Assess with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities

As an advanced autonomous social worker, I understand that assessment is a continual part of the interactive process of social work practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. Using a variety of diagnostic tools and classification systems in completing assessments, I will strive to interpret information from clients and collect and organize the data. I will apply the theories of human behavior and the social environment when working with diverse clients and constituencies and will collaborate with other professionals in the process when necessary. Furthermore, I will be aware that my personal experiences and reactions may affect decision making in the assessment process.

“Social advance depends as much upon the process through which it is secured as upon the result itself.”  Jane Addams

PRACTICE BEHAVIORS:

7A: Formulate comprehensive assessments, using a variety of diagnostic classifications systems.

Academic Evidence: I completed a skills assessment in my Advanced Administrative Practice and Leadership class at the beginning of the semester.  Completing this social work assessment tool helped me to see how the different roles that a social worker fulfills corresponds with my own gifts, background, and skills.  I wrote about and reflected on the results of this assessment in a Discussion Post for this course.  I used self-awareness and self-analysis to complete the skills assessment, and this exercise was based on the theoretical foundation of using a strengths perspective on myself.

I also assessed a clinical case in my Advanced Clinical Practice I class, using the DMS5  and assessed a client for Bipolar I disorder.

Field Evidence: I conducted psychosocial assessments with hospice patients at my field placement and journaled about these experiences.  This journal entry is from my very first hospice psychosocial assessment that I did by myself.  Assessments require critical thinking skills, people skills, engagement skills, and technical/writing skills in documenting the results. In doing psychosocial assessments, I try to exemplify the NASW values of integrity (through confidentiality), dignity and worth of the person, and the importance of human relationships.  These assessments also include a patient’s family, and family systems theory is applied to the situation, as nuclear and extended family members are usually engaged in the patient’s care.

Other Evidence: This entry from March of 2019 from my Weekly Field Placement Journal provides further evidence of one of the many assessments that I conducted with hospice patients, using the assessment tools provided by my agency.  I used knowledge gained from reviewing a patient’s chart ahead of time when conducting these assessments and focused on the person’s immediate experience, which is grounded in person-centered theory.

7B: Design and implement organizational and/or community assessments.

Academic Evidence:  As part of an organizational needs assessment for my Advanced Administrative Practice and Leadership class, I created (cognitive level: synthesis) an assessment survey for hospice employees.  This survey tool was created by researching specific scales that have been used in previous research studies and adapting them to this particular needs assessment.  Both affective and cognitive processes are included in the survey.

Field Evidence:  I conducted an organizational assessment at the hospice agency where I interned for both the ethnic diversity of its patient population and its organizational personnel and cultural competency training.  This organizational assessment required technical skills as I navigated my agency’s system to extract the data.  It required oral presentation skills as I conducted the personnel assessment at a monthly social worker meeting.  It also used the cognitive process of schema by incorporating knowledge about  particular groups of people.  Click on the “Special Project” tab at the top for further details of this assessment and subsequent intervention.

_____________________________________________________________________________