Exam 1: Introduction to Generalist Practice With Organizations and Communities

In the 1880s, places where ministers, students, or humanitarians lived and interacted with poor slum dwellers with the goal of improving community residents' lives and conditions were called:

Your personal values should always be identical to professional values.

Review  the  following  case  scenario.  Propose  possible  micro,  mezzo,  and  macro  alternatives  you  might  pursue  on  Mr.  Pithon's behalf. Suppose you are a generalist practitioner for a rural Midwest county. Your job entails receiving referrals from your supervisor (who routinely receives them from an intake worker). You then establish initial connections with clients by engaging them in the problem-solving process, familiarizing them with the agency and supplying them with information, soliciting data to assist in service provision, providing short-term counseling when needed, and making referrals to agency units and other community resources as appropriate. You receive a referral involving an elderly individual, Monti Pithon. The person who called, Duke Earl, is one of Mr. Pithon's concerned neighbors. Mr. Earl expressed concern because Mr. Pithon twice fell down on his icy sidewalk. On neither occasion was he able to get back up and into the house. Both times Mr. Earl happened to notice the fall and assisted Mr. Pithon into the house. While inside, Mr. Earl noticed extremely chaotic conditions. Rotting garbage was strewn around the kitchen and about a dozen cats wandered around at will. Mr. Earl noticed that one pitch- black cat with a white patch over her left eye was eating what seemed to be canned creamed corn mixed with ketchup from a plate on the table that looked like it might be Mr. Pithon's lunch. Mr. Earl also expressed concern about Mr. Pithon's diet in a general sense. Mr. Earl wondered whether Mr. Pithon was able to shop or cook adequately, as he looked gaunt and thin. Initially, you call Mr. Earl to clarify any questions you have and to thank him for his interest and help. This means that you have engaged Mr. Earl in the problem-solving process. Subsequently, you proceed to figure out what to do about Mr. Pithon. You must also engage him as the client in the problem-solving process. Of course you, as a generalist practitioner, must work with the client to establish what he needs and wants. During  the  assessment  phase  of  the  problem-solving  process,  you  may  decide  to  pursue  planning  and  implementation  at  either  the  micro,  mezzo,  or  macro  level.  You  might  also  decide  that  intervention  at  more  than  one  level  would  be  appropriate.

When using critical thinking, assuming that if everyone else thinks this way, it must be right, is a fallacy to avoid , labeled in the text as:

Currently in the social work profession, the BSW is considered the entry-level degree and the MSW provides advanced, specialized training.

Social policies include those standards adopted by individual organizations and programs that provide services (for example, a family service agency, a department of human services, or a nursing home).

Identify three dimensions involved in assessment (as part of the planned change process). Explain why each sub- step is important.

Ethics are principles, qualities, and practices that a designated group, individual, or culture deems inherently desirable.

Empowerment is the ability of an individual, family, group, community, or organization to recover from adversity and resume functioning even when suffering serious trouble, confusion, or hardship.

Traditional social casework developed from the________approach.

This model of community organization assumes that change is best accomplished when the people affected by problems are empowered with the knowledge and skills needed to understand their problems, and then work cooperatively together to overcome them:

Social work research has all of the following approaches except :

To a great extent micro skills are based on macro skills.

A fixed mental picture of members of some specified group based on some attribute or a group of attributes that reflect an overly simplified view of that group, without consideration or appreciation for individual differences, is called:

Cite four examples of how communities could be enhanced by the strengths perspective.

The social work knowledge base includes content on the following:

Charity Organization Societies emphasized the empowerment of people.

The  __________ role involves giving information and teaching skills to other systems.

The act of treating people differently because they belong to a particular group rather than on their own merit is called:

Evidence-based practice and research-informed practice mean basically the same thing.