BOISE STATE UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK
COURSE OUTLINE
SOCWRK 526 Dr. Harkness
Spring 2002 Office: E-712
M 3 - 6 PM Phone: 426-3148
E 108 Dharkne@boisestate.edu
Hours: M 8:30 - 12:30, 1:00 - 3:00
SOCWRK 526
THE EVALUATION AND TREATMENT OF MENTAL DISORDERS
I. COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course prepares students to conduct systematic biopsychosocial assessments, formulate differential diagnoses in accordance with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, and recommend treatment plans informed by the state of the art. Championing the development of robust helping relationships that empower consumers by building on strengths, students are taught to monitor their practice for bias related to affectional preference, disability, ethnicity, gender, and race.
Although this course prepares students to function with sophistication in settings that utilize medical models of human behavior and professional practice, this course is designed to support and enrich student identification with the traditional values, ethics, and knowledge base of social work practice. Finally, this course is designed to help students prepare for the social work licensing examination.
II. LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to:
A. Conduct multidimensional assessments of children and adults and their psychosocial functioning with sensitivity to ability, affectional preference, age, disability, ethnicity (with emphasis where appropriate on the minority populations of Idaho), gender, race, and community norms as governing contexts of human behavior;
B. Identify and describe the role and consequences of oppression in the etiology of mental disorders, their conceptualization and description, and the use of diagnostic labels to describe individuals and groups.
C. Conduct and defend multi-axial diagnoses of mental disorders in children and adults using DSM-IV-TR.
D. Review and evaluate the scientific literature from a biopsychosocial perspective to identify the state of the art of intervention and its outcomes for selected mental disorders.
E. Formulate and defend from a biopsychosocial perspective plans to improve through intervention the psychosocial functioning of children and adults.
F. Describe clearly and systematically in professional narrative documents the procedures, findings, and limitations of the psychosocial assessment, the goals and plans of intervention, and outcomes of practice.
III. COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
SW 526 requires the examination of social work practice to meet the objectives of the course. Students enrolled in SW 526 shall hold in confidence oral and written communication about cases, colleagues, and practice in accordance with ethical standards of social work practice.
The class has five written assignments: (a) five reaction papers that discuss and integrate the assigned readings are due in class in Weeks Two, Four, Six, Eight, and Ten; (b) an assessment report and treatment plan for a current case is due in class in Week Fifteen.
All written work must be word-processed with one-inch margins. Reaction papers should be double-spaced. References and reference lists must conform to APA style.
Students will be expected to participate in role-plays and other experiential class-room learning activities. These include the systematic observation of "cases," the assessment of "difficult" clients, and tag-team interviews.
IV. COURSE GRADE:
The letter grade "B" reflects good graduate-level work. The letter grade "A" is reserved for work of consistent and exceptional quality. Written assignments will be evaluated for content, organization, spelling, and grammar.
A = 90 to 100 (percent of available points)
B = 80 to 89
C < 80
Class preparation and participation (100 points)
Five Reaction Papers (100 points)
Assessment and Intervention Plan (200 points)
V. REQUIRED TEXTS:
American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disordersTM - TR (4th ed., revised). Washington, D.C.: Author.
Mental health: A report of the Surgeon General. (Available online @ http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/mentalhealth/home.html and in the reading box).
Othmer, E., and Othmer, S. (1994). The clinical interview using DSM-IV (Volume 1: Fundamentals). Washington, DC.: American Psychiatric Press.
Sands, R. (2001). Clinical social work practice in behavioral mental health (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Recommended Texts
Austrian, Sonia. (2000). Mental disorders, medications, and clinical social work (2nd ed.). New York: Columbia University Press. (on Reserve)
Cooper, Marlene, and Lesser, Joan. (2002). Clinical social work: An integrated approach. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. (Available in University Bookstore).
Dillon, C. (2003). Learning from mistakes in clinical practice. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
First, M., Spitzer, R., Gibbons, M., and Williams, J. (1997). Structured clinical interview for DSM-IV Axis I disorders (Clinician Version). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press. (on Reserve)
Gabbard, G. (2001). Treatments of psychiatric disorders (3rd. ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press. (on Reserve)
Livesley, W. (2001). Handbok of personality disorders: Theory, research, and treatment. New York: Guildford. (on Reserve)
Loenberg, F., & Dolgoff, R. (1992). Ethical decisions for social work practice (4th. ed.). Itasca, Illinois: Peacock.
McGoldrick, M., Pearce, J., and Giordano, J. (Eds.). (1996). Ethnicity & family therapy (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford. (on Reserve)
Reamer, F. (1994). Social work malpractice and liability: Strategies for prevention. New York: Columbia University Press. (on Reserve)
Turner, F. (1983). Differential diagnosis and treatment in social work (3rd ed.). New York: The Free Press.
Wallace, S., Goldberg, R., and Slaby, A. (1984). Clinical social work in health care: New biopsychosocial approaches. New York: Praeger. (Out of print) (Chapters on Reserve)
VI. TOPICAL OUTLINE:
Week 01 Emotional Disorders:
The context of assessment and
practice with DSM-IV-TR.
APA (Text) Introduction and Cautionary Statement Use of This Manual
DSM-IV-TR Classification
Multi-axial Assessment
Additional Codes
Sands (Text): Chapter 1 (Getting Oriented)
Chapter 2 (Historical Context)
Chapter 5 (Legal and Ethical Issues)
Loenberg (Text) Chapter 1 (Ethical Choices)
Chapter 2 (Values and Professional Ethics)
Chapter 3 (Guidelines for Ethical Decisions)
Cooper & Lesser Chapter 1 (Clinical Social Work)
(Text) Chapter 2 (Key Issues in Clinical Practice)
Wallace (Text): Chapter 1 (Medicine and Social Work)
Week 02 Illness and Health:
Psychobiosocial dimensions of
human development, adaptation,
abuse and neglect
Case: Physician referral of professional
woman: The etiology and treatment of
panic disorder with agoraphobia.
APA (Text) Mood Disorders
Anxiety Disorders
Adjustment Disorders
Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders
Loenberg (Text) Chapter 4 (Confidentiality and Informed Consent)
Sands (Text): Chapter 3 (Biopsychosocial Conceptual Framework)
Chapter 4 (Biopsychosocial Assessment)
Chapter 6 (Postmodern Feminist Theory and Practice)
Chapter 7 (Racial, Ethnic, and Cultural Issues)
Cooper & Lesser Chapter 3 (An Integrated Approach to Clinical Practice)
(Text)
Wallace (Text): Chapter 5 (Biopsychosocial Data Base)
Chapter 6 (Medicine for Social Workers)
Week 03 Settings and Systems
Case: Outpatient consultation with a depressed quadriplegic woman.
APA (Text) Mental Disorders Due to a
General Medical Condition
Substance-Related Disorders
Other Conditions That May Be
a Focus of Clinical Attention
Wallace (Text): Chapter 2 (The Team Approach of Primary Care)
Chapter 7 (Implications for Training)
Loenberg (Text) Chapter 9 (Bureaucratic and Work Relationships)
Week 04 Professional Identity and Collaboration
Case: Community treatment: A third-grade boy with lice.
APA (Text) Disorders Usually First Diagnosed in Infancy,
Childhood, or Adolescence
Loewenberg (Text) Chapter 5 (Client Rights and Professional Expertise)
Chapter 6 (Value Neutrality)
Week 05 The State of the Art:
06 Subjectivity and Science
Case: Munchausen's Syndrome
APA (Text)
Somatoform Disorders
Factitious Disorders
Dissociative Disorders
Eating Disorders
Week 07 Skills for Evaluation
08
Case: Antisocial behavior in an
adolescent male: The organic
dimension of "acting out."
APA (text) Delirium, Dementia,
and Other Cognitive Disorders Sleep Disorders
Impulse-Control Disorders
Not Elsewhere Classified
Othmer (Text): Chapter 1 (Framework)
Chapter 2 (Strategies for Rapport)
Chapter 3 (Strategies to get Information)
Chapter 4 (Methods to Assess Mental Status)
Chapter 5 (Testing)
Chapter 6 (Five Steps to Make a Diagnosis)
Cooper & Lesser Chapter 4 (The Clinical Interview)
(Text) Chapter 5 (The Psychosocial Study)
Week 09 Skills for Helping Relationships
Case: An Irish-Cherokee
man with explosive behavior on
the college school bus.
APA (Text) Personality Disorders
Loewenberg (Text) Chapter 8 (The Professional Relationship).
Cooper & Lesser Chapter 6 (Cross-Cultural Practice)
(Text)
Wallace (Text): Chapter 4 (Engaging the Patient)
Week 10 Skills for Planning Help
11 (Spring Break)
Cases: Paranoid schizophrenia,
automatic weapons,
and outpatient care under
deinstitutionalization
APA (Text): Schizophrenia and Other Psychotic Disorders
Othmer (Text): Chapter 7 (How to Put it All Together)
Chapter 8 (A Difficult Patient)
Chapter 9 (Interviewing Clinical Disorders)
Chapter 10 (Interviewing Personality Disorders)
Week 12 Skills for Helping
13
14
15
Case: A retired school teacher with
psychophysiological disorder:
diabetes, glaucoma, cancer,
heart disease, neuropathy,
depression, and chronic pain
Sands (Text) Chapter 8 (Clinical Practice with Depressed Clients)
Chapter 9 (Clinical Practice with Severe Mental Illness)
Chapter 10 (Intervention With the Chronically
Mentally Ill and their Families)
Chapter 11 (Community Care)
Chapter 12 (Medication, Social Skills, and Family Education)
Chapter 13 (Clinical Practice With Substance Abuse)
Cooper & Lesser Chapter 7 (Object Relations Theory)
(Text) Chapter 8 (Self Psychology)
Chapter 9 (The Psychology of Women)
Chapter 10 (Cognitive Theory)
Chapter 11 (Behavioral Theory)
Chapter 12 (Narrative Theory)
Chapter 13 (Solution-Focused Theory)
Week 16 Skills for Evaluating Help:
Clinical Leadership, Innovation,
and Change in Cases and Programs
Loewenberg (Text) Chapter 7 (Equality, Inequality, and Limited Resources)
Chapter 11 (Ethical Dilemmas)
Cooper & Lesser Chapter 14 (Integrating Research and Practice)
(Text)
Week 17 Exam Week
VI. Required Supplementary Readings
Week 1 (These are not on reserve)
Read all articles in the special 1999 issue of Research and Social Work Practice, 9(3) on practice guidelines for clinical social work.
Frances, A., First, M., Widiger, T., Miele, G., Tilly, S., Davis, W., & Pincus, H. (1991).Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 100(3), 407-412.
Widiger, T., Frances, A., Pincus, H., Davis, W., & First, M. (1991). Toward an empirical classification for the DSM-IV. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 100(3), 280-288.
Widiger, T., et. al. (1996). DSM-IV Antisocial personality disorder field trial. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 105(1), 3-16.
Week 2
Cohen, S., Tyrrell, D., & Smith, A. (1991). Psychological stress and susceptibility to the common cold. The New England Journal of Medicine, 325, 606-612.
Goldman, P., & Rakic, P. (1979). Impact of the outside world upon the developing primate brain: Perspective from neurobiology. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 43, 20-28.
Lin, K., Poland, R., & Lesser, I. (1986). Ethnicity and psychopharmacology. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry, 10, 151-165.
Rose, S. (1991). Acknowledging abuse backgrounds of intensive case management clients. Community Mental Health Journal, 27, 255-263.
Rymer, R. (1992, April). Annals of science: A silent childhood. The New Yorker, 41-81 (Part 1) and 43-77 (Part 2).
Saleeby, D. (1992). Biology's challenge to social work: Embodying the person-in-environment perspective. Social Work, 37, 122-118.
Weick, A. (1983). Issues in overturning a medical model of social work practice. Social Work, 28, 467-471.
Week 3
Hannah, G., & Fishman, D. (1984). A view from the top: Applying behavioral principles in the role of state commissioner of mental health and retardation services. Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 6, 35-52.
Johnson, A. (1990). Backwards into history. In A. Johnson, Out of Bedlam (pp. 179-206). New York: Basic Books.
Week 4
Friedlander, M., Siegal, S., & Brenock, K. (1989). Parallel processes in counseling and supervision: A case study. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 36, 149-157.
Mallick, M. & Ashley, A. (1981). The politics of interprofessional collaboration: Challenge to advocacy. Social Casework, 62, 131-137.
Mechanic, D. (1993). Mental health services in the context of health insurance reform. The Milbank Quarterly, 71(3), 349-364.
Mizrahi, T. & Abramson, J. (1985). Sources of strain between physicians and social workers: Implications for social work in health care settings. Social Work in Health Care, 10, 33-51.
Munson, C. (1982). Perceptions of female social workers toward administrative positions. Social Casework, 63, 54-59.
Weick, A. (1987). Reconceptualizing the philosophical perspective of social work. Social Service Review, 61, 218-230.
Weeks 5 & 6
Armstrong, M., Huz, S., & Evans, M. (1992). What works for whom: The design and evaluation of children's mental health services. Social Work Research & Abstracts, 28, 35-41.
Atkinson, D. (1985). A meta-review of research on cross-cultural counseling and psychotherapy. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 13, 138-151.
Chamberlin, R. & Rapp, C. (1991). A decade of case management: A methodological review of outcome research. Community Mental Health Journal, 27, 171-188.
Coons, P. (1988). Psychophysiological aspects of multiple personality disorder. Dissociation, 1, 47-53.
Elkin, I., et al. (1989). National institute of mental health treatment of depression collaborative research project. Archives of General Psychiatry, 46, 971-983.
Fraser, M., et al. (1991). Social work and science: Many ways of knowing? Social Work Research and Abstracts, 27, 5-15.
Hogarty, G. (1989). Metaanalysis of the effects of practice with the chronically mentally ill: A critique and reappraisal of the literature. Social Work, 34, 363-373.
Lecroy, C. & Ashford, J. (1992). Children's mental health: Current findings and research directions. Social work Research & Abstracts, 28, 13-20.
Markus, E., Lange, A., & Pettigrew, T. (1990). Effectiveness of family therapy: a meta-analysis. Journal of Family Therapy, 12, 205-221.
Russel, M. (1990). Clinical Social Work Practice. Newbury Park, California: Sage.
Saleeby, D. (1979). The tension between research and practice: Assumptions of the experimental paradigm. Clinical Social Work Journal, 7, 267-284.
Strupp, H. & Hadley, S. (1979). Specific vs nonspecific factors in psychotherapy. Archives of General Psychiatry, 36, 1125-1136.
Videka-Sherman, L. (1988). Metaanalysis of research on social work practice in mental health. Social Work, 33, 325-338.
Weeks 7 & 8
Bernstein, E. & Putnam, F. (1986). Development, reliability, and validity of a dissociation scale. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 174, 727-745.
Jones, D. (1983). African-American clients: Clinical practice issues. In F. Turner (Ed.). Differential Diagnosis and Treatment in Social Work (565-578). New York: The Free Press.
Kluft, R. (1987). An update on multiple personality disorder. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 38, 363-373.
Koontz, J. (n.d.). Discovering the Relevant Metaphor: Diagnosis and Treatment of a Child With Headache. Unpublished manuscript, The Menninger Foundation, Topeka, Kansas.
Colson, D. & Allen, J. (1986). Organic brain dysfunction in difficult-to-treat psychiatric hospital patients. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 50, 88-98.
Safier, E. & Jones, S. (n.d.). Family Therapy in the Treatment of a Girl With Chronic Headaches. Unpublished manuscript, The Menninger Foundation, Topeka, Kansas.
Week 9
Shulman, L. (1978). A study of practice skills. Social Work, 23, 274-280.
Subnani, H., Ponterotto, J., & Borodovsky, L. (1991). White racial identity development and cross-cultural counselor training: A stage model. The Counseling Psychologist, 19, 76-102.
Weeks 10 & 11
Harkness, D. & Hensley, H. (1991). Changing the focus of social work supervision: Effects on client satisfaction and generalized contentment. Social Work, 36, 506-512.
McGoldrick, M. (1982). Ethnicity and family therapy: An overview. In M. McGoldrick, J. Pearce, & J. Giordano (Eds.), Ethnicity & Family Therapy (pp. 3 - 30). New York: Guilford.
Scheflin, A. (1978). Susan smiled: On explanation in family therapy. Family Process, 17, 59-68.
Stolorow, R. & Atwood, G. (1979). Personality theory, metapsychology, and subjectivity. In R. Stolorow and G. Atwood, Faces In A Cloud: Subjectivity In Personality Theory (pp.16-46). New York: Jason Aronson.
Week 16
Rapp, C. & Poertner, J. (1992). Managing Information. In C. Rapp and J. Poertner, Social administration: A client-centered approach (87-144). White Plains, N.Y.: Longman.
Recommended Readings
Blumenfield, S. (1986). Discharge planning. Quality Review Bulletin, 12(2), 51-54.
Caputi, M. and Heiss, W. (1984). The DRG revolution. Health and Social Work, 9(1), 5-12.
Carlton, T. (1984). Clinical Social Work in Health Settings. New York: Springer.
Ewalt, P. (Ed.). (1979). Toward a Definition of Clinical Social Work. Washington, DC.: NASW.
Falck, H. (1978). Social work in health settings. Social Work in Health Care, 3(4), pp.395-403.
Gaw, A. (Ed.). (1993). Culture, ethnicity, and mental illness. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.
Germain, C. (1984). Social Work Practice in Health Care. New York: Free Press.
Lister, L. (1980). Role expectations of social work and other health professionals. Health and Social Work, 5(2), 41-49.
Lin, K. (Ed.). (1993). Psychopharmacology and the psychobiology of ethnicity. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.
Lowe, J. and Ashley, A. (1981). Understanding teamwork. Social Work in Health Care, 7(2), 1-12.
Miran, S., Gossett, J., & Grobb, M. (Eds.). (1991). Psychiatric treatment: Advances in outcome research. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association.
National Institute of Mental Health. (1975). Psychotherapy change measures: Report of the clinical research branch outcome measures project. (DHEW Publication No. ADM 74-120). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Patterson, K. (1940). The role of social worker with respect to adult patients of a mental hygiene clinic. Smith College Studies in Social Work, 10, 235-265.
Rehr, H. (1985). Medical care organizations and the social service connection. Health and Social Work, 10(4), 245-258.
Roberts, C. (1989). Conflicting professional values in social work and medicine. Health and Social Work, 14, 211-218.
Robson, K. (Ed.). (1994). Manual of child and adolescent psychiatry. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.
Rolland, J. (1988). Chronic illness and the family life cycle. In Carter, B., and McGoldrick, M. (Eds.)., The changing family life cycle. New York: Gardner Press.
Rosenblatt, A. & Waldfogel, D. (Eds.). (1983). Handbook of clinical social work. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Sue, D. (1990). Counseling the culturally different (2nd. ed.). New York: Wiley.
Reaction Papers
The purpose of reaction papers is to (a) structure reading the professional literature, (b) develop skills of organization, analysis, and integration of ideas, © develop professional writing skills, and (d) discuss direct social work practice with the instructor. Each reaction paper should address assigned readings: (a) required readings assigned in the topical outline, and (b) two or more recommended readings from the bibliography.
The form of reaction papers is important. The reaction paper should be double-spaced and two or more pages in length, excluding the reference list. A cover page should identify the student, class, and semester week beneath the centered heading: Reaction Paper.
The content and conceptualization of reaction papers are important, and should clearly reflect the readings and the student as a person. Approach reaction papers purposefully as serious play with ideas. Formulate questions for inquiry and describe them even when you can only be tentative, speculative, or vague. Seek and evaluate multiple perspectives that address your questions. Make connections between the abstract and the concrete, between theories, concepts, ideas, and evidence and the ways they are played out in your experience. Integrate practice and cases with the discussion.
When you begin with your own experience, test it against readings. When your entry is prompted by readings, react critically and relate the readings to other points of view that include your own experience. Move beyond your first impression and initial response. Stay with the flow if your ideas, expressing them as simply and directly as you can. Permit yourself to speculate and make mistakes. Try to observe and analyze your own values, feelings, and thoughts and how they influence your learning.
The mental action behind reaction papers is important. Professional behavior reflects initiative, devotion, and discipline in the value-laden integration of knowing and doing. Push yourself into the experience of practice, wonder and marvel, ask questions, and engage clients, colleagues, and literature in dialogue to improve your helping skills and outcomes. Report your findings here.
Psychosocial Assessment
Psychosocial Assessment Report
Date
Client's Name
DOB: 00-00-00
Identification
Identification is an objective description of the client: age, ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, marital status, education, occupation, social class, and lifestyle. Describe the physical characteristics of the client on such dimensions as height, weight, hair and eyes, disabilities, clothing, and carriage. Describe the client's verbal and nonverbal communication and activity. Use systematic observation to form a vivid word picture of the client and communicate that picture in writing. Avoid embarrassing or unflattering information in this and following sections that does not contribute to an understanding of the case. This section provides objective description.
Presenting Issue
Presenting Issue strives for an objective description of the issue that brings the client for help. Use the client's own words to describe what help the client wants, the criteria of a successful outcome, and the dimensions of help the client envisions - e.g., what kind of help, involving who, for how long, at what cost. Describe who, what, when, where, how, and why for any third-party referrals.
Consider the fit between the goals and form of the client's request for help and those of any referring parties. This section provides objective evidence.
History
At one level, history speaks to the presenting issue, it's onset and course, and any past treatment.
At another level, history reviews and summarizes the client's individual and family development and significant life events bearing on the presenting issue. Both enrich understanding of the client as a unique and complex individual who with family and culture inhabits the social world. Develop and reflect here your knowledge of developmental milestones and transitions, personality and adaptation, the human and family life cycle, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, oppression, and models of social functioning to describe the forces, issues, and momentum of the client's life leading to the presenting issue. This section provides objective evidence.
Impressions
Impressions form the bridge between the facts of the case and the plan for helping the client address the presenting issues. Identify and examine realistically the strengths and needs of the client in light of environmental challenges and opportunities to conceptualize the issues of the case bearing on the presenting issues. Impressions reflect without overstating professional knowledge, follow clearly from the facts of the case, and add nuance and texture to the dynamics of the case. Consider the role and consequences of discrimination and oppression in your assessment. Engage the client as your consultant as you formulate impressions and consider their implications with the client, but use common sense. This section uses objective evidence, professional knowledge, and self-conscious subjective impressions to formulate a theory of the case.
Diagnosis
The presenting issue addresses client concerns in the context of community interests. Diagnosis recasts those issues in the broad context of illness and health. To the extent that mental disorders shape and constrain human experience and behavior, diagnosis is a tool that helps clinicians predict which interventions will prove helpful, harmful, and inconsequential. As a rule of thumb, weigh the evidence to consider a variety of diagnostic alternatives. This section uses objective evidence, professional knowledge, self-conscious subjective impressions, and transparent analysis to formulate a differential diagnosis of the case.
Recommendations
There is an empirical relationship between diagnosis and treatment outcomes. Interventions describe the plan for helping the client with the presenting issue. Treatment plans match the client's diagnosis with the appropriate treatment to serve the same ends. Recommendations should address client aspirations and strengths, as well match treatment with illness and health.
Treatment goals, roles, and methods, recommendations are a guide to professional action. Who should do does what, when, how, how often, for how long, and what for? What is the evidence in the professional literature that the recommended strategy will produce the outcomes that the client desires with sensitivity to their ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, diagnosis, and history?
Consider your subjective experience of the client and your assumptions and beliefs about helping and change, the client's definition of the presenting issue and its outcomes, the client's assumptions and beliefs about helping and change, community assumptions and beliefs about helping and change in the ecology of the issue, the universe of resources and solutions that can be applied to address the issue, and their probability of success. Weigh the evidence to consider alternatives.
Describe and elaborate the "best" plan for helping the client address the presenting issue and achieve the desired outcomes. The "best" plan should be informed by the state of the art for client's diagnosis as reported in the empirical literature. Who does what, when, where, how, and why, with what goals, at what price, with what projected outcomes? What risks are associated with your plan. Establish and describe criteria for evaluating the helping plan and associated practice on the basis of client outcomes. Envision and discuss the process of engaging the client in a contract for helping based on your plan.
This section uses objective evidence, professional knowledge, self-conscious subjective impressions, and transparent analysis to formulate a plan for helping that speaks to the theory of the case.
Prognosis
The prognosis is a prediction of client outcomes. On the one hand, prognosis speaks to the typical course of a given mental disorder and its treatment. On the other hand, the prognosis forecasts the outcomes of a particular case. Analyze and discuss ecological influences on the development and implementation of the helping plan. Consider at a minimum the following variables: (1) issues of human diversity, (2) issues of oppression, (3) client strengths, (4) environmental resources, (5) social work values and ethics. This section is a condensed summary of your empirical evidence, subjective impressions, professional knowledge, and professional judgement.
Mary or John Jones
Mary or John Jones
Social Work Intern