Category: Social Work

INITIAL POST (Due by 11:59 pm on Friday): Utilizing your Organizational Assessment/Intervention Assignment survey results, please respond to the following prompts:

– What were your findings from the Trauma-Informed Organizational Toolkit survey?

– What were your findings from the Racial Justice Assessment tool?

– What is your proposed organizational intervention/change?

– How has your proposed organizational intervention/change been shaped by your assessment findings?

– How do your findings relate to the information described in the guest lecture?

RESPONSE POST (Due by 11:59 pm on Monday): Utilizing this week’s readings and course content, respond to the posts of AT LEAST 2 of your classmates, focusing on:

– How well the proposed intervention addresses the assessment findings

– What suggestions do you have related to their proposed organizational intervention?

Needs Assessment

Oftentimes, social workers must justify the development of a new program to stakeholders through a formal needs assessment that generates scientific data about needs and gaps in the agency or community. They can use existing data from their agency, practice, or community setting to assess whether clients are receiving the help they need. They can also gather information from their clients through interviews, surveys, focus groups, and more.

In this weeks Discussion, you informally observed a problem in your agency or community setting and critically thought about an appropriate program to address the problem. Now, in the Assignment, you consider how to support the need for your proposed program more scientifically.

To Prepare

• Review and refine your potential program based on the feedback received in Discussion.
• Consider which clients will be included in the program and why.
• Review the methods for gathering information from clients and other stakeholders, including interviews, surveys, focus groups, etc. Determine which two methods would give you the most pertinent and reliable information to justify the development and implementation of your program

POST

Submit a 1- to 2-page paper expanding on and justifying the potential program you identified in this weeks Discussion. Include:

• A brief description of the program to be developed
• Criteria for inclusion in the program (which clients and why)
• Justification for the proposed program. What two best methods would you use to gather credible information to support the need for your program (e.g., interview, surveys, focus groups, etc.). Why? Be sure to state from whom you would gather the information.

Use the Learning Resources and peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles to support your paper. Make sure to include appropriate APA citations and a reference list.

RESURCES

• Dudley, J. R. (2020). Social work evaluation: Enhancing what we do (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.
• • Chapter 4, Common Types of Evaluations
    • Read Common Program Evaluations (pp. 7889).
  • Chapter 5, Focusing an Evaluation (pp. 96111)
  • Chapter 6, Needs Assessments (pp. 115147)

Application of Group Skills

While leading a treatment group, you may be faced with a dominant member who takes up much of the session time while others fall silent, or someone who is resistant or combative. There may be interpersonal conflict, or a complete lack of engagement. These challenging scenarios require effective leadership skills to balance negativity, empower group members, and build a respectful community. What skills do you currently possess, and how do you see yourself applying them in group work practice?

For this Assignment, you assume the role of a social worker leading a group session in an interactive media piece. You draw on your skills to navigate the scenario and take appropriate action; then, you reflect on your choices and the strengths and opportunities for your leadership skills.

To Prepare

• Navigate through the Group Therapy media piece in which you act as the social worker leading a group session.
• Reflect on the choices you selected based on the on-screen guidance and what you would have done differently if you were truly facilitating the group.
• Consider your leadership skills in general. Where might you need to improve to be a successful group leader?

SUBMIT

Submit a 2- to 3- page paper in which you:

• Explain the reasoning behind your choices at each step of the video scenario. What leadership skills did you employ and why?
• Explain what you would have done differently from the options presented to you and why. Include specific language you would have used (e.g., I would have said X to Y person in order to ).
• Describe how you view your leadership skills at this time. What leadership skills (identified in the Toseland and Rivas text) could you work on to improve?

Use the Learning Resources to support your Assignment. Make sure to provide APA citations and a reference list.

Resources

• Toseland, R. W., & Rivas, R. F. (2017). An introduction to group work practice (8th ed.). Pearson.
  • Chapter 4, Leadership (pp. 98136)
• Ezhumalai, S., Muralidhar, D., Dhanasekarapandian R., & Nikketha, B. S. (2018). . Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 60, S514S521.

• Group Therapy
  

Time Estimate: 5-7 minutes

Note: The video below is interactive. Click the play button and use the buttons to navigate through the piece.

Identifying Problems

Return, for a moment, to the idea of noticing. Sensory and observational skills paired with an analytical mind are the basis of social work assessment. And assessment is perhaps the most fundamental of all social work activities. It is a process of gathering pertinent information to answer questions about problems, contributions to problems, and potential strengths and assets. At a program-evaluation or program-planning level, a social worker applies the same thoughtful process used in individual assessment but extends or filters it to answer program-level questions.

As a result of this assessment, social workers often identify client problems that suggest the need for new or more focused services. They might next imagine what an appropriate service or program would look like. In this Discussion, you navigate a similar process of noticing problems, identifying needs, and envisioning a program to support those problems and needs.

To Prepare

• Review the Learning Resources on focusing an evaluation and on needs assessments.
• Consider your field agency, practice, or community setting, and any common client problems, issues, or service gaps you have observed. If you are not currently in a practice setting, you may draw on your past work or practicum experience.
• Research and/or brainstorm ideas for programs or services that could address the problems, issues, or gaps.

POST

• Describe at least one common client problem, issue, or gap in services or programs at your field agency, practice, or community setting. (If you are not currently in a practice setting, you may draw on your past work or practicum experience.)
• Specifically, highlight what you see that tells you clients need something more than what the agency, practice, or community setting is offering.
• Identify a program that you think is necessary to address the problem, issue, or gap and explain why.
• Generate a question that you might ask about your identified need and to whom.

Resources

• Dudley, J. R. (2020). Social work evaluation: Enhancing what we do (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.
• • Chapter 4, Common Types of Evaluations
    • Read Common Program Evaluations (pp. 7889).
  • Chapter 5, Focusing an Evaluation (pp. 96111)
  • Chapter 6, Needs Assessments (pp. 115147)

  MY FIELD AGENCY IS DIVINE YOUTH COUNSELING AGENCY IN RICHMOND VA. I AM A MENTAL HEALTH counselor FOR CHILDREN AND ADULTS

Group Leadership Skills

Leading a group can be challenging. It is important to remember that within the group, the social worker does much more than simply guide a conversation. Skills such as attending, synthesizing thoughts, providing resources, clarifying, and resolving conflict are all used to support process and treatment. The social worker is constantly assessing individual members and the overall group and determining the level of power and influence to exert. Even concrete, organizational actions such as opening and closing a session take skill and finesse.

In this Discussion, you observe a social worker engaging with a group and evaluate their leadership skills based on those described in the course text.

PREPARE

• Review the Learning Resources on leadership and reflect on the leadership skills required of social workers facilitating groups.
• Access the Social Work Case Studies media and navigate to the Levy Family case. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to view the video. This video shows Jake Levy in a group session with fellow veterans.
• While watching the video, consider the leadership skills of the social worker facilitating the veterans support group.

SUBMIT

Post your evaluation of the group social workers leadership skills in the Levy video, using at least two items from each of the three categories found in the Toseland and Rivas chapter (facilitation of group processes, data gathering and assessment, and action). Suggest another way the social worker might have initiated the group conversation.

Resources

• Toseland, R. W., & Rivas, R. F. (2017). An introduction to group work practice (8th ed.). Pearson.
  • Chapter 4, Leadership (pp. 98136)

  Walden University, LLC. (2022). Social work case studies [Interactive media]. Walden University Canvas.

Choosing and Using Single-Subject Design

Social workers serve clients in highly complex real-world environments. Clients often implement recommended interventions outside of social workers direct observation. Yet, evidence-based research calls for establishing cause-and-effect between selected interventions and client outcomes as much possible. So, how do social workers truly know the intervention itselfand not some external factoris causing the change in a given client? To meet this challenge, social workers must understand the study designs available to them and all the variations of that design that can increase the rigor of the experiment and improve the likelihood of verifying a cause-and-effect relationship.

In this Discussion, you analyze the strengths and limitations of single-subject design and explore the many variations of the design that use baseline and treatment phases.

To Prepare

• Review the Learning Resources on using a single-subject design to evaluate practice. Determine the strengths and limitations of this design.
• Select one single-subject design research article provided in the Learning Resources. While reading it, make note of how the study was conducted (the methodology).
• Consider the different ways to plan a single-subject design evaluation, including AB, ABC, ABAB, and BAB. Determine which one you would use with your client from Week 1 (e.g., Tiffani, Jake, or Paula).

SUBMIT

• Define single-subject design and identify two strengths and two limitations.
• Describe and assess the study design in the provided research article.
• Suppose you would like to evaluate the outcomes of your chosen EBP intervention on your client from Week 1 (Tiffani, Jake, or Paula). How would you do so? Which single-subject design (e.g., AB, ABC, ABAB, BAB) would you choose and why?

Resources

Dudley, J.R. (2020). Social work evaluation: Enhancing what we do (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Gee, B.M., Lloyd, K., Sutton, J., & McOmber, T. (2021). Weighted blankets and sleep quality in children with autism spectrum disorders: A single-subject design. Children, 8(1), 10.

Group Dynamics

Why treat a person in a group rather than in individual therapy? The answer to this question lies with interpersonal dynamics. If members are especially invested in the group and the health of others, they can exert influence and even challenge one another, in a way that the social worker may not be able to do on their own through individual therapy.

Social workers, then, must be able to observe dynamics so they can better understand the forces at play and, through leadership, steer the group forward. Such action harnesses the power of the group. However, dynamics such as sense of cohesion may be subtle at times and come out through nonverbal means. Some things are overt (clearly stated), while others are covert (hidden). So, how exactly does a social worker assess group dynamics? In this Discussion, you examine this question while observing the interplay of people within a fictional group.

To Prepare

• Review the Learning Resources on group dynamics.
• View the Group video in the Learning Resources. While watching the video, consider the communication, cohesion, social integration, and influence among the members of the group.

SUBMIT

Explain how a social worker assesses group dynamics. Then, evaluate the dynamics (communication, cohesion, social integration, influence) of the therapy group shown in the Group video. Explain how this groups dynamics may influence treatment. What principles for practice might be helpful for the leader to know in dealing with this group?

Resources

• Toseland, R. W., & Rivas, R. F. (2017). An introduction to group work practice (8th ed.). Pearson.
  • Chapter 3, Understanding Group Dynamics (pp. 6797)

  Walden University (Video). (2020, May 1). Retrieved from Is this allowed in group?

Attached Files (PDF/DOCX): Rubric.pdf, Tmind AI 2.pdf, Tmind AI 1.pdf, AssessmentTmind.pdf, Simulation BPSS Reflection.docx, Isa – BPSS.docx

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Attached Files (PDF/DOCX): Policy Framing Group 2.docx

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Attached Files (PDF/DOCX): AnalysisofaTheoryWorksheet_toBuild.docx

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