ENGAGEMENT AND ASSESSMENT IN GENERAL PRACTICE 2
Running head: ENGAGEMENT AND ASSESSMENT IN GENERAL PRACTICE 1
Engagement and Assessment in General Practice
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Engagement and Assessment in General Practice
Assessment of individuals and families is a process that entails critical thinking for social workers. There are four main steps that should be observed during the assessment process. They include identifying the clients and assessing the clients’ situation from the micro, mezzo, and macro perspectives. This should be followed by citing all the needs and issues regarding the client. The last process is to identify the strengths of the client.
For engagement and assessment to be effectual, accurate information about the client, the issue at hand, and situation should be gathered and well documented. Gathering, analysis, and interpretation of information should be considered from the individual, familial, and close allies’ perspectives. Again, the information should be focused on the person’s functioning at different points in life such as their childhood, adolescent, and adulthood. Finally, it is important to gather and assess the information from the perspective of the issue at hand as well as other problems that may contribute to the onset of the problem.
To understand how assessment is similar and dissimilar at the macro level, it is imperative to provide a case scenario. Imagine you conducting a counseling session when a pregnant lady walks in. She informs you that she is single because her boyfriend left her when he realized she was expecting a child. To assist her, a social worker needs to assess the various alternatives such as terminating the pregnancy, surrendering the baby for adoption after birth, or keeping the baby. From the macro perspective, a social worker might consider enrolling her to the available programs to women in similar circumstances. On the other hand, one might consider establishing support programs and resources that could offer help to the single lady and others in a similar situation. Owing to the fact that macro level looks at problems from a large-scale milieu, information needed should be gathered from a wide perspective such as society, law, architect, and technology as well as from systems of government.
Bruce has been abusing alcohol ever since he was a teenager. He is now married with three children. Bruce’s wife, Norah, has severally reported him to the law enforcers citing physical abuse and neglect of his responsibilities. In an attempt to help him get out of addiction to alcohol, he has been taken for counseling but has shown resistance to the social worker. This is an example of a situation where the client may be reluctant to engage in the assessment process.