A social worker at a residential facility for the developmentally disabled is meeting for the first time with the mother of a child recently admitted to the facility.  The social worker encourages the mother to express her feelings about the child's placement.  The mother talks at length instead about her own health concerns.  In response, what should the social worker do FIRST.

Listen attentively to the mother as a way of building rapport

A social worker is asked to assist an elderly client in making alternative living arrangements.  In the initial interview, the client repeatedly attempts to discuss past experiences.  What is the social worker's MOST appropriate initial response to the client?

Facilitate discussion of the recollections

During an intake interview with a social worker, a client requests a service that cannot be provided by the agency. In considering a referral of this client to another agency for the service, which of the following should be determined FIRST?

Any other community agencies that are already serving the client

A social worker employed with a public school system makes an initial home visit witha 15-year-old female client at the request of the client's probation officer.  Before the social worker begins the assessment of the client and home situation, the client says "I don't have to tell you anything, and I won't tell you anything."  To facilitate the client's participation, what should the social worker explain to the client FIRST?

Clients always have control of their own information (a way to empower the client, a commitment to self-determination and starting where the client is)

A social worker meets with a 15-year-old client and her mother.  The teenager is preganant and unmarried and states firmly that she wishes to keep her baby.  The mother ask the social worker to tell the daughter how difficult it will be to care for the baby.  The client states, "I don't want to be talked out of keeping my child." What should the social worker do FIRST in response?

Encourage the client to discuss her feeligs about the decision (a social worker must acknowledge a client's right to and need for self-determination)

What is the MOST appropriate treatment approach with a client with a mood disorder that can be addressed within a limited time frame.  

Cognitive behavioral therapy (Insight-oriented psychotherapy and client centered therapy are open-ended models of intervention.)

A supervisor recently promoted from another part of the agency supervises a social worker who conducts group therapy with adololescent clients.  In the new position, the supervisor often "drops in" on group sessions and interacts with clients.  What is the FIRST step the social worker should take in dealing with this situation?

Talk with the supervisor about the impact of dropping in on groups (Social worker should not compromise the group therapy process or ignore issues of privacy and professional courtesy.)

In preparing a hospital discharge summary, a social worker writes a case history describing the events leading up to the client's hospitalization. The history describes the assessment that was made and the symptoms supporting the assessment.  The discharge summary is placed in the client's record.  The social worker's supervisor would MOST likely consider this smmary to be:

incomplete because it did not describe what happened in treatment (Discharge summaries should reflect what happened while the client was undergoing treatment.)

A client states to a social worker that the social worker reminds him of his former fiancee and that he very much appreciates the social worker's caring for him.  What is this an example of?

Transference

What does the term conjoint family therapy describe?

Sessions or interviews with the family as a unit

What is the BEST reason for a social worker to use closed-ended questions?

To obtain specific information

In therapy, a client describes herself as a failure because of repeated publisher rejections of a novel she has written.  Although the client has a well-paying job and satisfying interpersonal relationships, she defines her identity in terms of her writing.  In response to the woman's self description, what should the social worker do FIRST?

Explore the client's feelings about not being published