Hey guys, it's Kim with Savvy Social Worker Exam Prep. I am a licensed clinical social worker and exam prep coach teaching social workers how to pass the ASWB's licensing exams. I have an online study prep course and a host of other resources to help get you a pass, which also includes one-on-one coaching sessions.
Feel free to visit my website at www.savvysocialworkerexamprep for more information and study resources. In this video, I am just going to break down some first questions to help you get a better understanding of how to look at these questions as well as how to approach them and answer them correctly. Okay, let me disclaim that this video is for educational and teaching purposes only in my attempt to assist my fellow colleagues with getting a pass for this ASWB exam.
Okay, with that being said, let's get started. A social worker at a community clinic is meeting with a woman who is seven months pregnant. The woman reports that she currently lives with a friend, but they have received an eviction notice and she does not know where she and her baby will live. The woman also reports that the landlord has been threatening her and she says that she does not feel safe. What should the social worker do first?
Okay. So in this question, I'm just going to pinpoint what's going on a little bit. And so we have a social worker that's at a community clinic. She's working with a woman who is seven months pregnant. The woman reports that she currently lives with a friend, but they received an eviction notice.
She does not know where her and her baby live. She also reports. that the landlord has been threatening her and she does not feel safe. Okay, so this tells me that this is not an already established relationship between the social worker and the woman.
So this is also a first question. So that lets me know that I am looking for the most important thing that I need to be doing to address this woman's problem. So with that being said, I need to know what is her most presenting problem.
I've underlined a couple of things that's going on in this scenario, but I need to focus on what is her most pressing issue right now. Is it the fact that she's seven months pregnant? Is it the fact that she's getting evicted and don't know where her and her baby's going to live?
Or is it the fact that she's being threatened and don't feel safe? Okay. The presenting problem here, which is the most pressing issue would definitely be the fact that she's, um, being threatened and does not feel safe. So when I'm asking myself, what am I looking for in an answer? That means I am looking for the most important, because this is the first question, the most important or the most critical thing that I need to do first to address the fact that this woman is being threatened by her landlord and she does not feel safe.
Okay. So with the first thing I do be to notify the police. That's definitely something that is important. important that I can do. I'm not sure if it's the first thing I'm going to do just yet because I have to check out the rest of the answer choices.
So I'm going to pause that. Would the first or the most important thing be to develop a safety plan with the client? The client says that she doesn't feel safe.
Is developing a safety plan going to address the whole presenting problem, the fact that she's being threatened by her landlord and she doesn't feel safe? I think that's something important to do, but I'm not. I don't believe that that's going to be the first thing that we're going to do because that is not going to address the fact that she's being threatened. OK, so we're going to eliminate that. C, would the first thing we do be to explore housing resources with the client?
So we've identified that the presenting problem, which is the most pressing issue, is not the fact that she's received an eviction notice and doesn't know where she's going to live, but that the landlord has been threatening her. and she says that she doesn't feel safe. So C does not even address the presenting problem, okay? Now D, do we first, what is the most important thing to do?
Should we first determine the nature of the danger? That's definitely something that's very important because the woman just said that she is being threatened and she doesn't feel safe, but we don't know in what way is he threatening her. Is he threatening to kill her?
Or is he threatening to just put her ties on the flat? Is he threatening to throw all her things out of the home? Is he threatening to... throw her out on the street if she does not get out on time.
We don't know the nature of his threat. So before we jump in and assume and go into action, calling the police and all of that, we first need to determine the nature of the danger so that we can proceed accordingly. Okay. So before we take any action, we have to prioritize the woman's safety by assessing the situation first, before we jump into action by calling the police. All of the other actions, again, they are important, and they can be done later.
But taking any actions without assessing the situations involves reaching conclusions without knowing the facts. And we definitely don't want to do that because that's kind of like assuming, and we know that we never, ever assume. Okay?
Next question. A hospice social worker makes a home visit. to a client who is on a rampage when she arrives.
The client is observed throwing and breaking several household items around and cursing at his son, who is his caregiver. The client is cooperative with the social worker. What should the social worker do first? Okay, here we have a hospital social worker.
I just like to point whenever they give me a specific role, point it out because most of the times it could be relevant to directly to the answer. So she's making a home visit. And the client is on a rampage when she gets there.
Okay. He is observed throwing and breaking things and cursing at his son, who is his caregiver. Okay.
All right. So the client, however, the client is cooperative with the social worker. Again, we're working on first questions.
So we want to prioritize what is the most important. important thing that we should be doing first. Okay.
So would that be A, would the most important thing be to instruct the son to step outside until the client calms down? Well, let's see, because we have to determine with everything that's going on, what exactly is our presenting problem or the most pressing issue here? Is it that the client is on a rampage?
Is it what she observes going on? with the client throwing and breaking things and cursing at his son? Or is it that he's being cooperative with her?
Well, it seems like the most pressing issue is pretty much that he's on a rampage and he's observed throwing and breaking things and cussing. Okay. So we're going to identify that. So knowing that, would we first instruct the son to step outside until the client calms down?
That is definitely something we can do that's important. So we're going to pause that because I'm not sure if that's the... the first thing we're going to do until I look at the other answer choices.
So we're going to pause that. Would the most important thing be to assess the potential for further violence in the home? That's also something that I know is very important that I may want to do.
Not sure if that's the first thing, so we're going to pause that. Call 911. Okay, this I guess kind of steps into the action phase of the process and we know that when we're looking at first questions, we want to do it. the most important thing, but let's first figure out exactly what's going on.
If this is a situation that requires the police, or if it's a situation that can be diffused, it does say here that the client is cooperative with the social worker. This is one of those situations where I have my famous saying, where I say, we always consider this situation, but we focus on the presenting problem. So considering that the client is cooperative with the social worker. I don't think calling 911 would be the first thing that we would do.
Not saying we won't do that, but we're looking, this is a first question. So we have to approach these questions in a certain order, in the order in which, you know, they are most critical. Okay. So would the most important thing to do first be to ask the son to explain what triggered the episode?
Doing this definitely should occur at some point, but it's not the most important fact at this time. This man is in a rampage, so just trying to pinpoint what happened is not the first or the most important thing. So that leaves us with A and B.
Are we going to instruct the son to step outside until the client calms down? Is that going to stop or address this presenting problem that he's throwing and breaking several household items and cursing at his son? It may stop him from cursing at his son if his son steps outside, but that doesn't mean that... He's going to stop throwing and breaking things just because we asked him to step outside and we don't want to assume that. So I'm definitely not going to go with this one because of that reason.
So that leads me with assessing the situation, assessing for the potential for further violence in the home. Okay, since the client is already exhibiting violent behaviors, it is important for us to assess for safety first. So assessing his potential for further violence, this will help to ensure the son's safety moving forward. So let's figure out, since the client is cooperating, let's figure out. Um, if there is further potential, is it something that we need to address further, but we need to assess before we address.
So, you know, maybe, you know, this guy is just throwing things because his football team lost or something like that. And so that's why he's throwing things at his cousin, you know, so that doesn't mean that, um, he's going to be this way or taking this out on his son every time he looks at him now, whatever. But we don't know that either.
So that's why, again, we are assessing before we are addressing. Let's assess the potential for further violence because this is the first question. So we're doing the most important thing.
And one of the most important things that we always do is assess and address safety. So in this case, we are assessing for safety first. All right. Next question.
A social worker receives a referral for a six-year-old girl by her pediatrician. During the intake interview with the mother and the child, the social worker observes that the child appears restless and becomes physically aggressive with the mother and the mother begins to cry. What should the social worker do first? I don't know why this question makes me chuckle. However, let's get to breaking it down.
All right, so we have a social worker who receives a referral. which basically tells me we are in the beginning phases of the helping process because this is a referral. So it's for a six-year-old girl and it comes from her pediatrician.
During the intake interview, this tells me that we are, again, at the beginning phases of the process because this is an intake interview. Go ahead and just fix this real quick. quick. All right. So we're in the intake interview with the mother and the child.
The social worker observes that the child appears restless and becomes physically aggressive with the mother, right? And when this happens, the mother begins to cry. So in this situation, what would be our presenting problem?
The most pressing issue that's happening. Is it that we got this referral uh for a six-year-old is it that um the social worker observes that the child appears restless and becomes physically aggressive with the mother and the mother begins to cry definitely that is going to be what we're focusing on as the most pressing issue this little girl is up in here you know acting up apparently and the mother is crying so we need to figure out what is the most important thing that we need to do about this presenting you problem. Okay. So would the most important thing that we do first be to encourage the mother to exercise stricter discipline with the child? I think that's a bit premature.
So I know that's not going to be one of the first things that we do. So besides, we're in an intake interview at the beginning phases of the HEMRA process. So we know that we, in this phase of the process, we're either engaging or assessing, which means we're developing. rapport and trust and or gathering information. So encouraging the mother to exercise discipline does not even fit with the phase of the process that we're in.
So with B, would the first thing we do be to explore how the child is usually disciplined? So we have the social worker here and she sees that the child is restless and becomes physically aggressive and all the mother does is cry. We might want to explore how, you know, she's usually disciplined, if she's even disciplined at all. So let's just pause that because that could be something that would be important for us to find out. Teach your child coping skills.
Again, pay attention to the phase of the process that we're in, which is the intake interview. And we do not teach coping skills in an intake interview. So this is why I teach knowing what phase of the process you're in and how it blesses your entire exam prep.
um studying when it comes to answering these questions because you cannot do an intervention that is not appropriate for the phase of the process that you're in so we're in this helping phase um where we're just kind of in the assessment part in the beginning. So we're not teaching coping skills just yet. That is not the first nor the most important thing that we're going to do about this situation right here.
So would it be, would the most important thing be to refer the child to a behavior specialist for evaluations? That is something that could be important, and that is also something that we could do. However, that's not the first thing we're going to do.
before we even assess the situation and, you know, see what's going on, okay? So we're going to eliminate that one, and that is how we process of eliminate, and that gets us to our answer, exploring how the child is usually disciplined, because we're in an intake interview where we're assessing, meaning we're gathering information about the presenting problem. So we want to explore, which is, you know, kind of another word for assess. how the child is usually disciplined. Assessment, of course, should occur before any intervention unless the situation is outside of our scope of practice.
So a lot of people say, oh, you don't refer first, you always assess first. That is true in a lot of cases, but it's not an absolute thing. It's not something we always do because if this was a situation presented that was outside of our scope of practice, then we, you know, we have to kind of refer out. In this scenario, that's not the case.
So exploring how the child is disciplined is the only option here that is really not an intervention. And we know we want to assess before we address. So exploring how the child is disciplined would be the most logical answer here. Okay, so we're going to do one more first question.
All right. So a social worker is contracted by a client, which I'm... assuming that this is supposed to be contacted by a client whose initial complaint is depression.
The client reports symptoms of insomnia, headaches, inability to eat, vomiting, and neck aches. What should the social worker do first? Okay, again, we're working with first questions.
So let's first determine, you know, where we are in the helping process. Okay, so it says that the social worker is contacted by a client whose initial complaint is depression. So that pretty much tells me we're somewhere probably in the beginning phase, which means we should be either engaging in or assessing. So her initial complaint is depression.
So that's what, you know, we kind of want to pay a little attention to. The client reports that, you know, she or he is having symptoms of insomnia, headaches, inability, all this stuff right here. Okay. What should the social worker do first? So the client's initial complaint complaint is depression.
Yet the client also reports that, you know, he or she is not sleeping, having headaches, not eating, vomiting, neck aches. So this does not sound like depression symptoms, you know. So let's kind of see what's going on here and what is the most important thing that we need to do to address the symptoms, okay?
Because the initial complaint is depression, but the client is also reporting some other things that's going on. going on. So would the first thing we do be to obtain a detailed social history on the client? Not even sure why this would be relevant outside of the fact that we are in, you know, the beginning processes and we're completing an assessment, you know, we're assessing the client. So yes, but that would not be relevant to the presenting problem because again, yes, the initial complaint is depression, but we are looking at some more serious side effects, some things that could be leading up to that depression.
So we want to focus on this right here. So a social history in lieu of what's going on right here may not be the first thing that we do or the most important thing that we're looking at first. So let's go to B.
Would the most important thing to do first be to probe for a substance abuse problem? Here again, don't really see the relevance. So I know that's something that I am not going to do first.
Should we see, engage the client in establishing goals? I think, again, that's premature because that's something we do in the middle phase of the process when we're in the planning stage. And we're not in the planning stage because this is, you know, this is something that is very much new. And we're still trying to assess. the client.
So we're not ready to plan yet. So that's definitely not it. So that means that the answer could possibly be ask the client to obtain.
medical consultation. I definitely think that this is the most important, the most critical thing to do first, because the described physical symptoms suggest a potential medical issue. I mean, look at everything. Yes, she's saying, you know, I'm depressed, but look at all the symptoms that she's conveying, okay? So that means, of course, you know, we always prioritize medical issues and physical symptoms over um psychological issues mental health issues and all of that so the first and most important thing would be to ask the client to go get a medical consultation first and let's you know get that address and then we can deal with you know the other things um engaging the client in establishing goals of course that like i said that's a step for further along in the process um while the other two you know obtaining the social history and assessing for substance abuse that can be done later you Um, after we rule out medical issues.
Okay. So I hope this was helpful. Let me know if you guys have any questions, um, any comments, I do talk back. So just let me know, because I am here to help. Be sure to like, subscribe, follow, share, whatever you need to do to help anyone else that you feel like, um, this video could bless.
Thank you guys for watching and listening as well as support. Thank you.