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SOCW 6060 Week 1 Discussion: Are Theories Necessary

For this graded Discussion, record a 2- to 3-minute video introducing yourself to your colleagues. Your video should include responses to the following:

• Your Name
• Your geographic location and what you did for fieldwork
• A brief reaction to Dr. Barbara Simon’s article about theories being necessary in social work as you think about her position in relation to your fieldwork experience
• A brief reaction to Dr. Bruce Thyer’s article about theories not being necessary in social work as you think about his position in relation to your fieldwork experience
• Do you tend to agree with Dr. Simon or Dr. Thyer? Why?
• Agree or disagree with your colleague’s reaction about Dr. Simon or Dr. Thyer’s position, and explain your position.

SOCW 6060 Week 1 Discussion: Sources of Knowledge

• Explain how and why your choices differed in Situations 1 and 2.
• Evaluate when using intuition or personal experiences is advantageous in making clinical decisions. Provide an illustration of this from your fieldwork experience.
• Analyze when using theories and research evidence is advantageous when making clinical decisions. Provide an illustration of this from your fieldwork experience.
• Evaluate an identified limitation your colleague may encounter when relying on intuition or personal experience in making decisions about an intervention plan.

SOCW 6060 Week 2 Discussion: Individual vs. Structural-Cultural Theories

• Describe how a social worker would conceptualize a presenting problem of poverty from the two theories you selected.
• Explain how this conceptualization differs from an individual related versus a structural/cultural-related
• Compare how the two theoretical lenses differ in terms of how the social worker would approach the client and the problem and how the social worker would intervene.
• Evaluate one identified strength and one identified limitation your colleague may encounter when employing an individual-related theory and a structural/cultural-related theory to formulating interventions for poverty.

SOCW 6060 Week 3 Discussion: Evaluating Psychoanalytical Theory

• Summarize the assumptions of Freud’s psychoanalytical theory in 2 to 3 sentences.
• Explain whether you believe it is appropriate to apply psychoanalytic theory to women and individuals from racial and ethnic minority groups.
• Explain whether you believe psychoanalytic theory is consistent with social work values and social work ethics.
• Compare your response with your colleague’s. Identify any insights you gained from your peer’s response.
• Discuss whether or how to address values related to the development and use of a specific theory when working with clients.

SOCW 6060 Week 4 Discussion: Psychosocial Theory and Diverse Groups

• Post the APA-style reference for the article you found in the library.
• Describe four specific psychosocial factors that should be taken into account in order to understand the psychosocial context when working with the group you selected. (Two of these factors should be psychologically related and two of these factors should be socially related).
• Identify and explain a psychosocial intervention that addresses one of the four specific psychosocial factors you described above.
• Identify 1 to 2 outcomes you might measure if you were to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention.
• Evaluate one advantage of using a psychosocial framework in social work practice with the group you chose.
• Evaluate the disadvantages of using a psychosocial framework in social work practice with the group your colleague chose.

SOCW 6060 Week 5 Discussion: Instruments Measuring Resiliency

• Reflect on your fieldwork experience and identify a case where it would have been beneficial to employ resiliency theory. Describe the case in 2 sentences.
• Describe the presenting problem in one concise sentence.
• Describe an intervention you would implement to promote resiliency.
• Identify an instrument from the Smith-Osborne and Whitehill
  Bolton’s article that would be appropriate when employing a single-subject design to evaluate how effective the intervention is in increasing the client’s level of resiliency.
• Explain why you selected the instrument. In other words, why would the instrument be appropriate? (Consider the age of the client and for whom the instrument was designed, how feasible it would be to administer the instrument such as cost, time to administer it, etc.). 
• Discuss how you would use the data collected by your colleague to guide the next step in the planned change process or to inform future work with clients.

SOCW 6060 Week 6 Discussion: Using Research to Select a Therapeutic Modality

• Provide the reference for the study you found using APA guidelines.
• Briefly paraphrase, in 2 to 3 sentences the methodological context (i.e., research method, how data was collected, and the instruments used) of the study and the findings.
• Evaluate the findings in terms of its applicability or appropriateness for the client in your case study.
• Determine whether you would use or not use the therapy you selected for the client in your selected case study (consider how culturally relevant it is, how aligned it is with social work ethics, etc.) and explain why.
• Compare and contrast the article you selected with your colleague’s article in terms of how they might inform appropriateness for use with the identified client.
• Explain how reviewing the different studies presented in this Discussion influenced your decision about whether you would use the therapy, given various evidence for the different treatment modalities.

SOCW 6060 Week 7 Discussion: Values Underlying Theory and the NASW Code of Ethics

• Select feminist theory or empowerment theory. Summarize the underlying principles and values of the theory in 3 to 4 brief sentences.
• Analyze the extent to which the underlying principles and values of the theory are consistent with the NASW Code of Ethics in 3 to 4 brief sentences.
• Briefly describe a client from your fieldwork experience and their presenting problem in 2 to 3 sentences using the theory you selected.
• Identify one ethical standard from the NASW Code of Ethics that would apply to the client you described.
• Explain how the theory is consistent with the work you did with the client and the ethical standard.
• Explain how theories help inform social work competencies related to engaging with diversity and difference and advancing human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice.

SOCW 6060 Week 8 Discussion: Gaps in the Life Model

Using an example from your fieldwork experience and a diverse population you encountered at the agency (for example, in Piedra and Engstrom’s article, it was immigrant families), respond to the following:

• Identify and describe the diverse population and the unique characteristics and/or the distinctive needs of the population in 3 to 4 brief sentences.
• Explain how the life model can be applied for the population.
• Explain where the gaps are in applying the life model for this population.
• When looking at the gaps, explain which theory might be helpful in filling the gaps of the life model when working with this population.
• Identify other potential gaps in the life model as applied to the population your colleague identified.

SOCW 6060 Week 9 Discussion: Solution-Focused Model – Asking Questions

• In 1 to 2 sentences, briefly identify and describe the problem as perceived by the client, family, or group that you dealt with in your past fieldwork experience.
• From the list of solution-focused questions on page 520 (e.g., exception questions, coping questions, scaling questions, and relationship questions), identify two different types of questions, and ask each question as if you were actually asking the questions to the client. (Remember do not use the miracle question.)
• Remember that the goals of these question is to assist clients in identifying a solution.
• Explain how asking these two questions would help the client in coming up with the solution.
• In 1 to 2 sentences, reflect and explain how asking these questions made you feel and perhaps how the client might feel.
• Identify a barrier that might make it difficult to implement the solution-focused model with the client described.
• Discuss how a social worker could help a client re-focus on the present, rather than on their past.

SOCW 6060 Week 10 Discussion: Existential Questions and Post-Traumatic Growth

• In 1 sentence, identify an existential question with which you have grappled in relation to a client who has been traumatized. Reflect on your fieldwork or perhaps identify an existential question that might arise in working with the client in the case study you have selected throughout
  the course.
• In 3 to 4 brief sentences, describe where there is potential for growth for the client as a result of the trauma.
• In 3 to 4 brief sentences, explain where there is potential for growth for you, the social worker, as a result of listening to the client’s stories and bearing witness to their trauma.
• Describe any challenges you may experience between the meaning you hold based on your personal beliefs and working within the client’s potentially different belief framework.
• Provide a suggestion for how a social worker could help clients to understand and make meaning of the trauma within the client’s values and belief framework.

SOCW 6060 Week 10 Discussion: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Mindfulness Interventions

• In 1 to 2 sentences, respond to one of the four following questions in terms of what you noticed during the mindfulness exercise you completed: What were you thinking while you were listening? What were you feeling while you were listening? How was your body reacting while listening? How did you feel after you practiced mindfulness?
• In 2 to 3 sentences, describe your experience practicing this technique and how this experience influences your choice on whether to use it with a client during practice. Provide the reference for the study you found, and be sure to use citations in the body of your post using APA guidelines.
• In 1 to 2 sentences, briefly summarize the methodological context (i.e., research method, how data was collected, and the instruments used) of the studies and the findings.
• Evaluate the findings in terms of their validity and applicability for the client.
• Comparing the studies that you and your colleague identified and the experiences you presented from your mindful practice exercise, evaluate one strength and one limitation of using mindfulness interventions for the client (consider how culturally relevant it is, how aligned it is with social work ethics, etc.).