Category: Social work

The Chapter Review assignment aims to help you summarize information covered in the course material. The primary goal is to assist you in learning how to develop and enhance social work practice skills used to work with older adults and their families.
About Your Assignment:
Instructions:
Watch the following videos and report on “Homelessness Among Older Adults” and answer the following questions:
Describe the transitions that might lead to homelessness.
What resources are needed to help remedy homelessness for older adults?
What barriers prevent more services for older people? (Adapted from CSWE Gero-Ed Center Resources)
Be sure to use the APA format throughout the essay. For example, the introduction should include an introduction to the topic (. i.e., poverty, race, discrimination, etc.), supported by academic sources (citation). Avoid the use of first person in the introduction.
Here are the videos

Linda is a 56-year-old woman who presents for outpatient assessment. Her symptoms started slowly; she tells you that she was always described as an anxious person and remembers being worried about a lot of things throughout her life. For instance, she reported she was very afraid she’d contract HIV by touching doorknobs, even though she tells you she knew this was “irrational.” She tells you that about 10 years ago, following a few life stressors, her anxiety and intrusive thoughts worsened significantly. She tells you she began washing her hands excessively. She reports she developed an intense fear that someone would break into the house and it would be her fault because she left something unlocked. She states that this fear led her to repeatedly check doors and windows before sleep in a specific order, which was a source of contention with her husband. She says that her fear of making a mistake also leads her to be slow to turn in work for her job, checking many times to make sure there are no mistakes, for which she gets reprimanded on occasion.
Linda reports that her symptoms are getting worse, which is why she has sought treatment. For example, currently she washes her hands until she finishes the whole soap bar, and her hands are cracked because they are so dry. She says she continues to check the doors and windows of her house numerous times throughout the day, not just at night, and has on occasion driven home from work to be sure everything truly was locked. If she notices even a speck of dust on the floor, she states she has the urge to clean the whole house and she often complies with that urge.
Linda expresses significant distress over these symptoms, as they are taking up more of her time and robbing her of her confidence, as she is increasingly distracted at work and in her family life.
Diagnosis: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Write a 2 page (double-space, 12 point Times New Roman)
Describe Signs of the Diagnoses
Identify Best Practice / Intervention
Synopsis of proof that selected Best Practice/Intervention is effective for diagnoses given
At least 1 cited reliable source

Students will be required to write a 10-12 page paper taking one of the 2 positions as discussed in class; Abolitionist Movement or Reformist Movement . Students should have at least 10 empirically based references not earlier than 2013.

Write an article review on Introduction and Part 1 of Martin Cannon and Lina Sunseri text: Racism, Colonialism, and Indigeneity in Canada.
3-4 pages APA format
Your thoughts on both chapters.

This research paper should be both quantitative and qualitative.
It should analyze the link between substance abuse, mental health, and social support. Please discuss the risk of how morbidity and mortality of mental disorders increase with substance misuse.

Instructions: After reading Chapters 1, 2 & 3 of your assigned textbook, Straussner, 2003, Do you think it is important to assess a client’s alcohol and other drug use comprehensively? Why or why not? Discuss two to three issues affecting the use of substances in African American Communities or among the English-speaking Caribbean People of African Ancestry.
Videos:

As a marriage and family counselor, it is important to anticipate possible challenging therapy situations in addition to looking for ways to grow professionally. For the purpose of this assignment, you will create a 10-15-slide presentation about your future as a counselor.
Address the following in your presentation:
o At least two examples of challenging situations that a marriage and family counselor might face in the next few decades.
o Suggestions regarding how to be prepared for the aforementioned challenges.
o Describe what you are looking forward to most as a counselor.
o Describe what you predict will be a personal challenge for yourself as a counselor and how you plan to prepare for said challenge.
o The part of your own family of origin that poses the greatest challenge as a counselor in regards to the potential for countertransference.
o Include detailed speaker notes of 50-100 words that represent what would be said if giving the presentation in person.
o Include a title and reference slide (the title and reference slide do not count towards the total slide count).
o Include two to three scholarly resources to support your presentation.
While APA style is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and documentation of sources should be presented using APA formatting guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. A link to the LopesWrite technical support articles is located in Class Resources if you need assistance.
Refer to the resource, “Creating Effective PowerPoint Presentations,” located in the Student Success Center, for additional guidance on completing this assignment in the appropriate style.
This assignment is informed by the following CACREP Standards:
5.F.3.b. Fostering family wellness.
5.F.3.d. Conceptualizing and implementing treatment, planning, and intervention strategies in marriage, couple, and family counseling.

Submit a 2-page paper in which you do the following:
Identify three agencies in your local community that support individuals in later adulthood.
Provide an overview of the services each provides.
Identify the service gaps you notice.
Explain how to improve existing services to address these gaps.
Describe services that should be added to better serve this population and explain why.
Use the Learning Resources to support your analysis. Make sure to provide APA citations and a reference list.
https://www.hhs.gov/aging/state-resources/index.html

AFTER READING THE CASE STUDY, ANSWER QUESTIONS 1-6 IN PARAGRAPH FORM. DIAGNOSE USING DSM-V AND PROVIDE SUPPORTING EVIDENCE FROM THE DSM AND CLASS RESOURCES AS TO WHY YOU MADE THE DIAGNOSIS. When recommending a treatment approach for the client, be specific and explain why the recommended treatment approach is a good one for the client/how the treatment will benefit the client.
*Case Study*
Name: Maggie Weinzapfel
Age: 26
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Marital status: Single
Intake Information
Maggie, a 26-year-old Caucasian female, contacted the Family Guidance Center after breaking up with her fiance, whom she had been dating for the last 4 years. Maggie is a mechanical engineer at a fiber optics corporation in a small Southern town. She makes a good salary, owns her home, and recently bought a new car. Maggie moved from the large, metropolitan area in the Northeast where she had met her boyfriend to this rather small Southern town approximately 1 year ago when she procured her present job. Her parents and siblings also live in the Northeast. Maggie has two sisters, both in their 20s, and two teenage brothers who still live with their parents.
When Maggie called the clinic, she stated that she desperately needed to talk with someone as soon as possible. The intake worker wrote in her notes that the client “sounded panicky” when making an appointment to see a counselor. You are scheduled to see Maggie the day after she called.
Intake Interview
You meet Maggie in the waiting room at the agency. Maggie appears very disheveled. Her baggy pants and sweatshirt are wrinkled, and it looks as if she forgot to brush her long, wavy hair. She is pacing slowly back and forth and appears to be staring at her feet. She runs her hands through her hair continuously and looks generally distressed. Every now and then, she sighs deeply and shakes her head as if responding to some internal dialogue. You greet Maggie in the waiting room by introducing yourself and shaking her hand, which feels sweaty and limp. As you and Maggie walk down the hall to your office, Maggie bursts into tears and says, “Oh, I’m so embarrassed; I don’t know what I’m doing here.” As you and Maggie enter your office, you reassure Maggie that it’s safe for her to express her feelings with you, offer her a chair, and provide her with a box of tissues.
You begin by gently asking Maggie where she would like to start. Maggie states that she broke off her engagement with her boyfriend, Leonardo, approximately 6 weeks ago. She says they had been arguing constantly for the past 6 months about where they were going to live. She wanted to keep her job and live in a small town, but he wanted to live in a large city and didn’t want to leave his family in the North. He told her that Italian families are very close: “We stick together and want to see each other. I grew up in this city; I’ve been to the same church my whole life; and I intend to die in this city. If you’re going to be my wife, you have to be willing to join my family because I’m not leaving.”
Maggie tells you that she chose her current job partly because the insurance company that Leonardo worked for had offices in this town and he could transfer to the South and keep his job. Maggie says, “During the past year, I’ve been going up there to see Leonardo at least once a month for a weekend. I only had 2 days with him, and we spent all day Sunday at his mother and father’s house. His mother treats him like a baby and does everything for him. I think she resents me for taking away her little boy. She’s friendly enough, but there’s tension between us. Lately, his parents have been talking a lot about us getting a house down the street from them. I just couldn’t stand that!” Maggie states that she began feeling like an outsider and an intruder. “Leonardo was unhappy unless I agreed to everything he wanted,” Maggie says glumly.
Maggie states that since the breakup she has had great difficulty sleeping. She often sleeps only 2 or 3 hours a night. She states that she has also lost her appetite and has dropped 15 pounds in the past month. In a very shaky voice, she tells you, “I’ve been having so much trouble with my job lately. I can’t focus on what I’m doing for more than 3 minutes before I’m off thinking about Leonardo. It’s so hard it makes me want to cry.” She says she’s missed work completely on four occasions during the last month when she just stayed in bed all day and watched soap operas on TV. Since the breakup with Leonardo, she says she feels ugly, unlovable, and hopeless about ever getting married.
You decide to find out more about Maggie’s difficulties over the past month. You ask her if there are any other ways in which the breakup with her boyfriend has affected her. She tells you that she is normally a very avid reader of mystery books and lately hasn’t been able to get past the first chapter. She also likes to go to community events on the weekends with friends, but since she has lived in this town, she has been so consumed with her work and her relationship with Leonardo that she hasn’t made any good friends. “Oh, you know, I’ve got­ten acquainted with some people, but I don’t know them very well and it just seems so hard to pick up the phone and call them. I doubt if they’d want to do anything with me anyway. I think I’m just a loser all the way around.”
You ask her if she really thinks it’s over with Leonardo. She states that the last time he called, they just got into a shouting match. “By the end of the conversation I decided I just had to end this relationship and get on with my life,” Maggie says despondently. “I really believe that, too. I just don’t know where I’m going to find the energy to do it. When I do sleep, I have nightmares about fights with Leonardo. It’s begun to take its toll on me, I think.”
You say, “Maggie, you’ve mentioned having pro­blems sleeping, and I was wondering whether you were having trouble going to sleep or problems waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to get back to sleep.” Maggie states that her biggest problem is her inability to sleep through the night. She says she wakes up around 2 A.M. and of­ten cannot get back to sleep until it’s almost time to get up. “Then I feel groggy and unable to function very well the rest of the day,” she hesitantly tells you in a quiet voice.
You also ask her if she’s had any suicidal thou­ghts or had any plans for hurting herself due to this upsetting situation. Maggie responds that she has thought about just wanting to end all this pain, especially at night when she is alone. You ask her if she has taken those thoughts any fur­ther and considered how she might “end it all.” She tells you that she doesn’t think she could ever actually hurt herself since it is against her religion and she believes it would be wrong to commit sui­cide. You explain to Maggie that if she ever begins having thoughts of how she might hurt herself that it would be important for her to talk with you about those thoughts and feelings. Maggie agrees that she will discuss those issues with you should they arise.
When you ask Maggie about her family of origin, she states that she’s always gotten along well with everyone in her family except her mother. She says that ever since she was little, her mother has wanted her to always act like the oldest. “She always tells me that I have to be the responsible one because I’m the oldest, and I don’t think she really cares about whether I’m happy or not.” When Maggie told her mother that the relationship with Leonardo had ended, her mother just told her to grow up and get over it. Maggie says she’s never been able to go to her mother with a problem. “I’m not sure my mother is a very happy person. She’s more con­cerned about what the neighbors will think than whether or not we are content with our lives. Ever since I was little, my mother would get in one of her moods and close herself in the bedroom and not come out for days.” Maggie states that she has a much closer relationship with her father, who has called several times to see if she’s okay.
Before leaving your office, Maggie tells you she’s really glad she came to talk today. She says, “It’s taken a big load off my shoulders.” Maggie states that this is the first time in several weeks that she can remember not having a headache. She agrees to come back and see you at the same time next week.
Pomeroy, E. (2015). The clinical assessment workbook: Balancing strengths and differential diagnosis. (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
1)What behaviors would you have Maggie track during the week? (Explain)
2)What do you see as some of Maggie’s strengths?
3)Describe two or three approaches Maggie might use to develop a local social support system.
4)What diagnosis would you give Maggie after this initial interview?
5)List the psychosocial and cultural factors as Z codes impacting Maggie.
*Use the link below for Z-codes* https://www.psychdb.com/teaching/dsm-v-icd-z-codes
6)Discuss one recommended treatment approach for Maggie’s diagnosis.

In considering the major tensions in US Health care identified in Table 17-1 of your text, where do you fall with regard to prioritizing the health of the individual patient or the health of the population?
Does your position vary depending on the issue of focus?
How would you defend your position?
Please respond to two classmate posts as well as posting your own. I will put the two classmates to respond to in this box.
I will put an attachment of the chapter and chapter 17, has the Table in it.
Respond to these classmates:
Classmate # 1, Jen Rock:
When looking at table 17-1 I see my fall into the category as the individual, but as someone who uses Medicaid for health insurance for myself and my children, I also identify with a whole population which is people using Medicaid. While I have to live below a certain income level to remain eligible for my benefits, I also know that my kid and I receive really excellent healthcare. I know it is partially because we life in a major city with really strong healthcare organizations (Jefferson and Penn) but it’s also because Medicaid is great insurance, and I wish it was something everyone could access.
When looking at the table- there was something about the categories that really stood out to me. Three of the categories are Purchasers, Providers, Suppliers which are all essential parts of the system. I think of it like patients, doctors, and the tools doctors use do to their jobs. But for Insurers and Investors/Shareholders those seem like extra intermediaries that have nothing to do with actual healthcare. Obviously we don’t exist in a vacuum and without cost control regulations (which exists in every other healthcare model we have studies) no medical system can be effective. But I wonder how much would change if we just eliminated the insurance and investor parts of the system. One insurance Medicaid- and no investors because healthcare should never under any circumstances be driven by a profit model.
If we eliminate the administrative overhead of managing all the different insurance plans, and remove the profit model, regulate costs of medical supplies and doctor salaries, then could we see strong individual outcomes AND improved health for our whole community/society?
Classmate #2, Samantha Updegraff:
After reading the chapter and examining Table 17-1 in the text, I identify with the provider category. I feel that prioritizing the health of an individual is dependent upon the service that is given to an individual through a provider. I feel that my position mainly stands firm in the idea that getting the correct mental/physical care from an agency or organization that providers adequate outcomes is the top priority in the healthcare system. I believe that the hardest part about this position is that the type of care that is covered is determined by one’s insurance. With that being said, I also feel that it is important to start from the highest possible standpoint in healthcare that holds the most power to make changes that can be more equitable, effective, and affordable for all. The investor shareholders category in Table 17-1 of the text explains that shareholders of non-profit corporations and private equity firms are actors in this role which ultimately can greatly effect other pieces of the puzzle. I would defend this position of creating more priority for affordable and equitable health care by creating more reasonable requirements/expectations for providers to enact services to others that would then force shareholders (or vice versa) to shift viewpoints.