Social Work with Individuals and Families

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Social Work with Individuals and Families

Questions

  1. Describe the basics of a multidimensional assessment and the strategies used in assessing the client’s problem and strengths. Discuss the three key aspects of a comprehensive assessment.

  2. Discuss the characteristics of the family as a social system. Explain how family rules function to maintain equilibrium in a family system. Provide a specific example.

  3. You are working on developing a treatment plan with a client. Explain the significance of the process of developing general tasks to partialize goals. Write a specific, feasible and measureable goal statement using the SMART method. Develop related objectives to achieve the goal. Explain a method you would use to evaluate progress to achieve the goal and why you picked the method.

  4. You are ready to select an intervention strategy as part of the helping process. Explain ONE change oriented strategy you might use with your client. Describe how you would determine whether case management was an appropriate method to implement in a client situation. Discuss your role as a case manager in the situation.

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Answers

1. Multidimensional assessment of systems from a social perspective recognizes the fact that all human beings are collective creatures who depend on other human beings and complex institutions to meet their needs. For a human being to basic needs include food, clothing and shelter (Hepworth, Rooney, Rooney, & Strom-Gottfried, 2013). A social worker is responsible for assessing a variety of sources of information and examining the client. In order to define the objectives clearly, a social worker should distinguish different perspectives of sociological and psychological assessment.

One of these assessment methods is the systems perspective, which clearly states that systems are made up of interrelated members who constitute an orderly whole. Furthermore, each part of a particular system has an impact on all other parts, and all these systems tend to move towards an equilibrium. The conflict perspective believes that all groups try to promote their own interests. In such a system, the lack of open signs is an indication of exploitation of one member. The rational choice perspective believes that power comes from unequal sources.

The social constructionist perspective states that actors are free and liberated. Furthermore, society in itself consists of some social processes (Hepworth et al., 2013). Moreover, people usually modify the meanings in different interaction processes. The constructionist social mentality controls the majority of the thought processes in a certain area, and it has a close relationship with conceptualism. There are some strategies that are used to assess the client’s weaknesses and strengths.

The psychodynamic perspective beliefs that emotions have play a central role in the behavioral patterns of human beings (Hepworth et al., 2013). It also claims that the unconscious and conscious mental activities motivate the behavior of human beings. In addition, humans get overwhelmed by internal and external demands and may use their ego differences to avoid being burdened by these requirements. According to the developmental perspective, human evolvement often occurs in different stages. The stages of development are universal, and they can cause human beings to reason as they do.

It is important to have a sober approach when responding to issues affecting the client. Understanding of these needs can only be achieved by building up relationships with clients. It would also be of much help to evaluate the client and comprehend the challenges that they are dealing with as well as come up with valid solutions to these issues. It is advisable to facilitate communication with the clients in order to better understand the range of problems that they are facing and correctly approach these issues.

Once one understands the issues that the client is dealing with, appropriate action should be taken. It would be essential to set up a proper plan of action or intervention that would deal with the issue immediately (Hepworth et al., 2013). Once this is done, the protocol can be followed, and this step of action can be used to come up with a solution to the client’s problem. Once it is established that the client has managed to deal with the issues that he has been facing, then he can be provided with information sources that will help to cope best with such situations should they reoccur. Such an approach would be a holistic way of dealing with issues affecting the clients.

According to Hepworth et al. (2013), a comprehensive assessment should be coherent and organized around some big ideas. For the evaluation to be coherent, it should focus on the main plan and not deviate from the primary issues at hand. It should also be comprehensive and applicable to different purposes as well as give users data that will assist them with making appropriate decisions. An assessment should also be credible and accurate, and this means that it should not deviate from the main issues. It should have clear evidence for occurrences. It should be fair and not biased towards one view.

2. The family is a social system, and it has some distinct characteristics that legitimize this statement (Hepworth et al., 2013). The family is a non-reductionist entity. This statement means that the family is an organized entity composed of smaller parts and can be best understood by reducing it to the smallest part possible. Another aspect of the family is the fact that the members of this entity interact in reciprocal relationships responding to one another according to the assigned roles. Therefore, each member of the family has a specific role that that has to be fulfilled.

The family has specific boundaries that clearly show who is in and who is out. The boundaries, which the family has, can be both physical and symbolic. It is also a permeable unit, meaning that members are free to leave and enter. The family may also experience ambiguity, especially during times of transition, and it may be difficult to know who is in and who is out of the family. The family also has a hierarchy, and there are certain positions and levels within it. However, both partners in the parenthood may seek to maintain equal authority over the other members of the institution. These features show the family is a system, and it is easy to define it with the help of its components.

Family rules are important because they help to maintain a sense of order within the system. These rules guide all members of the family and help them to differentiate what is right from what is wrong. Rules are necessary for the family, because they help to maintain peace and harmony, as relatives are careful not to cross boundaries with other family members. It is also necessary to have rules within the system as they help the family members to maintain good relationships with each other. When a family has rules, then the members share mutual respect and have better liaisons.

Rules are important within the family unit as they help to maintain peace and order within the household (Hepworth et al., 2013).When the family follows rules, then everything will be done in an orderly fashion. They also allow to maintain coordination within the family as things are done according to plan and following a fixed and set schedule. Another important function of the family rules is that they help to instill discipline into the relatives, particularly in the case of children. When there are set rules in the family, then there will be discipline within the unit, and everything will be done in the correct manner. For example, when the children have set rules governing what time they eat and sleep, they will be programmed to follow these rules and understand that breaking them will have serious repercussions.

3. According to Duggan (2015), partializing of tasks is important in any social system, and it will usually assist in the process of setting and achieving certain goals. By partializing goals, one ensures that there is direction and focus on the particular outcome, so that the set targets and goals are effectively met within the organization. Partializing also ensures that a person is on the same page with the client, and there is mutual understanding. It is also important because it will pave a way for the necessary interventions to occur within the family unit. Furthermore, it will encourage feedback within the system and, therefore, provide a sense of balance.

For instance, a goal statement using the SMART method is as follows. By April 2015, I will buy an acre of land using $5,000 that I will earn from my taxi business. This is a goal oriented towards specific set targets that need to be achieved (Duggan, 2015).Therefore, it will be necessary to ensure that these goals are done at the right time, as the statement has set targets with specific time frames and a course of action. All of the information regarding the purpose and the target of the particular goal is clearly summarized within one statement.

It is possible to set certain objectives to achieve the goal. For example, I would ensure that I service the taxi to increase its efficiency in the course of duty. Furthermore, I would make sure that the taxi business that I am running is properly advertised within the region so that people are aware of it. The advertising would help to increase my customer base and ensure that the business popularity grows within a certain period. Such objectives ensure that the business will be run properly, and all the necessary courses of action will be followed at all times.

4. When a certain goal has been set, it is necessary to follow the progress of that particular goal to ascertain as to whether there is any progress or not. It would be necessary to examine the business policies and procedures to see if they are functioning properly (Hepworth et al., 2013). By doing this, one will be able to know if the goal-achieving process is on the right track. It would also be important to come up with a report to pinpoint critical issues and challenges that may be faced during the process. This step will help to improve the entire process.

It would also be important to analyze results to know whether there is progress in the entire process. Processes that are functioning correctly should be maintained, while those that are causing problems should be eliminated to increase efficiency (Burris, 2015). As a result, one should measure the statistics according to the outcome of the results and manage the performance using metrics and data systems. Moreover, the results should be published so that one can officially understand and implement the outcome of the analysis.

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One example of a change management strategy that I would implement is aggressive marketing of the business. I would use better marketing methods to persuade the client that the business service is of the best possible level (Burris, 2015). Additionally, I would use feedback to determine whether it is an appropriate method or not. As the case manager, I would ensure that all the necessary business systems are in place.