Title: Data Collection and Assessment
1Data Collection and Assessment
2Basic Concepts
- Data collection is the activity of securing the
information needed to understand the practice
situation as a prerequisite to formulating a plan
of action. - The worker should identify the subjective
perceptions, assumptions, and beliefs regarding
the situation held by the client, family members,
teachers, employers, and perhaps even a referring
agency. - Assessment is the thinking process by which a
worker reasons from the information gathered to
arrive at tentative conclusions.
3Basic Concepts
- The social worker should be able to describe the
problem accurately and identify what needs to be
changed to improve the clients situation. - The best assessments are multidimensional.
- Social workers must guard against unconsciously
making the clients situation fit a particular
theory or a preconceived diagnostic category.
4Techniques and Guidelines For Direct Practice
- Data-Collection activities that need to be
considered - Volitional the personal choices and decisions
that shape ones life. - Intellectual the ideas, knowledge, and beliefs
used to understand oneself, others, and the
world. - Spiritual and religious ones deepest core
beliefs concerning the meaning and purpose of
life. - Moral and ethical ones standards of right and
wrong.
5Techniques and Guidelines For Direct Practice
- Data-Collection activities (continued)
- Emotional ones feelings and moods.
- Physical ones level of energy, ease and
capacity for movement. - Sexuality ones sexual identity and
orientation, libido, capacity for reproduction. - Familial relationships with ones parents,
siblings, spouse, partner, children, and
relatives. - Social interactions with friends and peers,
ones social support network, ones interest in
recreational activities.
6Techniques and Guidelines For Direct Practice
- Data-Collection Activities (continued)
- Community ones sense of belonging to a group
beyond family and friends. - Work/occupation the nature of ones work.
- Economic ones material resources ones
capacity to secure the money needed to purchase
goods and services. - Legal ones rights, responsibilities,
protections and entitlements as a citizen.
7Techniques and Guidelines For Direct Practice
- Modes of data collection
- Direct verbal questioning.
- Direct written questioning.
- Indirect or projective verbal questioning.
- Indirect or projective written questioning.
- Observation of the client in the clients natural
environment. - Observation of the client in a simulated
situation (role playing). - Client self-monitoring and self-observations
(journals and logs). - The use of existing documents.
8Techniques and Guidelines For Direct Practice
- Assessment activities requires developing a tool
that combines data collection with a format that
facilitates interpretation. - Particular attention needs to be given to
assessing client strengths. - Value preferences affect assessments.
- There must be clarity as to who is the client and
who will be the target system. - Diagnosis means the clients problem, condition,
or situation is classified and assigned to a
particular category.
9Social Assessment Report
- A social assessment report is a type of
professional report frequently prepared by social
workers in direct practice that focuses on and
describes the social aspects of the clients
functioning and their situation. - Social workers are particularly concerned about
the match between client needs and the resources
available to meet those needs. - Past behavior is the best predictor of future
behavior.
10Social Assessment Report
- A social assessment report presents the reader
with two types of information - The social data, consisting of facts and
observations. - The workers interpretation of those data along
with implications of the data for those who will
work with the client. - The information presented should lay a foundation
for doing something with the client about their
problem or situation.
11Social Assessment Report
- A good report is characterized by these
qualities - Shortness
- Clarity and simplicity
- Usefulness
- Organization (including)
- Identifying information
- Reason for report
- Reason for social work or agency
- Statement of problem or situation
- Statement of family background
- Physical functioning, health concerns, illness,
disabilities, medications
12Social Assessment Report
- Characteristics (continued)
- Organization (continued)
- Educational background, school performance,
intellectual functioning - Psychological and emotional functioning
- Strengths, ways of coping, and problem solving
capacities - Employment, income, work experience and skills
- Housing, neighborhood, and transportation
- Current and recent use of community and
professional resources - Social workers impressions and assessment
- Intervention and service plan
13Social Assessment Report
- Characteristics (continued)
- Confidentiality and client access (remember to
respect the clients privacy). - Objectivity observations should be expressed in
a nonjudgmental manner. - Relevance The information should have a clear
connection between the clients concern and the
social workers involvement. - Focus on client strengths Avoid preoccupation
with pathology, family disorganization, personal
weakness, and limitation.
14Dual Perspective
- One of social works unique contributions is its
emphasis on understanding the client within the
context of their environment. - A persons social environment is comprised of two
elements - The nurturing environment is composed of family,
friends, and close associates at work or school. - The sustaining environment is made up of the
people one encounters and learns to deal with in
the wider community
15Dual Perspective
- Special concern during the assessment phase of
the change process is the question of whether an
intervention should be directed toward elements
of the nurturing environment or toward the
sustaining environment. - The concepts of a nurturing and a sustaining
environment can be translated into a simple
assessment tool for identifying the location of
both the supports and problems a person
experiences in the social environment.
16Genograms and Ecomapping
- A genogram is a diagram similar to a family tree.
It describes family relationships for two or
three generations. - An ecomap places an individual or a family within
a social context by using circles to represent
organizations or factors impacting their lives. - An ecomap is developed jointly by the social
worker and client and helps both to view the
family from a systems or ecological perspective.
17Social Support Assessment
- Social support refers to the information,
encouragement, and tangible assistance that if
offered to a person, by others, and is perceived
by the person as being beneficial to their
functioning. - Social supports are a component of ones larger
social network those individuals and groups
with which they interact on a regular basis. - To help clients make appropriate and effective
use of social supports, it is necessary to engage
them in identification and assessment of
potential social supports.
18Social Support Assessment
- This assessment do not objectively describe the
clients support but rather reflect the clients
perceptions and beliefs. - The social worker engages the client in a
discussion of how the client might reach out to
and use identified social supports. - Whether the supports are likely resources will
depend on the nature of the clients problem or
needs and the clients willingness to use them.
19Life History Grid
- The life history grid is a method of organizing
and presenting data related to the various
periods in a clients life. - The grid is especially useful in work with
children and adolescents, where an understanding
of life experiences during a particular stage of
development may shed light on current functioning.
20Life Cycle Matrix
- An assessment should consider the clients stage
in the life cycle and the developmental tasks
common to that stage. - The use of a matrix can help the social worker
organize thoughts about the family members and
the physical, psychological, social, and
spiritual needs associated with a particular
stage of life. - Within a family system, the developmental
struggles of one member may interfere with the
developmental tasks and crises faced by another.
21Identifying Client Strengths
- A client strength can be defined as an important,
positive, and prosocial action or activity that
the client is doing, can do, or wants to do. - To be successful, an intervention must be built
on and around client strengths. - Focusing on client strengths requires a paradigm
shift a whole new way of thought and analysis.
22Identifying Client Strengths
- Examples of individual strengths
- Assuming responsibility for ones actions.
- Taking reasonable risks in order to made needed
changes. - Demonstrating loyalty and a sense of duty to
family, relatives, and friends. - Showing affection, compassion, and concern for
others demonstrating a willingness to forgive
others. - Assisting and encouraging others protecting
others from harm. - Seeking employment, holding a job, being
responsible employee, meeting ones financial
obligations.
23Identifying Client Strengths
- Individual strengths (continue)
- Exercising self control and making thoughtful
decisions and plans choosing not to engage in
problem or self-defeating behavior. - Being trustworthy, fair, and honest is dealing
with others. - Experiencing true and appropriate sorrow and
guilt making amends for having harmed others. - Seeking to understand others and their situations
and accepting differences among people.
24Identifying Client Strengths
- Individual strengths (continue)
- Willingness to keep trying despite hardship and
setback. - Participating in social, community, or religious
organizations and working to improve ones own
neighborhood and community. - Expressing ones point of view and standing up
for ones own rights and the rights of others. - Making constructive use of special abilities and
aptitudes.
25Identifying Client Strengths
- Important family strengths include
- Members trust, respect, and enjoy each other.
- Members listen to and respect each others
opinions even when they disagree. - Their communication is clear, positive, and
productive. - The family has clear and reasonable rules that
govern behavior and interaction. - Each members ideas, preferences, and needs are
considered before making a decision that would
affect the family.
26Identifying Client Strengths
- Building on client strengths may require looking
at a clients problems from a different angle. - Another way of orienting your approach to one
that recognizes and builds on client strengths is
to operate on the assumption that within all
people, there are innate tendencies toward
psychological health and prosocial behavior.
27Identifying Client Strengths
- Guidelines to help the worker maintain a focus on
strengths - Believe the client.
- Display an interest is strengths.
- Assume that the client is an expert on their
behavior, life, and situation, and knows best
what will work in a change effort or treatment
plan. - View the assessment and the service planning
process as joint worker-client activity. - Assess but do not diagnose.
28Identifying Client Strengths
- Guidelines (continue)
- Avoid discussions of blame and what the client or
others should or should not have done previously. - Assume that within the clients family, social
network, and community there is an oasis of
potential resources, both formal and informal,
that can be drawn into the helping process. - Formulate an intervention plan that is specific
and individualized to the client and their
situation.
29Expanding a Clients Vision of Changes That Are
Possible
- The principles of solution-focused therapy is to
help the client detail descriptions of those
times and situations when the problem did not
have such strong negative effects on their
functioning and also to encourage the client to
imagine how they would think, feel, and behave if
the problem would suddenly disappear.
30Expanding a Clients Vision of Changes That Are
Possible
- Techniques to implement changes
- Exploring exceptions refers to a type of
questioning intended to help the client realize
that there are times or situations when the
problem is less frequent or less intense. - Scaling questions is designed to help the client
realize that the seriousness and the impact of a
problem varies over time and also that bringing
about desirable change is a matter of taking many
small steps, rather than making some large and
sudden shift in functioning.
31Expanding a Clients Vision of Changes That Are
Possible
- Techniques to implement changes (cont.)
- The miracle question encourages the client to
visualize and describe what their life would be
like without the problem. - Suggestions for asking the miracle question
- Mark the beginning of the solution-building
process clearly and dramatically, by introducing
the miracle question as unusual or strange. - Since the question asks for a description of the
future, use future-directed words What would be
different? What will be signs of the miracle?
32Coping Strategies and Ego Defenses
- A coping strategy is a fairly deliberate and
conscious effort to solve a problem or handle
personal distress. - An ego defense mechanisms is a habitual or
unconscious problem-avoiding maneuver. - Coping strategies have two functions
- To solve a problem (task-focused coping).
- To reduce the emotional discomfort cause by
stressors (emotion-focused coping).
33Coping Strategies and Ego Defenses
- Emotion-focused coping strategies
- Crying
- Talking it out
- Laughing it off
- Seeking support
- Dreaming and nightmares (a common reaction to
traumatic experiences.
34Coping Strategies and Ego Defenses
- Task-focused strategies consist of deliberate and
rational actions that will likely bring about
changes in ones functioning, ones environment,
or both. - Good task-focused strategies will be capable of
achieving these tasks - Express thoughts and feelings in a clear,
positive, and assertive manner. - Ask questions and gather new information, even
when the new information may challenge current
beliefs. - Identify ones personal needs and learn socially
acceptable means of meeting those needs.
35Coping Strategies and Ego Defenses
- Task focused strategies (continue)
- Model ones behavior after persons who behave in
an effective and responsible manner. - Recognize that one does have choices and can
exert influence on ones own behavior, feelings,
and life events. - cuts ones losses and withdraw from
relationships or situations that are unhealthy or
stressful and unchangeable. - Examine the religious and spiritual dimension of
life and draw on ones beliefs for insight,
strength, and direction.
36Coping Strategies and Ego Defenses
- Task-focused strategies (continue)
- Identify early signs or indicators of a
developing problem so action can be taken before
the problem becomes serious. - Take positive and appropriate steps to solve
problems even when such actions are a source of
fear and anxiety. - Release pent-up emotion in ways that do not
verbally or physically harm self or others. - Take care of ones body and maintain ones
health.
37Coping Strategies and Ego Defenses
- Task-focused strategies (continue)
- Delay immediate gratification in order to stick
with a plan that will attain a more distant but
desired goal. - Use mental images of future actions or events to
mentally rehearse how to handle anticipated
difficulties. - Make fair and appropriate changes in ones daily
activities of living so as not to interfere with
the needs of others. - Ignore unjustified criticism by others and remove
ones self from situations that lead to
self-defeating or harmful outcomes.
38Coping Strategies and Ego Defenses
- If the assessment reveals that a client lacks
necessary coping strategies, the intervention
plan should focus on helping the client learn
specific coping skills. - Defense mechanisms are automatic psychological
processes that protect the individual against
anxiety and from awareness of internal or
external stressors or dangers. (DSM-IV
definition).
39Coping Strategies and Ego Defenses
- Defense mechanisms are used to cope with anxiety,
stress, and the problems of living. - Defensiveness impairs a persons ability to
accurately perceive reality and get along with
others. - The rigid or excessive use of defenses is a
barrier to realistic problem solving. - High levels of defensiveness and distortions of
reality are characteristic of disturbed
personalities.
40Coping Strategies and Ego Defenses
- Ego defenses
- Denial screens out certain realities by refusing
to acknowledge them. - Rationalization involves the justification of
inappropriate behavior by manufacturing logical
or socially acceptable reasons for the behavior. - Denial and rationalization are predominant
defenses used by people who are chemically
dependent. - Projection views others as being responsible for
ones own shortcomings or unacceptable behavior.
41Coping Strategies and Ego Defenses
- Ego Defenses (continue)
- Repression refers to a mental process in which
extremely threatening and painful thoughts or
experiences are excluded from consciousness. - Emotional insulation is a maneuver aimed at
withholding an emotional investment in a desired
but unlikely outcome. Used commonly by persons
who have grown up in extreme deprivation. - Intellectualization involves the use of
abstractions as a way of distancing ones self
from emotional pain. - Regression involves a retreat from ones present
level of maturity to one that has fewer demands
and stressors. Common among physically ill
persons who are experiencing fear or pain.
42Coping Strategies and Ego Defenses
- Ego defenses (continue)
- Reaction formation is utilized when a person
defends against troublesome thoughts, feelings,
or impulses by rigidly adhering to exactly the
opposite set of thoughts and feelings. - Displacement refers to transferring troublesome
emotions (often hostility) and acting-out
behaviors (violence) from the person who arouses
the emotion to another less threatening and less
powerful person or thing. - Fantasy refers to a person who daydreams
imaginary achievements and pleasant situations as
a way of meeting personal needs or counteracting
painful feelings of inadequacy. - Acting out is a pattern of thought and behavior
designed to alleviate stress and inner conflict
(not a true ego defense).
43Coping Strategies and Ego Defenses
- Guidelines to assist the social worker in
assessing and responding to a clients defense
mechanisms - You must look behind the surface behavior and
identify and address the unmet needs and pain
that cause the client to rely on the defense
mechanism. - Defenses are mostly learned and habitual an
individual tends to utilize those defenses they
have used in the past. - People hold tightly to their defensive patterns
- It can be difficult to tell where a true
description leaves off and rationalization begins
44Assessing a Clients Role Performance
- The concept of social role derives from the
observation that within a societys structure and
institutions, certain behaviors are expected of
persons simply because of a particular status or
position they occupy in the society. - Role expectation suggests that for a given role,
there is a cluster of behaviors that are deemed
appropriate and acceptable by a reference group
or by society as a whole. - Role conception refers to an individuals
personal beliefs and assumptions about how they
are supposed to behave in a particular role.
45Assessing a Clients Role Performance
- An individuals actual behavior while performing
a role is termed their role performance. - In order to successfully perform a given role, an
individual must possess certain knowledge,
skills, physical and mental abilities, known as
role demands. - Inter-role conflict refers to an incompatibility
or clash between two or more roles. - Intra-role conflict exists when a person is
caught up in a situation where two or more set of
expectations are assigned to a single role.
46Assessing a Clients Role Performance
- Role incapacity exists when an individual cannot
adequately perform a role. - Role rejection occurs when an individual refuses
to perform a role. - Role ambiguity exist when there are few clear
expectations associated with a role. - Self-role incongruence exists when there is
little overlap between the requirements of a role
and the individuals personality. - Role overload exists when a person occupies more
roles than they can perform adequately.
47Assessing a Clients Role Performance
- Questions can help the social worker analyze
problems of role performance and make decisions
concerning the type of intervention needed. - What is the nature and degree of the discrepancy
between actual performance and role expectation? - Is the discrepancy caused by a lack of knowledge
or skill? - If the discrepancy is caused by a lack of
knowledge and skill, how best can the problem be
addressed? - If the discrepancy is caused by rejection or a
lack of interest in the role, how can the problem
be addressed?
48Assessing a Clients Self-Concept
- The term self refers to that private world of
perceptions and thoughts that each of us has
about ourselves and our life experience. - This sense of self is of critical importance to
our social functioning because how we respond to
others and to events is strongly influenced by
how we think and feel about ourselves. - Self-identity is how we define and describe
ourselves to ourselves and differentiate
ourselves from other people.
49Assessing a Clients Self-Concept
- Self-efficacy has to do with our feelings of
being competent and effective and in control of
our lives. - Self-worth (self-esteem) refers to our evaluation
of our own value or adequacy as human beings. - Self-acceptance can be thought of as the degree
to which we are satisfied and at peace with our
qualities and attributes, assets and limitations. - Body image refers to our perceptions and
evaluations of our own body and physical
appearance.
50Assessing a Clients Self-Concept
- To a large degree, ones sense of self is formed
during early childhood but experiences during
adolescence also exert a strong influence. - A persons sense of self ones inner self- is
an element of spirituality meaning that deeply
personal thoughts and core beliefs have much to
do with the meanings we assign to our lives and
life experiences.
51Assessing a Clients Self-Concept
- To draw out this type of information, the social
worker can ask questions that are organized
around five common emotions - Who and what do you love?
- Who and what have you lost?
- Who and what do you fear?
- How have you been hurt in life?
- Whom have you hurt?
52Assessing Family Functioning
- A family will be defined as a group of persons
related by biological ties, a legal relationship,
and/or expectations of long-term loyalty and
commitment, often comprising at least two
generations and usually inhabiting one household. - Furthermore, some of the adults of this group
must have the intention and the capacity to carry
out all or most of the activities or functions
common to a family.
53Assessing Family Functioning
- As people create or join a new family, they tend
to repeat the behavioral patterns they learned in
the family of origin - When people live together for an extended period,
their interactions become habitual. - Once the patterns are well established, the
tendency is for family members to preserve the
status quo and repeat that which is familiar,
even when there are obvious problems in the
familys functioning.
54Assessing Family Functioning
- The social worker should keep in mind these
questions when gathering information about a
familys functioning - How is family membership defined?
- What facts and realities describe the family?
- Is family functioning supported by the community?
- How well are family functions performed?
- What are the boundaries, subsystems, rules, and
roles governing family interaction? - How well does each member fit within the family
system?
55Assessing Family Functioning
- Questions on family functioning (cont.)
- What are the moral and ethical dimensions of the
familys functioning. - What aspects of life are considered beyond human
control? - How does the family make decisions?
- What is the mood of the family?
- How do family members handle differentness?
- How clearly do family member communicate their
own expectations and needs? - What communication patterns exist within the
family?
56Assessing Family Functioning
- Questions (continue)
- Do family members allow other members to get
close emotionally? - To what tasks and activities do the adults and
older children devote their time? - What are the interpersonal payoffs of troublesome
behavior? - Who supports and who opposes change?
57Multiworker Family Assessment Interviews
- Purpose is to secure an understanding of how each
family member views the familys presenting
problem or concern by utilizing more than one
social worker during family interviews. - Benefits
- A great deal of information is gathered.
- Family members feel they have been listened and
understood. - Consultants are now available to the primary
social worker.
58The ABC Model and the Behavior Matrix
- Tools employed to achieve greater precision in
the observation and analysis of client behavior. - ABC model the A stands for antecedent, B for
behavior, and C for consequences. - Behavior Matrix is an observational tool that is
comprised of three cells that is designed to
collect data based on the social workers
observations of positive and negative behavior
patterns. - Both tools are utilized to modify behavior.
59Using Questionnaires, Checklists, and Vignettes
- A problem-checklist is a data-collection tool
designed to help the client identify and state
their concerns. - The checklist serves as an educational tool.
- The purpose of a questionnaire is to help clients
quickly identify problem areas to be addressed by
the social worker. - A vignette is a brief story to which the client
is asked to respond.
60Using Questionnaires, Checklists and Vignettes
- Social workers underutilize these aids in their
data collection. - In developing your own tools consider
- Be clear about the purpose to be served by the
tool. - The completion of the questionnaire should be a
relatively easy task. - The writing of questions requires knowledge of
possible responses by clients to certain types of
questions. - Each question should focus on a single idea.
- Sequence of questions should follow a logical
order. - A pretest should be used to determine whether
clients can understand all items in the tool, can
complete it in a reasonable amount of time, and
the data obtained is useful.