Skill Development Exercises in Assessment Social Work with Individuals

Social Work with Individuals

Part 1: Skill Development Exercises in Assessment

Question 1

a) Appearance: With regard to posture, the client appears fidgety, and adopts a slumped position. When it comes to attire, the patient appears decent and dressed appropriately for the occasion. In as far as psychomotor functioning is concerned, the patient displays some signs of retardation with regard to slowed and uncoordinated movements. She is also hesitant in her attempts to address the various queries floated to her.

b) Cognitive functioning: The client’s memory could be described as short-term; concentration as poor; judgment as poor and unperceptive; reality testing as distorted and having poor orientation to place; coherence as largely coherent; cognitive flexibility in terms of inability to perceive multiple things or ideas simultaneously; misconceptions in terms of impaired mental processes; and sensory perception in terms of absence of depersonalization, illusions, and hallucinations.

c) Affective Functioning: The client’s mood could be described as indicative of disinterest and motivation; variability as hesitative; and range and intensity of intent affect as constricted and anxious.

d) In my opinion, it would not be possible to make a determination as to the client’s values and self-concept from the interview provided alone.

e) With regard to the client’s attitude towards the interviewer, she appears distant, detached, and unaffectionate.

Question 2

Some of the areas in which I lack information relate to the client’s values and self-concept, and thought content. In as far as client values and self-concept are concerned, I would seek to not only not only highlight her key values, but also the exact role played by the said values in diverse aspects of her life. In so doing, I could amongst other things seek to establish her cultural conditioning. On the other hand, with regard to her self-concept, I would be particularly interested in establishing how she views herself. This could be supplemented by open ended queries seeking to elicit responses over what kind of person she believes she is. In as far as thought content is concerned, I would be interested in whether she harbors some specific delusions, paranoid ideations, or obsessions.

Question 3

To begin with, it would be prudent to note that the interview was conducted in a formal closed-room setting. This could have helped minimize distractions, hence enabling the client to focus. According to Robinson (2017), therapeutic spaces ought to be free of clutter and other distractions. Inappropriate lighting and coloring should also be avoided. To be more specific, in the words of the author, “ill-considered layouts may have negative effects on service user cognition and exacerbate feelings of alienation and stigma” (Robinson, 2017, p. 132). Proper lighting has been used in the present interview scenario. It is neither too deem nor too bright. This enables the client to feel comfortable and relaxed.

It would, however, be important to note that the interviewer comes across as being overly formal. Although he is well-organized, he does nothing to make the client feel relaxed and less anxious. On this front, he should have mouthed a few encouraging words from time to time, such as; wonderful, great, thank you for that answer, etc. This could have come in handy in seeking to reassure the client. Certain facial expressions on the part of the counselor could also have come in handy. In this case, his expression is largely bland.