Direct Social Work Practice: Midterm Exam Review

Flashcards covering core terminology, ethical principles, practice roles, assessment frameworks, interviewing skills, behavioral analysis, documentation standards, and suicide risk assessment from the Direct Social Work Practice Comprehensive Midterm Study Guide.

Generalist Practice

A flexible, multiproblem approach that allows social workers to assess and intervene across different client systems and levels of practice.

Micro Level Practice

A level of social work practice whose primary focus is on individuals, couples, and families (e.g., individual counseling, family assessment, case planning).

Mezzo Level Practice

A level of social work practice whose primary focus is on groups and organizations (e.g., treatment groups, classrooms, agency programs, organizational change).

Macro Level Practice

A level of social work practice whose primary focus is on communities, policies, and larger systems (e.g., legislative advocacy, community organizing, social planning, policy change).

Person-in-Environment Perspective

A perspective that understands the client in interaction with family, community, institutions, resources, culture, and broader social conditions.

Advocate

A social work role that works with or on behalf of clients to address barriers, rights, access, or power.

Broker

A social work role that connects clients with needed services and resources.

Enabler

A social work role that helps clients identify strengths, options, and their own capacity for change.

Educator

A social work role that provides information or teaches knowledge and skills.

Mediator

A social work role that helps parties communicate and resolve conflict.

Service (Core Value)

The core social work value that directs workers to use professional knowledge and skills to help people in need and address social problems.

Social Justice (Core Value)

The core social work value that directs workers to promote equitable access, opportunity, participation, and resources.

Dignity and Worth of the Person (Core Value)

The core social work value that directs workers to treat each person with care and respect while recognizing individual differences.

Importance of Human Relationships (Core Value)

The core social work value that recognizes relationships as important vehicles for change and well-being.

Integrity (Core Value)

The core social work value that directs workers to practice honestly, responsibly, and consistently with professional standards.

Competence (Core Value)

The core social work value that directs workers to practice within areas of competence and continue developing professional knowledge and skill.

Ethical Dilemma

A situation in which important professional values, duties, principles, or ethical standards conflict and no option fully satisfies every obligation.

Self-Determination

The practical recognition of a client's right and need to make choices and decisions about their own life.

Paternalism

Limiting or overriding a person's autonomy because the professional believes intervention will protect or benefit that person.

Informed Consent

An ongoing process of helping clients understand the nature of services, roles, expectations, risks, benefits, confidentiality, and relevant limits.

Professional Boundaries

Norms that preserve the professional nature of the helping relationship and distinguish it from a friendship or social relationship.

Confidentiality

The professional obligation to protect private client information and limit disclosure to appropriate purposes.

Empathy

Understanding the client's emotional and cognitive experience and communicating that understanding.

Authenticity

Relating in a natural, sincere, and genuine professional manner.

Unconditional Positive Regard

Maintaining respect for the client as a person even when discussing difficult behaviors or choices.

Additive Empathy

A response that goes beyond the client's explicit words to tentatively identify feelings, patterns, meanings, or implications that may be near the edge of the client's awareness.

Reflection

A verbal following skill that communicates understanding of content and/or feeling (e.g., "Part of you wants change, but another part is unsure it will help.").

Furthering

A verbal following skill that encourages the client to continue (e.g., "Tell me more about what happened.").

Open-Ended Question

A verbal following skill that invites elaboration (e.g., "What has this experience been like for you?").

Closed-Ended Question

A verbal following skill that obtains specific information (e.g., "Did that happen yesterday?").

Summarization

A verbal following skill that organizes key themes and information (e.g., "We've talked about work stress, sleep, and increased drinking.").

Seeking Concreteness

A verbal following skill that clarifies vague language (e.g., "When you say things got bad, what specifically was happening?").

Assessment

The process of gathering information and synthesizing it into a working understanding or hypothesis about the client's situation.

Diagnosis

The classification of symptoms using established diagnostic criteria, which is narrower than a comprehensive social work assessment.

Biological / Physical Domain

An assessment domain exploring health conditions, medications, sleep, nutrition, substance use, and relevant medical history.

Psychological Domain

An assessment domain exploring mood, thoughts, emotions, coping, trauma, behavior, cognition, and mental health history.

Social Domain

An assessment domain exploring family, relationships, supports, housing, employment, education, finances, community, culture, and resources.

Ecological / Environmental Domain

An assessment domain exploring the strengths and weaknesses of systems surrounding the client, including family, school, workplace, healthcare, agencies, and community.

Strengths Perspective

Identifying capacities, resilience, resources, relationships, prior successes, and coping abilities alongside problems and risks.

Cultural Humility

Maintaining openness to learning from clients and avoiding the assumption that the worker's cultural perspective is the standard.

Implicit Bias

Unconscious associations or stereotypes that can shape perception and judgment.

Antecedent (ABC Model)

What occurs before the target behavior; the trigger or preceding event.

Behavior (ABC Model)

The observable action or behavior; what the person actually did.

Consequence (ABC Model)

What follows the behavior; what happened afterward.

Accurate (AOUT Principle)

A documentation standard ensuring that the record reflects what actually occurred.

Objective (AOUT Principle)

A documentation standard ensuring that observation, client report, and clinical interpretation are clearly distinguishable.

Useful (AOUT Principle)

A documentation standard ensuring that recorded information supports care, decisions, progress, or continuity.

Timely (AOUT Principle)

A documentation standard ensuring that documentation is completed soon enough to support coordinated services.

Ideation (Suicide Risk Assessment)

An area of suicide risk assessment exploring whether the client is thinking about suicide or self-harm.

Plan (Suicide Risk Assessment)

An area of suicide risk assessment exploring whether the client has considered how suicide would be carried out.

Access (Suicide Risk Assessment)

An area of suicide risk assessment exploring whether the client can access the identified method or means.

Intent (Suicide Risk Assessment)

An area of suicide risk assessment exploring whether the client intends to act on the thoughts or plan.