This assignment will allow students to practice and discuss concepts that are covered in class
and related to individuals and families. In this assignment, students will demonstrate
competencies of working with diverse groups, engagement, assessment, theory, intervention
and evaluation. To accomplish this, students will use a case they are working with at their
current internship field placement. If the student is not currently attending an internship, the
student may use a client at their current place of employment if their place of employment is
social work related. The professor will provide case vignettes for students if needed.
Outline/structure of paper should be as follows:
1) Title page (page 1)
a. Include a running head, page number, title of your document, date of
submission, course number, and professor name.
2) Abstract (1/2 page)
a. Abstracts are typically written last and are a general summary of your
assignment. It is included after your title page, before your introduction.
Your
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abstract should be a single paragraph, written in 150-250 words and double
spaced.
3) Problem statement (1 page or less)
a. Provide an introduction including a discussion of the client’s presenting
problem and any relevant information to help understand the nature of this
problem. This may include the reason why the client has come to treatment,
why they were referred, or why they need social work services.
4) Diversity (2 pages)
a. Discuss how diversity and difference has shaped the life experiences of this
client.
b. Discuss how oppression, poverty, marginalization and/or privilege and power
has influenced this client’s life experiences and presenting problem.
c. Discuss any similarities or differences between the client’s culture and the
dominant culture (if different) and how these have impacted the client’s
social, economic and political experiences.
d. Discuss how the answers above helped confirm or changed the way you
understood the client’s presenting problem.
5) Engagement (1 page)
a. What were your initial reaction when first working with this client? Identify
verbal and non-verbal behaviors your client communicated in response to
your initial reaction(s).
b. Discuss how your thoughts, feelings and emotions changed when working
with this client over time? Discuss what skills or strategies were needed to for
you to manage your feelings?
c. What verbal and non-verbal communication strategies did you use to promote
engagement with this client?
d. Discuss how you demonstrated to this client you value human relationships
with him/her/them.
6) Assessment (2 pages)
a. Complete an assessment tool and attach this as an appendix. You may be
allowed to use an assessment tool used by your agency with professor
consent.
b. Explain why this assessment tool is appropriate for this client or case and
briefly summarize the main findings from your assessment.
c. Following the assessment, discuss what have you learned over the course of
your work with the client that is different than what was initially apparent?
Identify an example of why the assessment must always be an ongoing part
of the treatment or service.
d. Think back to your answer you provided about your feelings about engaging
with this client. How do your feelings and personal experiences relate to your
conclusions about what causes or maintains the problems impacting this
client? How did you, and how will you continue to, manage the potential
impact of your feelings and experiences on your professional judgement?
7) Goals or case plan (1 page or less)
a. Based on information gathered from the presenting problem, engagement
and assessment, discuss the goals you and your client have agreed upon. If
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there is disagreement with the goals, discuss why and what you did or will do
to resolve this dilemma.
b. Explain how these goals are related to the client’s presenting problem and
assessment information.
8) Intervention (1 page)
a. Discuss evidence that was made available to you that led you to select the
final intervention? How did you evaluate or compare that evidence when
selecting an intervention for the client?
b. Discuss any evidence that was found to guide the implementation of the
intervention that you selected or are considering?
c. Discuss how your thinking about the most appropriate intervention for this
client has changed over time.
9) Evaluation (1 page)
a. Based on the goals selected for treatment or services, discuss how you did or
will evaluate the success of your work with this client?
b. Describe both quantitative and qualitative methods that could be utilized to
evaluate the success of your work with this client.
c. What are the implications of this evaluation(s) on your client?
d. Discuss why must evaluation be a continual part of the therapeutic process
and not just an end process.
10) Theory (1-2 pages)
a. Identify one or more social work or psychological theories.
b. Explain how this theory might suggest you engage or communicate with your
client
c. Given the assessment data, discuss how this theory explains why the client’s
problem was caused or sustained
d. Explain how this theory guided, or will guide, you to select which intervention
to use when working with your client
e. How might this theory inform your decision making about when treatment is
complete or successful and termination is appropriate?
11) Teamwork and interdisciplinary approach (1-2 pages)
a. Identify ways in which other professionals might engage with this client prior
to you seeing them. How might this influence the initial communication
between you and the client?
b. How has an inter-disciplinary teamwork and communication approach
supported your engagement with this client? If teamwork was not present,
discuss how an inter-disciplinary approach could support your work with this
client.
c. Discuss ways in which other professionals contributed to your assessment of
this client.
d. Discuss ways in which other professionals agreed or disagreed with the
selection of the intervention. Why did this occur?
12) Summary (1 page or less)
a. Provide a short summary of the main points of the paper
13) References
a. Following APA 7th edition, make sure that you have all of the in-text citations
accounted for in this references section.
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14) Appendices
a. Include any appendices such as your assessment tool or any other relevant
or supporting documents