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ASSESSMENTS IN SOCIAL WORK: THE BIO-PSYCHO-SOCIAL MODEL. WHAT IS ASSESSMENT.
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WHAT IS ASSESSMENT • Coulshed and Orme (2012) describe assessment as an ongoing process, which is participatory, seeks to understand the service user and his/her situation and sets a basis for planning how change or improvement can be achieved.
WHAT IS AN ASSESSMENT • A social work assessment is a WRITTEN REPORTof information a social worker has collected about a client • It involves a PROCESS of making judgments about an individual and their environments to decide what their needs are • Assessments are PARTICIPATORY: mixes professional appraisal with user viewpoints
STAGES IN ASSESSMENT • Milner and O’Byrne (2009) put forward a framework for assessment with five key stages: • Preparing for the task. • Collecting data from all involved. • Applying professional knowledge to analyse, understand and interpret the information gathered. • Making judgments. • Deciding and/or recommending
WHAT WILL YOU DO IN AN ASSESSMENT • Contains at LEAST FOUR elements: • Description: e.g. service user’s living conditions • Explanation: suggesting possible causes of any problems and probable consequences of unmet needs. • Identification: for e.g. problems to be resolved • Evaluation: e.g. how a person’s needs might most effectively be met
ASSESSMENT • The assessment process begins by interviewing the client and significant parties • Review the client's medical and educational records • Include all of the information you have gathered about the client in the written assessment • Reports are often written in a narrative form that tells the story of the client's current problem
IDENTIFYING INFORMATION • Demographic information • phone no., email, mailing address, house no. • dob, sex, marital status, employment status, ethnic group etc • It is important because: • it helps you reach your client when necessary • it helps you explore which people use your service • the kind of problems that affects them
IDENTIFYING INFORMATION • Referral information • Data sources • interviews with clients • observation • other sources (people and written)-record their name and their role in the clients life • medical records
PRESENTING PROBLEM • Understanding the problem from the clients point of view • Explore past experiences related to current difficulties • Description of the problem: Use the clients words, thoughts and feelings as much as possible
CURRENT SITUATION • Description of family • name, sex, ages and relationship of the persons to the client • types of roles assumed by significant members • Social network • extended family, friends, peer groups, and • Economic situation • income (adequate or inadequate)/assistance from state
CURRENT SITUATION • Physical environment or housing • nature of living circumstances (e.g. homeless, crowded or uncrowded) • Significant roles • roles that are important to understanding the clients life (e.g. student, disabled, substance abuser)
BACKGROUND HISTORY • Development history • early life to present • client has an learning, physical or psychological disabilities that impact functioning (past or present) • cultural or ethnic background • Marital/intimate relationship history • has a relationship with anyone • describe quality of relationship/if it is a support for client • Educational training • overview of clients educational attainment
BACKGROUND HISTORY • Employment history • explain if and where the client is employed • Use and abuse of substances by client/family • Health issues (e.g. sleep disorders, disabilities) • Previous mental health (MH) history
ANALYSIS • At this stage of the assessment the focus is on your perspectives of the client’s problem. • It is a structured and detailed review of the client’s problem
ANALYSIS • This opinion is based on your assessments as a professional (insights from theory, law and policy, research) • It helps the social worker: • Understand the clients problem • Select the goals to solve the problem • Determine the actions or tasks that he/she and the client will take toward problem resolution
ANALYSIS • Key issue or problem • Compare and contrasts your perspective with that of the client • Micro, Messo, macro • Client functioning (Mental Status Exam) • Physical (eating, sleeping, bowel, sexual) • Cognitive (orientation to self, location, time) • Emotional (mood and affect • Behavioural (visual, hearing, impaired speech)
ANALYSIS • Contributing factors briefly discuss the factors that seem to be contributing to the problem. Are the factors come from the client or their environment • Identify strengths: covers the client’s resources, coping abilities and environment
ANALYSIS • Stressors/Threats: these are needs, obstacles, roadblocks or vulnerabilities • Client’s Motivation for change: evaluate clients determination and readiness to benefit from intervention • Words and behaviour (dysfunctional patterns of coping) • Insights: comment from knowledge from environment and theories (e.g. cultural practices, taboos, community based services, Erick Erickson’s)
INTERVENTION OR TREATMENT PLAN • This is the final section of the assessment undertaken with the client • It becomes the contract that guides the intervention phase • Prepares you to go and do your work • It is also used for evaluation purposes
INTERVENTION OR TREATMENT PLAN • Plan (SMART): it list the: • Goals (desired ends) • List the amount of goals (1-3) to be achieved • Helpful in first listing the most urgent problem • Objectives or action steps (tasks) • It should be achievable • Description of the proposed change • It must identify attributes or behaviours observable in the person at the end of the process to make it measure
INTERVENTION OR TREATMENT PLAN • Task Assignments • Details who will undertake task • Give clients task they can complete easily and challenge them • Time frame
ASSESSMENT PROCESS Assessment Information gathering: Observation Interviews Secondary data Analysis of information Planning: Law, social policy, social work methods; resources e.g. time, role, and capability of worker Professional Opinion Treatment Plan: Aims and objectives Methods Timescale Monitoring Methods Evaluation Methods Information: Relevant information about client’s situation: Feelings and perception of client and situation