Unit Introduction and What You Will Learn
Week 10 is asynchronous. You will engage in content regarding behavioral therapy. You should complete the psychosocial assessment that you will build upon for your final case study paper, which is due at the end of the semester. Remember, if there are sections or modifications you are making to the section’s assessment, that is okay; you just need to justify it in your discussion.
- Reflect on intervention strategies and the application of behavioral therapy principles in clinical practice
- Identify some of the common behavior therapy intervention techniques
- Analyze DBT techniques and their practical application in clinical practice.
- Applying theoretical behavior therapy to real-world clinical situations, encouraging critical thinking and practical problem-solving.
- Apply evidence-based interventions to manage challenging behaviors in educational settings.
- Complete documentation related to a psychosocial assessment
- Cooper and Granucci Lesser (2022) Chapter 08 - Behavior Therapy: A Structural Approach
- Explore the resources described below
- Watch my video on changing problematic behaviors
Weekly Online Discussion Forums
This week, there are five discussion forums for you to engage in. I want you to make a total of six replies across any of the forums. At least four of the replies must be related to any of the prompts provided. The other replies can be answering prompts or replying to your peers. The following is a brief overview of the forums for this week:
- The chapter eight reflection questions forum explores the readings and asks you to consider practical applications of behavioral therapy techniques, client engagement strategies, and the development of intervention plans for diverse clinical scenarios.
- The Single System Design Tracking forum explores the importance of data collection, assessment, and decision-making in behavior therapy, asking you to consider any of these topics: how to track progress pre- and post-intervention, reflect on personal behavior change efforts, and apply data-driven insights to improve service delivery with clients.
- The Findings and Thoughts About DBT Skills forum invites students to explore Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills. Students are asked to do any of the following: identify and describe a specific skill, examine how the skills are organized or taught, and reflect on how you could apply a particular skill.
- The Behavioral Therapy and Application Example forum asks students to discuss a client they are working with or have encountered in practice. Students are encouraged to analyze the case from a behavioral therapy perspective and consider possible recommendations or interventions that align with behavioral therapy principles.
- The Exploring Practice Guide in Challenging Behaviors forum invites students to review Christensen’s et al. (2015) best practices guide for addressing severe emotional and behavioral disorders. Students are encouraged to explore one of the problematic behaviors discussed and reflect on any of the topics, such as behavioral interventions, notable interventions for students, schools, and families, and how you could apply a strategy to practice.
While you don’t have to post in all the forums, I expect you to read all the posts across all the forums. Your forums are due before Monday (10/28 at 8 AM).
You have a reading quiz, W-10 Reading Quiz for Cooper and Granucci Lesser (2022) Chapter 08 which is due on It is still due at the same time, by 8 AM on Saturday, 10/26.
A-03: Psychosocial Assessment
Meta: Points 100 pts (20% of final grade); Deadline Monday 10/07/24 at 08:00 AM Monday 10/28/24 at 8 AM; Completion via MyHeritage Assignments.
Purpose: Assessment is a key aspect of direct practice, and a social worker’s ability to effectively engage with a client is vital to completing a meaningful assessment. Psychosocial assessments are a common tool and provide a framework for evaluating cultural factors.
Task: The psychosocial assessment is a key assignment for SOWK 581. The assignment is one of the building blocks for the student’s case study paper. Students will demonstrate their competency in engagement. Heritage’s MSW Program includes two practice behaviors in assessing engagement. First is related to evaluating cultural factors, and second is using culturally responsive engagement methods.
For this assignment, students will conduct a psychosocial assessment with a client they are using in their case study. The final product will have two broad components. The majority of the content will be the actual evaluation documentation. Cooper and Granucci Lesser (2022) include a discussion regarding the implementation of psychosocial assessment. Students will develop their own form but will follow the headings listed in chapter three (e.g., Identifying Information, Referral Source, Presenting Problem, cultural/spirituality, etc.). Students can use the same chapter’s section, “The Case of Vincent,” as an exemplar. This psychosocial assessment is related to the case study assignment. The documentation will be based on your interview with a client at your practicum placement. The second component is a section at the end reflecting on the experience of assessing the client and how you built meaningful engagement and used culturally responsive methods. The assessment should include evaluating those cultural factors at all levels of interaction (e.g., individual, family, groups, organizations, and communities).
Success: Students will be assessed using the Psychosocial Assessment and Competency Six Rubric. A successful assessment will include following documentation best practices, gathering comprehensive data about the client’s needs, demonstrating alignment throughout the assessment, and following the assignment description. Students also need to demonstrate competency in evaluating cultural factors and using culturally responsive engagement strategies.
Competency 6: Engage with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and/or Communities.
The practice behaviors are:
- Evaluate cultural factors which build meaningful engagement with diverse client populations.
- Utilize a variety of culturally responsive engagement methods to promote healing and wellbeing.
Psychosocial Assessment and Competency Six Rubric
The Psychosocial Assessment and Competency Six Rubric is used to evaluate the psychosocial assessment that students complete in SOWK 581. it serves to parts. First is evaluates Heritage Universities Specialized Practice behavior for engaging with clients evaluating cultural factors to develop engagement and the use culturally responsive engagement. Second it evaluates the assignment looking at best practices are followed for documentation, that the evaluation was comprehensive, that there is alignment throughout the evaluation, and the assignment task is followed.
Description | Initial | Emerging | Developed | Highly Developed |
Evaluating cultural factors to develop engagement | There is little to no reflection on cultural factors and no apparent connection to building engagement with diverse client populations. Context is generally ignored. | The reflection makes a minimal attempt to discuss cultural factors and their implications for working with diverse clients. Some essential contextual factors are missing or underdeveloped. | The reflection discusses cultural factors, but connections to working with diverse client populations or building engagement may lack depth or clarity. Contexts are mentioned but not fully explored. | The reflection includes a clear, understandable discussion of how cultural factors were evaluated. It connects the evaluation to the implications of working with diverse client populations and details how engagement was built. Contextual factors such as family, groups, organizations, and communities are fully explored. |
Using culturally responsive engagement | The reflection lacks a straightforward and precise application of culturally responsive methods. | There is minimal evidence that the student tailored their interventions to promote healing and well-being, and any attempts to do so lack depth or clarity. The reflection provides little consideration of multiple levels of interaction (e.g., individual, family, groups, organizations, and communities). | The reflection describes using culturally responsive methods but may lack specific examples or depth. The student may have tailored their interventions but have not clearly articulated them. The student did not fully consider multiple levels of interaction (e.g., individual, family, groups, organizations, and communities). | The reflection comprehensively describes how they engaged in culturally responsive methods. At least three examples of how you tailored your practice to promote healing and well-being. The reflection highlights the student’s ability to modify and tailor interventions at multiple levels (e.g., individual, family, groups, and organizations) to ensure the client’s dignity and empowerment throughout the process. |
Documentation follows best practices | The psychosocial evaluation does not follow the general norms for clinical documentation, and the documentation contains many major problems. | The psychosocial evaluation generally follows the norms for clinical documentation but has some more significant errors or problems found in the documentation. | The psychosocial evaluation generally follows the norms for clinical documentation but has a couple of areas with more minor errors or problems. | The psychosocial evaluation follows general norms for clinical documentation in how it is written. Examples include using professional and neutral language, writing with clarity and precision, balanced use of subjective and objective information with clear distinctions, use of client-centered language, and a cogent organizational style. |
The evaluation will be comprehensive gathering the necessary information about client needs | The psychosocial assessment greatly lacks the information needed for a comprehensive psychosocial evaluation. | The psychosocial assessment is missing one or two of the required sections to provide a comprehensive evaluation. Many of the sections seem underdescribed and appear to be missing relevant information that should have been gathered. | The psychosocial assessment gathers information about the client’s needs in all required areas. One or two sections are underdeveloped and appear to be missing relevant information. | The information gathered in the psychosocial evaluation will provide a comprehensive overview of the client’s needs. It will include information collected related to identifying information, referral source, presenting problem, developmental assessment, family background, personal history, medical history, educational/learning history, social class, cultural history, religion/spiritual, mental status and current functioning, summary, recommendations, and intersection client/worker relationship. |
The evaluation contains alignment and develops a deep understanding of the client | There is a lack of alignment between what is presented in the client’s history/presenting problem and the interpretations and recommendations made in the assessment. | The assessment has more significant problems with alignment between the client’s history/presenting problem and the interpretations and recommendations made in the evaluation. | The assessment generally aligns with the description of the client’s history/presenting problem and the clinician’s interpretations and recommendations. There are some minor discrepancies, where it appears the information was not collected or was unnoticed by the writer. | The assessment develops a complete picture of the client. The information gathered about the client’s history/presenting problem sections connects to the social worker’s interpretations and recommendations (e.g., mental status, summary, and recommendations). Any significant discrepancies are discussed. |
Following Assignment | The case study does not follow the assignment description and requirements. | The case study somewhat follows the assignment description, but significant errors exist. | The case study follows the assignment description and requirements but has minor errors. | The case study closely follows the assignment description and requirements. |
One crucial aspect of any behavioral approach is gathering, assessing, and decision-making based on data. In the program I was working at in the Pasco School District, we used software to track student behavior in at least seven areas each hour using a web app called Review360 by Pearson Clinical, but before we started using that we had paper trackers and a simple Excel document. The textbook mentions and provides some examples of single-system design students. I have written a description Single System Design Studies. You can also see an example of a paper I wrote using one on myself Turn Your Life Upside Down: An Individual Design Study.
You can find a copy of all of Linehan’s handouts included in the 2nd edition of her DBT Skills Training Manual. Christensen et al. (2015) Teaching Students with Severe Emotional and Behavioral Disorders: Best Practices to Intervention From Firwood & Oak Grove Schools is a great resource I’d like you to check out.
I don’t have a lecture video for you to engage with this week, but you can review a related video I did before, Changing Problematic Behaviors, Principles of Operant Conditioning.
Christensen, B., Jaeger, M., Lorenz, S., Neuman, L., Rieke, E., Simpson, B., & Watkins, C. (2015). Teaching students with severe emotional and behavioral disorders: Best practices guide to intervention from Firwood & Oak Grove Schools. A Connecting IDEAS Project; Clover Park School District; Seattle University. https://ospi.k12.wa.us/sites/default/files/2022-12/bestpractices.pdf
Cooper, M. G., & Granucci Lesser, J. (2022). Clinical social work practice: An integrated approach (6th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc.
- Read the textbook chapter
- Do the reading quiz
- Complete six replies across any of the forums
- Engage with the resources provided
- Complete your psychosocial assessment