Deck 9: Direct Strategies: Working With People One-On-One

Question 1

You are told by a parent that his child is having very serious problems keeping up with his schoolwork. You have been taught that human service problems stem from the interaction of biological, emotional, and environmental stresses. Explain in what ways all three of these sets of pressures might be affecting this, or any child's, ability to function well in school.

Answer 1

Example:
A child's problems in learning in school, for example, might stem from problems with eyesight or hearing which would be biological. They might come from the emotional stress of having parents who are going through a difficult divorce and it would be made worse by being in a noisy overcrowded classroom with an inexperienced or burnt out teacher. This would be an environmental stress.

Question 2

Mr. Jones, who is the director of a family service agency, has decided that he needs an efficient method of assigning new clients to specific workers. So he creates a scale that rates the severity of each client's problem when they first come to the agency. Then he chooses the worker to assign on the basis of his measure of how serious the client's problem is. We believe that this system does not make any sense. Why is it that problems cannot be divided up in such an arbitrary fashion?

Answer 2

Problems can never be divided up on a scale ranging from very serious to less serious and then parceled out to workers on the basis of their training. What at first might appear to be a very simple problem might, under further examination, turn out to be a very complicated problem involving many people and issues. Also, what is a manageable problem to one person might be a life-threatening problem to another. For example, when a family moves to a new town, each member adjusts to all the changes in a very different way, according to his or her needs and personalities as well as the kind of reception and resources he or she finds in the new environment. One family member might welcome the change while another has a breakdown from the stress. Until we get to know the client and the other factors that lie behind the problem, it is impossible to pre-judge it.

Question 3

In the first interview with Carmen Mejia, what seemed to be the problems in finding appropriate foster homes for the children who had to be removed from their own parents' home?

Answer 3

There were not enough foster families who were familiar with the language, foods or culture of the children who had come from Spanish speaking countries. Once homes were found, the foster parents often didn't receive the assistance they needed to deal with the problems presented by their foster children. So the children either stayed in an inappropriate setting or they moved around from one home to another, which is never good for their education or sense of security.

Question 4

In the interview with Carmen Mejia, she says that the goal of her agency is called permanency planning or family preservation. How are these terms defined? What are the four goals of hoped for outcomes? What three methods did the agency use to achieve the goals of its program?
Definition:

Question 5

What is meant by preparatory empathy? Give an example of preparatory empathy from the text or from your own practice.

Question 6

In the field of human service there are agreed upon boundary lines among the roles of the caseworker, case manager, counselor, and social worker.

Question 7

All human service workers, regardless of their formal training, job title or their client's problems, deal with inner emotions and external resources.

Question 8

Regardless of what specific problem a person is struggling with, when deciding to seek help from a counselor, it is likely that he or she feels the lack of the following:

A) The resources for alleviating the problem
B) The will to alleviate the problem
C) The family support necessary to alleviate the problem

Question 9

In order to raise a mentally healthy child, parents should

A) protect them from having to deal with serious problems as they grow up.
B) help them learn to deal with the inevitable problems that will occur.
C) hide problems from them when they occur.
D) realize that they are inadequate if their children are confronted with problems and seek outside help.

Question 10

In the interview with Carmen Mejia about her job as a family resource worker, she made it clear that she believes that a father who sexually abuses a child should be permanently banned from the home.

Question 11

When a teenager expresses very hostile feelings towards the rules set down by his or her parent or guardian, the caseworker should quickly respond by:

A) Explaining that she is exaggerating about how restrictive the situation is.
B) Suggesting to her that when she is an adult she will probably act the same way.
C) Telling her about other teenagers who have far stricter rules.
D) Encouraging her to express her feelings fully before anything else is done.
E) All of the above.

Question 12

The human service worker helps clients to make one particular decision while also helping them to increase their overall decision-making skills.

Question 13

The case work/counseling process begins with a period of preparation. As part of that preparation, what is one of the tasks that the worker should do?

A) Create an action plan to suit the needs of the client.
B) Arrange for the resources and referrals that will be needed
C) Review the existing background information about the client's situation.

Question 14

Once we have become skillful at preparatory empathy we can be reasonably sure what our client will say and can then prepare our response.

Question 15

The background data that we are given before seeing a client has certain limitations. Which of the following are limitations?

A) The records in the file usually exclude the views of the client.
B) The records can lead us to pre-judge or stereotype a client.
C) Our preconceptions might shape the client's behavior.
D) Background data can be based on dubious measures.
E) All of the above.

Question 16

Which of the following is not a method of collecting data about a client's situation?

A) The intake interview
B) Deductive reasoning
C) The home visit
D) The staffing or case conference
E) Direct observation

Question 17

Small details such as the scheduling of the interview and the manner in which the client is ushered into the office are bureaucratic, irrelevant issues in building the relationship between client and worker.

Question 18

In creating an action plan, the worker and client do which of the following?

A) Translate major problems into smaller parts
B) Visualize alternative paths, strategies and resources
C) Consider the constraints
D) Choose the action alternatives
E) All of the above.

Question 19

We use the term "linkage technology" to refer to:

A) The acts a worker performs to assure that a client can gain access to a resource.
B) The bond that develops between the client and his significant other.
C) The endless circles that a client is often forced to follow by unfeeling bureaucrats.
D) A computer program that lets us know the availability of spaces in a residential program.

Question 20

An evaluation should always be built on a solid statistical model.

Question 21

An initial verbal or written statement that explains the reasons a client is being sent to a specific resource or agency is called a:

A) Referral file
B) Referral statement
C) Screening request
D) Subjective request

Question 22

An interview that solicits relevant information before the delivery of a service begins is called a (n):

A) Assessment
B) Intake interview
C) Referral meeting
D) Crisis intervention session

Question 23

Background records always include the views of the client.