SW 3050

Chapter Discussion Questions

Chapter 1: Generalist Social Work Practice

1. In what ways does Andrea Barry demonstrate her respect for the dignity and worth of the
Clemens family?
2. In what ways does Andrea Barry demonstrate her concern for social justice?
3. How does Andrea Barry’s work with the Clemens family demonstrate each of the core values
and purpose of the social work profession?
4. What are the defining elements of a generalist approach to social work practice?
5. What are the characteristics of social work intervention at micro-, mezzo-, and macro-level
systems of social work practice?

Chapter 2: Human System Perspectives

1. Why do social workers draw on a multidisciplinary theoretical base in their practice?

2. What does social constructionism contribute to the theoretical base of empowerment
practice?
3. How does the person-in-environment construct inform a social worker’s understanding of
clients’ situations?
4. How does diversity shape the formation of one’s identity?
5. How does the ecosystems framework support generalist practice?

Chapter 3: Values & Multicultural Competence

1. How do value conflicts impact ethical decision making?

2. Why is self-awareness an essential quality for professional social work practice?
3. How do the values of various group members and the social worker intersect in the example
of Paul Quillin’s group work?
4. How might personal values and biases positively or negatively influence practitioners’ work
with diverse groups?
5. In what ways can agencies enhance policies, practices, and services to become more
culturally responsive?

Chapter 4: Strengths & Empowerment

1. Why is the strengths perspective foundational to implementing the empowerment model of

social work practice?
2. Is empowerment fully realized if practitioners only focus on one facet of personal,
interpersonal, or sociopolitical change?
3. How do issues of oppression and injustice inform social work intervention from an
empowerment perspective?
4. Why is establishing a collaborative relationship between practitioners and clients considered
a hallmark of the empowerment process?
5. In what ways do clinical practice and policy practice realize the social justice mandate of the
social work profession?

Chapter 5: An Empowering Approach to Generalist Practice

1. What are the defining characteristics of a just society?

2. What roles do clients and social workers assume in each of the empowering processes of
generalist practice?
3. How does the mission of the profession guide the work of the three practitioners in the
practice examples at the micro-, mezzo-, and macrolevels?
4. What are the similarities in the engagement, assessment, and intervention and evaluation
phases at the micro-, mezzo-, and macrolevels of practice illustrated in the practice
examples?
5. What practice, policy, and research elements are illustrated in the integrative case example?

Chapter 6: Engagement – Forming Partnerships

1. Why is it important to regard clients as experts?

2. In the practice example of Karen McBride, what knowledge and skills does she apply to
engage with members of Fuentes family?
3. How does professional demeanor in appearance, behavior, and communication influence
professional relationships with clients?
4. What advocacy actions can social workers take individually and collectively to advance the
rights (socioeconomic, political, and human rights) of clients who are members of oppressed
groups?
5. What situations allow social workers to abridge a client’s right to confidentiality?

Chapter 7: Engagement – Articulating Situations

1. What makes communication with clients empowering? Consider the relationships of social
workers with clients. What can social workers do to ensure that conversations with clients
help clients discover their domains of and access to power? What specific social worker skills
might lead to a client’s experience of power?
2. How might social workers vary their responses to clients who are culturally different from
workers? What can social workers do to prepare to partner with clients from different
cultures? What are the essential skills, knowledge, and values necessary for a social worker
to be culturally competent?
3. How do client feelings differ from client thoughts? What are the best methods for social
workers to use when they respond to client feelings? How does accessing and affirming
clients’ feelings affect how social workers relate with clients?
4. What client situations may lead clients to react to workers with anger, silence, and/or
resistance? What is the best way for social workers to respond? What social work values
and ethics are important in considering a social worker’s response?
5. What are the essential skills necessary to respond to multi-person clients? How do social
workers balance the individual rights of group members with the rights of a group as a
whole? What do social workers do when group members express conflicting views? What
methods work best to access client opinions in large systems such as communities?
Chapter 8: Engagement – Defining Directions

1. How do workers help clients transform problems into goals? What are the differences
between problems and goals? What skills can social workers use to reformulate a client’s
vision of the problem (What’s bothering me? What went wrong? How bad are things?) to a
vision of the goal (How do I want things to be instead? What will be happening when the
problem is resolved?)?
2. What is motivation? Consider motivation as a dynamic, transactional, and developmental
concept. How do clients show their motivation? What are the indicators that a client is not
motivated? What can social workers do to increase a client’s motivation?
3. What is resistance? What are possible sources of a client’s resistance? What are the
worker’s responsibilities in creating client resistance? What can workers do to dissipate a
client’s resistance and build a relationship of collaboration?
4. What are a social worker’s ethical responsibilities when responding to clients in crisis who
are considering taking dramatic actions? Explain a worker’s “duty to warn” responsibilities.
How does a worker balance her/his responsibilities to clients with responsibilities to potential
victims, communities, and public safety?
5. What are the best strategies for social workers as they respond to community crises? What
are the first steps that social workers should take? Consider events such as violence at
schools and natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and drought. What are
preventative actions (consider networking, planning, and community building) that social
workers might take to mitigate the impact of crisis events?

Chapter 9: Assessment – Identifying Strengths

1. What are the benefits of focusing on client strengths over deficits? What are the
implications of focusing on client strengths rather than emphasizing problems? Which is
more important – what has caused a client’s problems or what clients are doing they may
be helpful in resolving their difficulties?
2. What functions as strengths for clients? In considering your response, consider client
systems at each level of social work practice including individuals, couples, families, informal
social groups, formal groups, organizations, communities, and society at large. How are
strengths related to client goals?
3. How does a client’s cultural identity affect a social worker’s assessment of client strengths?
What cultural variables might affect a client’s demonstration of resourceful functioning?
How do cultures vary? How does a worker respond to ensure that cultural strengths surface
in the conversation?
4. What are the strengths potentially present in clients at risk of oppression – including
women, especially women of color; gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered individuals;
older adults; persons representing religious minorities; persons with developmental
disabilities? What should a social worker do to prepare to offer acceptance and respect to all
clients who are subject to oppression?
5. What can you as a social worker do to emphasize the strengths of those clients who have
survived adversity? Consider survivors of trauma, rape, child abuse, dysfunctional families,
domestic violence, war, forced migration, and extreme poverty. How do you as a social
worker respond to the stories of those who have experienced trauma and oppression?
Chapter 10: Assessment – Assessing Resource Capabilities

1. What are the elements of a comprehensive assessment of a client’s situation from a social
work perspective? How does a social work assessment differ from a psychiatric diagnosis?
Consider the ecosystems perspective. How does an ecosystems perspective affect
conversations with clients about their situations?
2. How do you integrate a strengths perspective into social work assessment? What is your
emphasis? Which is your focus – the past or the future? What questions might you ask that
lead clients to identify their strengths?
3. What tools fit best with social work’s ecosystems perspective? Consider social histories,
genograms, and eco-maps as you formulate your response. Regardless of the tool used,
what information is necessary for a social worker to understand a client’s problem within its
environmental occurrence?
4. What types of observations enhance worker and client capabilities to understand a problem
situation? Who should observers observe? What should they observe? What should
observers do with their observations?
5. What are a social worker’s responsibilities in recording their interactions with clients?
Consider service continuity, social work ethics, legal perspectives, and accountability
requirements in determining what is required in record keeping. What are a social worker’s
responsibilities in recording their interactions with clients? Consider service continuity, social
work ethics, legal perspectives, and accountability requirements in determining what is
required in record keeping.

Chapter 11: Assessment – Framing Solutions

1. What is the best way to distribute responsibilities for planning between social workers and
clients? What are the resources that clients and social workers bring to the planning
process? What factors (client abilities, outside forces, worker responsibilities) affect a
worker’s collaborative planning process with a client?
2. What are the distinguishing characteristics of goals versus objectives? How do goals differ
from objectives? How does the context in which a social work service is provided affect
clients’ goals and objectives?
3. What are the characteristics of a good objective? Be specific. What are the essential
elements? Why are behaviorally specific and measurable objectives essential for good social
work practice? What happens when client’s goals conflict with goals determined by referral
sources such as state agencies and courts?
4. What constitutes a measurable objective? Why are measurable objectives important? When
clients have quantifiable plans, measurable objectives, and concrete evaluation processes,
how might social workers use their work with these clients to develop practice wisdom and
contribute to the knowledge base of the social work profession?
5. What is a social work contract? How does contracting as a process ensure collaboration and
cooperation with clients? How does contracting help maintain a partnership with a client?
How does contracting contribute to client empowerment? In what ways do agencies
influence social workers’ contracts with clients?
Chapter 12: Intervention – Activating Resources

1. How does understanding that all behavior is motivated influence social workers’
interpretations of clients’ resistance to change or lack of follow-through on the action plan?
2. How might social workers provide constructive and productive feedback to clients to help
them analyze their behavior considering its intent, the actual behavior and the outcome?
3. In what ways can clients benefit from either observing or actively participating in case or
cause advocacy efforts?
4. Why is it important that clients be informed of their rights to appeal and fair hearings in
relation to such issues as eligibility decisions, termination of services, fee structures?
5. What precautions should social workers take with respect to self-disclosure and personal
sharing with clients?

Chapter 13: Intervention – Creating Alliances

1. In what ways could self-help groups help members to understand issues of oppression and
marginalization?
2. What challenges face case managers in light of managed care and cost containment efforts?
3. What roles do social workers play on multidisciplinary teams and interagency coalitions?
4. What is the significance of supervision for developing competence for professional social
work practice?
5. How does social workers’ burnout impact their regard for clients, relationships with other
professionals, and the quality of service delivery?

Chapter 14: Intervention – Expanding Opportunities

1. What obligations does a society have to provide resources and opportunities for vulnerable
populations?
2. How can empowerment-oriented social workers apply generalist principles to community
organizing?
3. What roles should clients play in policy development?
4. Why is it important for social workers to be policy practitioners?
5. What is the significance of a publically funded social welfare safety net for addressing
socioeconomic inequities?

Chapter 15: Evaluation – Recognizing Success

1. Why should social workers adopt evidence-based practice approaches and models?
2. What are the similarities between ethics in social work practice and ethics in social work
research?
3. What knowledge and skills do social workers need to be considered research literate?
4. What are the implications of accountability to funders, clients, and the general public for
professional practice?
5. How can social workers reconcile their dual responsibility to provide services and conduct
research?
Chapter 16: Intervention – Integrating Gains

1. What behaviors of clients might signal dissatisfaction with the direction of the social work
intervention process?
2. What practice specializations, certifications, or credentials might social workers possess in
various fields of social work practice?
3. What do clients and social workers miss when there is no formal ending to the practice
relationship?
4. What ethical considerations and value issues do social workers face when their practice
involves end-of-life care?
5. What are the ethical implications for social workers who practice in their own small
communities?