Week 3: Assessment—Part 1

Important Note: Please use the media player below to hear an audio course introduction that will give you more background information about the course topic. Also provided is a transcript for you to download and print out.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2013). Assessment [Audio file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Note:  The approximate length of this media piece is 1 minute.

Accessible player –Downloads–Download AudioDownload Transcript

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Apply assessment in field education experience

Learning Resources

Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.

Required Readings

Savaya, R., & Gardner, F. (2012). Critical reflection to identify gaps between espoused theory and theory-in-use. Social Work, 57(2), 145–154.

Required Media

Laureate Education (Producer). (2013). Engagement [Audio file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
Note: This audio introduction is located in the Introduction section. The approximate length of this media piece is 1 minute.

Optional Resources

Click this link to access the MSW home page, which provides resources for your social work program:
MSW home page

Assignment 1: Week 3 Blog

Refer to the topics covered in this week’s resources, and incorporate them into your blog.

By Day 3

Post a blog post that includes:

• An explanation of how you have addressed assessment or how you might address assessment during your field education experience

By Day 4

Respond to the blog post of three colleagues in one or more of the following ways:

• Validate an idea in your colleague’s posting with your own experience.
• Expand on your colleague’s posting.

Week 3 Blog Surnita Warner

Posted by  Surnita Warner  at Tuesday, December 10, 2019 11:53:46 PM

An explanation of how you have addressed assessment or how you might address assessment during your field education experience

 Assessment for social workers entails investigating people’s strengths,  problems, needs, and issues to begin understanding how to help people and improve their lives. (Zastrow, 2015, pp. 3-4) I begin assessing clients within the agency, by allowing the client to express their problems. I usually state, “ What’s going on today, what made you call the hotline, and or did something occur today to make you reach out?”  These questions, usually initiate the conversation and the Caller begins to express their problems, issues and much more. While the Caller continues to express themselves, I collect information in reference to what they’ve reported. Usually the Caller references their strengths, such as playing basketball or that they enjoy riding their bikes, when speaking about the issue. I use the strengths later in the conversation, as a tool for the Caller to cope and or a way to de-escalate their behavior. 

 In addition,the  assessment phase is used to answer the question, what causes a problem to continue despite the client’s expressed wish to change it? (Zastrow, 2015, p. 35) I assess this by assessing the barriers in the caller environment, family life, and etc. For instance, the majority of callers contact the hotline, expressing that they want to live by themselves. Therefore, I assess their environment, which is family,  living situation, and if they are employed. The response is usually that they reside with their parents and they are unemployed. Following, I then educate the caller that employment is beneficial for any individual to reside alone because rent and utilities are costly.

References

Zastrow, C., Kirst-Ashman, K. K.  (2015). Empowerment Series: Understanding Human 

Behavior and the Social Environment, 10th Edition [VitalSource Bookshelf 

version].  Retrieved from vbk://9781337342063

COMMENT

Monday, December 9, 2019

Week 3 Blog, Emily Worley

Posted by  Emily Worley  at Monday, December 9, 2019 4:44:19 PM

Assessment

Assessments can be challenging, do you write while they are talking, do you follow a fill in form question by question? It can be overwhelming especially when you are use to one style and an agency preferers a different way. For myself at my current place of employment, I am responsible for the majority of intakes which means I have written hundreds of psychosocial assessments. But when I came to participate in assessments within in my internship role it was a completely different layout. I feel as though I lack confidence in mental health documentation, as all my prior experience is with substance abuse. Social workers who find that their strategies are ineffective or result in undesirable outcomes often change their strategies (Savaya & Gardner, 2012).

I have sat and read many assessments completed prior to my arrival at my internship, in hopes that it will help me become more comfortable with the assessments at my internship. Practice is key when writing up assessments, after time the assessment becomes apart of your professional tools. I preferer to write short handed notes to refer back to, I want the process of an assessment to be more like a conversation then rapid firing questioning. My field instructor provided me with a great suggestion, to write some key information that is needed but often overlooked in the corner of my note pad to jog my memory when talking with a family. Savaya & Gardner, 2012, strongly recommend that critical reflection become an ongoing part of the supervision and support that agencies provide for their practitioners. When I do an assessment now, my field instructor will review the assessment, provide me tips and suggestions, which I find very beneficial.

Reference:

Savaya, R., & Gardner, F. (2012). Critical Reflection to Identify Gaps between Espoused Theory and Theory-in-Use. Social Work, 57(2), 145–154. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1093/sw/sws037