our documentation? [Discussion] Mental Status Examination vs Mini Mental Status Examination](https://presentations.jacobrcampbell.com/t3ZACG/deck-5901-large-22.jpeg)
Description
Week’s eight and nine are both about how social workers conduct assessments. After we have started building relationship with our clients, and before we can really find ways to support them we have understand what the real problem is. We will be looking at how we do assessments. We will review examples of screening tools, the DSM-5, and mini mental status exams. As well we are going to spend time discussing documentation.