Glossary Terms Flashcards
Abreaction
An emotional release after recalling a painful experience that has been repressed because it was not tolerable to the conscious mind. A therapeutic effect sometimes occurs through partial or repeated discharge of the painful affect
Absolute Poverty
The possession of meager income and assets so that the person cannot maintain a subsistence level of income. See also relative poverty.
Access Provision
Actions taken by social agencies to ensure that their services (or a program’s services) are available to the target population. Examples include educating the public about the service, establishing convenient referral procedures, and having ombudsperson services to deal with obstacles to getting the service
Accommodation (Piaget)
The modification of existing cognitive schemas to incorporate new knowledge
Acculturation
The cultural modification of an individual, group, or people by adapting to or borrowing traits from another culture. Includes the degree to which a member of a culturally diverse group within society accepts and adheres to the behaviors, values, attitudes, etc. of his/her own group and the dominant (majority) group. Contemporary models of acculturation view it as an ongoing process and emphasize that individuals can take on the values, attitudes, and behaviors of their new culture without abandoning those of their indigenous culture
Active Listening
Helping skill that requires social workers to, first, attend to a client’s verbal and nonverbal messages and, then, reflect back what they have heard so that the client will know that his/her message has been understood accurately. Active listening skills include using encouragers, clarification, paraphrase, reflection, and summarization, and exploring silences
Activities of Daily Living
Social workers refer to the ability or inability to perform activities of daily living (ADLs) as a measurement of a person’s functional status. ADL criteria are useful for clients with physical disabilities, clients who are elderly, and clients who have chronic diseases or serious mental disorders (e.g. Schizophrenia). See also basic activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living
Acute Stress Disorder
The diagnosis of acute stress disorder requires the development of at least nine symptoms following exposure to actual or threatened death, severe injury, or sexual violation in at least one of four ways (direct experience of the event; witnessing the event in person as it happened to others; learning that the event occurred to a close family member or friend; repeated or extreme exposure to aversive details of the event). Symptoms can be from any of five categories (intrusion, negative mood, dissociative symptoms, avoidance symptoms, arousal symptoms) and have a duration of three days to one month
Adaptation (Piaget)
According to Piaget, cognitive development occurs when a state of disequilibrium brought on by a discrepancy between the person’s current understanding of the world and reality is resolved through adaptation, which entails the process of assimilation and accommodation. “Assimilation” refers to the incorporation of new knowledge into existing cognitive schemas, while “accommodation” is the modification of existing schemas to incorporate new knowledge
Additive Empathic Responding
Empathic responses that reach beyond the factual aspects and surface feelings of a client’s message to also reflect its implied content and underlying feelings. Because they are interpretive, these responses can increase a client’s awareness of his feelings and new ways of resolving a problem
Adjustment Disorders
The adjustment disorders involve the development of emotional or behavioral symptoms in response to one or more identifiable psychosocial stressors within three months of the onset of the stressor(s). Symptoms must be clinically significant as evidenced by the presence of marked distress that is not proportional to the severity of the stressor and/or significant impairment in functioning, and they must remit within six months after termination of the stressor or its consequences
Administrative Supervision
Supervision function concerned with providing the work structure and agency resources workers need to perform their jobs effectively
Advocate
A social worker role that involves working with and on behalf of clients to ensure that they receive the services and benefits to which they are entitled and that the services are delivered in ways that protect their dignity
Agoraphobia
A diagnosis of agoraphobia requires the presence of marked fear of or anxiety about at least two of five situations ( using public transportation, being in open spaces, being in enclosed spaces, standing in line or being part of a crowd, and being outside the home alone). The individual fears or avoids these situations due to a concern that escape might be difficult or help will be unavailable in case he develops incapacitating or embarrassing symptoms; and the situations nearly always provoke fear or anxiety and are actively avoided, require the presence of a companion, or are endured with intense fear or anxiety. The fear or anxiety is persistent and is not proportional to the threat posed by the situations. Treatment-of-choice is in vivo exposure with response prevention (flooding)
Aids Dementia Complex
One of the most common neurological complications of HIV disease. Produces behavioral changes and diminished mental functioning. In the DSM-5, is called neurocognitive disorders due to HIV disease
Alcohol Withdrawal
Alcohol-induced disorder diagnosed in the presence of at least two characteristic symptoms within several hours to a few days following cessation or reduction of alcohol consumption: autonomic hyperactivity; hand tremor; insomnia; nausea or vomiting; transient illusions or hallucinations; anxiety; psychomotor agitation; generalized tonic-clonic seizures
Alcohol Withdrawal Delirium (Delirium Tremens or DTs)
Alcohol-induced disorder diagnosed in the presence of prominent disturbances in attention, awareness, and cognition following cessation or reduction of alcohol consumption that are sufficiently severe to warrant clinical attention. Common associated features include autonomic hyperactivity, vivid hallucinations, delusions, and agitation
Alpha (Level of Significance)
The probability of rejecting the null hypothesis when it is true (i.e., the probability of making a Type I error). The value of alpha is set by an experimenter prior to collecting or analyzing the data. In psychological research, alpha is commonly set at either .01 or .05. (The null hypothesis states there is no relationship between independent and dependent variables and implies that any observed relationship is simply the result of sampling error)
Ambivalence
Contradictory emotions that occur at the same time within a person. Persistent ambivalence is associated with chronic indecisiveness, mixed feelings, and a sense of being conflicted or stuck
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Legislation that requires companies with 25 or more employees to avoid using procedures that discriminate against people with physical or mental disabilities and, when a disabled person is able to perform the essential functions of a job, to consider the person qualified and to make reasonable accommodations
Amphetamine or Cocaine Intoxication
Symptoms include euphoria, anxiety, paranoid ideation, tachycardia, dilated pupils, perspiration, confusion, an seizures
Anaclitic Depression
Withdrawal, depression, and developmental delays resulting from the loss of an attachment figure during infancy, especially when the loss occurs during the second half of the first year of life
Analogue Studies
Studies conducted in a “facsimile of reality” (e.g., studies conducted in a laboratory or other artificial setting). A problem with analogue studies is that their results may have limited generalizability
Androgyny
Having mannerisms, behaviors, appearance, and other characteristics of both genders
Anhedonia
An inability to feel joy or express many pleasurable emotions
Anomie
A social condition that may develop when a society or community experiences unusual stress. Is characterized by a lack of societal norms, a lack of social structure, and, among individuals, apathy, isolation, and a loss of personal and social values
Anorexia Nervosa
The essential features of anorexia nervosa are (A) a restriction of energy intake that leads to a significantly low body weight; (B) an intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat or behavior that interferes with weigh gain; and (C) a disturbance in the way the person experiences his body weight or shape or a persistent lack of recognition of the seriousness of his low body weight. Onset is typically in adolescence. Treatment includes contingency management, cognitive therapy, and family therapy
Antecedent
An event or other stimulus that precedes a behavior and is thought to influence it
Anterograde Amnesia
A loss of memory for events and information subsequent to a trauma or other event that precipitated the amnesia. It involves an inability to form new memories
Antisocial Personality Disorder
Antisocial personality disorder is characterized by a pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others that has occurred since age 15 and involves at least three characteristic symptoms (e.g., failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behavior, deceitfulness, impulsivity, reckless disregard for the safety of self and others, lack of remorse). The person must be at least 18 years old and have a history of conduct disorder before 15 years of age
Anxiety (Freud)
For Freud, anxiety is a factor in both normal personality functioning and pathological behavior. He distinguished between three types of anxiety: reality (objective) anxiety, neurotic anxiety, and moral anxiety. All serve to alert the ego to the presence of external or internal threats (e.g., an unresolved conflict between the id and the superego) and involve excitation of the autonomic nervous system
Aphasia
Impairment in the production and/or comprehension of language. Broca’s aphasia involves difficulty producing written or spoken language with little or no trouble understanding language. Wernicke’s aphasia is characterized by an inability to comprehend written or spoken language
Appropriate Affect
This is present when a person is in touch with his emotions and can express them as he feels them in response to specific emotional or situational stimuli (e.g., the person cries when discussing sad material)
Appropriation
The designation of funds to a specific group, agency, or program. These funds are typically allocated by a governmental agency to enable a recipient to meet a specific goal
Arithmetic Mean
The measure of central tendency that is the arithmetic average of a set of scores. Can be used when scores are measured on an interval or ratio scale
Assimilation (Piaget)
The incorporation of new knowledge into existing cognitive schemas
Ataxia
A lack of coordination while performing voluntary movements; there may be a loss of balance, as well
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
ADHD is the appropriate diagnosis when an individual has at least six symptoms of inattention and/or six symptoms of hyperactivity-impulsivity, and the symptoms had an onset before 12 years of age, are present in at least two settings (e.g., home and school), and interfere with social, academic, or occupational functioning. About 15 percent of children with ADHD continue to meet the full diagnostic criteria for the disorder as young adults and another 60 percent meet the criteria for ADHD in partial remission. In adults, inattention predominates the symptom profile. Treatment usually involves a CNS stimulant (e.g., methylphenidate) and behavioral and cognitive-behavioral techniques
Autism Spectrum Disorder
For a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, the individual must exhibit (a) persistent deficits in social communication and interaction across multiple contexts as manifested by deficits in social-emotional reciprocity, nonverbal communication, and the development, maintenance, and understanding of relationships; (b) restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, and activities as manifested by at least two characteristic symptoms (e.g., stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, use of objects, or speech; inflexible adherence to routines, or ritualized patterns of behavior); (c) the presence of symptoms during the early developmental period; and (d) impaired functioning as the result of symptoms. The best outcomes are associated with an ability to communicate by age 5 or 6, an IQ over 70, and a later onset of symptoms
Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)
A division of the peripheral nervous system that is involved in the control of visceral functions (e.g., heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, digestion, and sweating). Consists of the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches
Aversive Counterconditioning (Aversion Therapy)
Behavioral therapy based on counterconditioning that reduces the attractiveness of a stimulus or behavior by repeatedly pairing it with a stimulus that produces an undesirable or unpleasant response. Pairing alcohol consumption with electric shock to reduce alcohol use is an example of aversive counterconditioning. In this situation, the alcohol is the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the electric shock is the unconditioned stimulus (US)
Avoidant Personality Disorder
Avoidant personality disorder is characterized by a pervasive pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and hypersensitivity to negative evaluation, as indicated by at least four characteristic symptoms (e.g., avoids work activities involving interpersonal contact due to a fear of criticism, rejection, or disapproval; is unwilling to get involved with people unless certain of being liked; is preoccupied with concerns about being criticized or rejected; views self as socially inept, inferior, or unappealing to others)
Bases of Social Power
Methods used to induce compliance in another person. Include coercive, reward, expert, legitimate, referent, and informational
Basic Activities of Daily Living
Skills needed in typical daily self-care (e.g., bathing, dressing, feeding, toileting)
Basic Needs
Items considered by social planners to be necessary for maintaining personal well-being. Include adequate food, shelter, clothing, heating fuel, clean water, and security from bodily harm.
Basic Temperament
Tendencies to act in certain predictable ways. Some investigators argue that basic temperament (e.g., activity level, sociability, emotionality) is one of the characteristics that has a strong genetic component
Beck’s Cognitive Therapy
A form of cognitive-behavioral therapy that views depression and other psychopathology as the product of certain cognitive phenomena including dysfunctional cognitive schemas, automatic thoughts, and cognitive distortions. Is referred to as “collaborative empiricism” because of its emphasis on the collaborative relationship between therapist and client. The therapist uses Socratic dialogue (questioning) in order to help the client reach logical conclusions about a problem and its consequences
Beck Depression Inventory-II
Measure of the depth of a person’s depression (the severity of his complaints, symptoms, and concerns). May be used with individuals age 13 and older with at least an 8th-grade reading level
Behavioral Addiction
A recurring compulsion by an individual to engage in a specific activity (e.g., shopping) despite harmful consequences, as identified by the person, to his/her physical health, psychological or emotional well-being, and/or social functioning
Behavioral Family Therapy
The behavioral approach to family and marital therapy addresses the following goals (A) increase the couple’s recognition and initiation of pleasurable interactions (B) decreasing the couple’s aversive interactions (negative exchanges) (C) teaching the couple effective problem-solving and communication skills and (D) teaching the couple to use a contingency contract to resolve persisting problems
Behavioral Rehearsal
Technique used to help a client learn a new behavior so that he can better cope with a specific interpersonal situation such as a job interview. Relies on role-playing, modeling, and coaching to provide opportunities to practice the new behavior in a protected environment before trying it out in the real world. As a client practices the behavior, the social worker offers feedback and may demonstrate or model the behavior
Benzodiazepines
A type of anxiolytic (anti anxiety drug). More effective for alleviating anticipatory anxiety than panic symptoms. Side-effects include drowsiness, ataxia, slurred speech, and other signs of CNS depression. Abrupt cessation can cause rebound hyperexcitability
Beta-Blockers (Propranolol)
Propranolol and other beta-blockers block or diminish the cardiovascular excitatory response to the hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine. They are used to treat cardiovascular disorders, glaucoma, and migraine headache and are also useful for reducing the physical symptoms of anxiety. Common side-effects of propranolol include bradycardia, nausea, diarrhea, dizziness, decreased sexual ability, and trouble sleeping
Binge-Eating Disorder
Binge-eating disorder is diagnosed in the presence of repeated episodes of binge eating that occur, on average, at least once a week for three months and are associated with three or more of the following: eating much more quickly than normal; eating until feeling uncomfortably full; eating large amounts of food when not feeling physically hungry; eating alone due to feeling embarrassed by how much one is eating; feeling disgusted with oneself, depressed, or very guilty after an episode. Binge-eating disorder does not include the recurrent inappropriate compensatory behavior (e.g. purging, excessive exercise) seen in bulimia nervosa
Bioethics
The philosophical study of ethical controversies arising from advances in biology and medicine. The field addresses such issues as debates over the boundaries of life (e.g. abortion, euthanasia), surrogacy, the allocation of scarce health-care resources, experimentation with human subjects, behavioral control (e.g. through the use of psychotropic medications), and the right to turn down medical care for religious or cultural reasons
Biopsychosocial Approach
Assumes that biophysical, psychological, and social factors all play an important role in human functioning and encourages social workers to consider and integrate a broad of range of influences when evaluating a client’s development and behavior at all levels (individual, family, community, etc.) and to examine a client’s appraisals of these influences and reactions to them in terms of physiology, emotion, cognition, and behavior
Bipolar I Disorder
A diagnosis of bipolar I disorder requires at least one manic episode that lasts for at least one week, is present most of the day nearly every day, and includes at least three characteristic symptoms (e.g, inflated self-esteem or grandiosity, decreased need for sleep, flight of ideas). Symptoms must cause marked impairment in social or occupational functioning, require hospitalization to avoid harm to self or others, or include psychotic features. This disorder may include one or more hypomanic episodes or major depressive episodes. Treatment usually includes lithium or an anti-seizure medication and cognitive-behavior therapy or other form of therapy
Bipolar II Disorder
A diagnosis of bipolar II disorder requires at least one hypomanic episode and at least one major depressive episode. A hypomanic episode lasts for at least four consecutive days and involves at least three symptoms that are also associated with a manic episode but are not severe enough to cause marked impairment in functioning or require hospitalization. A major depressive episode lasts for at least two weeks and involves at least five characteristic symptoms, at least one of which must be a depressed mood or a loss of interest or pleasure
Block Grant
System of disbursing funds that permits the recipient to determine how best to distribute the money
Board of Directors
A group of people authorized to establish an agency’s objectives and policies and oversee the activities of agency personnel who have day-to-day responsibility for implementing those policies. In a private or voluntary social agency, the board of directors has ultimate responsibility for the agency’s programmatic and financial operations. In public agencies, a board has less power and takes on more of an advisory or administrative role
Body Dysmorphic Disorder
The essential feature of body dysmorphic disorder is a preoccupation with one or more perceived defects or flows in physical appearance that are not observable or appear minor to others. In addition, at some point, the person has engaged in repetitive behaviors (e.g. mirror checking, excessive grooming, skin picking) or mental acts (e.g. comparing his appearance with that of others) in response to these concerns
Borderline Personality Disorder
The essential feature of borderline personality disorder is a pervasive pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affect, and marked impulsivity. At least five characteristic symptoms must be present (e.g. frantic efforts to avoid abandonment; pattern of unstable, intense interpersonal relationships that are marked by fluctuations between idealization and devaluation; an identity disturbance involving a persistent instability in self-image or sense of self; recurrent suicide threats or gestures; transient stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative symptoms)
Boundaries (Structural Family Therapy)
The barriers between family members, between subsystems, and between the family and the environment that determine how much contact is permitted. For structural family therapists, family dysfunction is related to boundary problems - i.e. boundaries that are overly rigid (disengaged) or overly permeable (enmeshed)
Brief Psychotic Disorder
Brief psychotic disorder characterized by the presence of one or more of four characteristics symptoms (delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior) with at least one symptom being delusions, hallucinations, or disorganized speech. Symptoms are present for at least one day but less than one month with an eventual return to full premorbid functioning
Broker
A social worker role that involves linking clients with the resources they need. To perform this role effectively, workers must be familiar with community resources and their eligibility criteria
Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model
Bronfenbrenner described development as involving interactions between the individual and his context, or environment, and his ecological model describes the context in terms of five environmental systems or levels; microsystem, mesosystem, ecosystem, microsystem, and chronosystem
Brown Vs Board of Education (1954)
U.S. Supreme Court decision that racial segregation of public schools was illegal; the ruling declared that the “separate but equal” interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment was unconstitutional
Buffering Hypothesis
The hypothesis that lower susceptibility to stress, greater life satisfaction, and other positive outcomes are associated with a perception that none has adequate social support
Bulimia Nervosa
Bulimia nervosa is characterized by (A) recurrent episodes of binge eating that are accompanied by a sense of a lack of control; (B) inappropriate compensatory behavior to prevent weight gain (e.g. self-induced vomiting, excessive exercise); and (C) self-evaluation that is unduly influenced by body shape and weight. Treatment usually includes nutritional counseling, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and in some cases, antidepressants
Bureaucracy
A highly rational, stable, and predictable organizational structure that consists of different units that are hierarchically arranged (delegation of authority), with each unit performing a specialized function according to clearly defined rules (division of labor)
Campaign (Macro Change)
Strategy used to gain support and acceptance for community or organizational change. Is used when the target system needs to be convinced of the importance of the change or to allocate resources but communication is still possible between the action and target systems. Related tactics include education, persuasion, co-optation, lobbying, and mass media appeal. See also collaboration (Macro Change) and contest
Capitation
A payment method for health-care services in which a fixed payment is made at regular intervals to a medical provider by a managed care organization for an enrolled patient. Generally, the physician, hospital, or other health-care provider is paid a contracted rate for each member assigned (referred to as “per-member-per-month” rate) regardless of the number or nature of services provided. The contractual rates are usually adjusted for age, gender, illness, and regional differences
Career Counseling
The provision of counsel, support, information, and linkage of resources to individuals deciding on a career or wishing to make changes in their current employment. Offers individuals help in recognizing their strengths and weaknesses and gives information about available opportunities. Is offered by social workers, personnel and guidance counselors, and other professionals
Case Advocacy (Client Advocacy)
A form of advocacy that involves working with and on behalf of a client to ensure that the client receives the services and benefits to which he is entitled and that the services are delivered in a way that protect his dignity
Case Aide
Paraprofessional member of a social work team who helps a social worker provide client services (e.g. contacts the client’s family for information). Typically develops proficiency with particular functions
Case Conference
Agency and organizational procedure in which professionals working with a client meet to discuss his case. Typically involves a discussion of the client’s problem, prognosis, and treatment. In addition to professionals working on the case, a case conference may include other professionals who have knowledge or expertise about the client’s problem and friends and family members of the client
Case finding
Outreach approach in which social workers seek and identify individuals or groups who are vulnerable to or are experiencing the problems for which their social agency has responsibility to provide services or other forms of assistance
Case Formulation
Used to describe what the client and his situation are like, to explain why they are the way they are, and to provide a basis for intervention planning. Concerned with not only naming the client’s problem but also understanding the problem within the context of the client’s life. The categories used to organize information for case formulations usually include (A) symptoms and problems, (B) precipitating stressors or events, (C) predisposing life events or stressors, and (D) a mechanism that links the first three categories together and offers an explanation of the precipitants and maintaining influences of the client’s problems
Case Integration
Involves coordinating the activities of all providers who are serving the needs of one client. The goal is to ensure that the providers’ services are consistent, additive, non duplicative, and pursuing the same goals. Occurs both between and within organizations
Case Management
A procedure used to identify, plan, access, coordinate, and monitor services from different social agencies and staff on behalf of a client. Clients needing case management services usually have multiple problems that require assistance from multiple providers, several problems that need to be addressed at the same time, and special difficulties in seeking and using help effectively
Case Studies
A general term used to describe an in-depth investigation of a single individual, family, organization, etc. A shortcoming is that their results might not be generalizable to other cases
Catastrophic Analogy
A way of viewing social systems. Proposes that they change so much and so often that they appear chaotic - there is extreme conflict in the system and a lack of order and predictability, and it can be difficult to determine the system’s future direction
Catchment Area
The geographic area served by a social agency
Catecholamine Hypothesis
Theory that attributes depression to deficient norepinephrine and mania to excessive norepinephrine
Categorical Assistance
State welfare programs for particular groups of people identified in the Social Security Act (e.g. the disabled, needy)
Categorically Needy
Individuals who are automatically eligible for certain welfare benefits without a means test because they fit certain predetermined criteria
Catharsis
The healthful (therapeutic) release of ideas through “talking out” conscious material, accompanied by an appropriate emotional reaction. Also, the release into awareness of repressed (“forgotten”) material from the unconscious
Cause (Class) Advocacy
Work on behalf of groups of people who lack the resources or ability to advocate for themselves
Centralization
The concentration of the administrative power of a group, organization, or political body
Centralized Communication Networks
Networks in which all communication must pass through a central person or position within the organization. These networks work best for simple tasks
Central Nervous System (CNS)
The nerve cells, fibers, and tissues that make up the spinal cord and brain
Centrifugal Family
A family in which sources of gratification are seen as existing outside rather than inside the family. Children are expelled from the family in a way that results in premature separation. Centrifugal forces are forces in a family that push the members apart
Centripetal Family
A family that believes family members hold a greater promise for the fulfillment of crucial relationship needs than the outside world. The outside world appears threatening and separation is, therefore, difficult. This style binds children to the family. Centripetal forces are forces that keep family members together
Cerebral Cortex
The outer covering of the cerebral hemispheres of the brain. Involved in higher-order sensory, emotional, motor, and intellectual activities. Divided into two hemispheres (right & left), with each containing four lobes: frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital
Chaining
The process by which a series of related and simple behaviors (responses) are tied together to form a more complex behavior - i.e., each response in the series acts as both a secondary reinforcer for the preceding response and a discriminative stimulus for the next response in the chain. Skinner believed that chaining explains the acquisition of complex behaviors
Change Residue
Side-effects (which may or may not be desired or planned) that always occur when macro practitioners bring about change in community structures. Community workers usually incorporate ways of dealing with change residue into their change plans
Channeling
A process associated with case management in which social agency staff direct clients to relevant programs in the community for additional or supplementary services during the helping process
Chaos Theory
A theory concerned with the way systems change over time. It focuses on feedback systems that, despite their underlying simplicity, demonstrate complicated and unpredictable behavior. Underlying this unpredictability is a “sensitive dependence on initial conditions” (butterfly effect), which refers to the fact that future events in complex systems can be affected in profound ways by minor variations that take place early in an interaction - in other words, a seemingly minor initial event can produce profound effects later on
Child Protective Services (CPS)
Social, residential, medical, legal, and custodial care services given to children whose parent or other caregiver is not meeting their needs. Social workers who work in government agencies often help law enforcement personnel with investigations to find out if children need these services and help children get the services when they need them. The social workers may also provide the services themselves. In most states, the child protective service (CPS) unit of the Department of Social Services, Department of Human Resources, or Department of Public Welfare is the primary agency responsible for decisions related to the prevention, investigation, and treatment of child abuse and neglect. The foremost goal of services provided by CPS units is the protection of abused and neglected children
Circular Causality
The non-linear, repetitive nature of interactions in families and other organized systems in which events are related through a series of interacting loops or repeating cycles
Circular Questions
Questions designed to help family members identify differences in their perspectives in order to increase their understanding of events or circumstances so they can derive solutions to their own problems
Clarification
A helping skill used in response to vague or unclear client messages. Using this skill is appropriate when the social worker doesn’t understand a client’s message, would like the client to become more explicit, or wishes to check his understanding of a client’s message
Classical Conditioning
In classical conditioning, a neutral (conditioned) stimulus is repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus alone eventually elicits the response that is naturally produced by the unconditioned stimulus. In Pavlov’s original studies, the meat powder was the unconditioned stimulus (US) and salivation was the unconditioned response (UR). A tone was the conditioned stimulus (CS). As the result of pairing the tone with he meat powder, the tone eventually elicited salvation - the conditioned response (CR)
Classical Extinction
The gradual elimination of a classically conditioned response by repeatedly presenting the conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus. Often, an extinguished response shows spontaneous recovery (i.e. it recurs following extinction)
Client-Focused Measures
Techniques developed specifically for a particular client and used to assess the extent of his problem, follow his progress during treatment, and determine when intervention can be terminated. Include individualized rating scales, goal attainment scales, and client logs
Closed-ended Questions
Interview questions that elicit responses that provide either factual information or a simple “yes” or “no”. Used primarily in the latter portion of an interview to obtain missing factual data
Closed Group
Therapy group that begins and ends with the same membership, and usually has a pre-set termination date. Impractical for long-term therapy but commonly used in short-term, task-oriented forms of group work
Coalition (Organizations, Communities)
An alliance of organizations or other groups brought together to achieve a common goal. May be “ad hoc” (organized to address a single issue only), semipermanent (organized around longer-range goals), or permanent
Coercive Family Interaction Model
Proposes that children initially learn aggressive behaviors from their parents who rarely reinforce prosocial behaviors, use harsh discipline, reward their children’s aggressiveness with approval and attention and that, over time, aggressive parent-child interactions escalate. Patterson and colleagues developed a parent intervention designed to stop this coercive cycle by teaching parents child-management skills and providing them with therapy to help them cope more effectively with stress
Coercive Power
A source of power for supervisors and other leaders involving the ability to control tangible punishments (demotion, poor performance rating, etc.) and psychic punishments (criticism, disapproval). See also bases of social power
Cognitive dissonance Theory
Festinger’s theory of attitude change that proposes that inconsistencies in cognitions produce discomfort (dissonance), which motivates the individual to reduce the dissonance, often by changing his cognitions
Cognitive Restructuring Techniques
Techniques used to help clients manage their emotional reactions and behave more effectively through modifying their distorted cognitions or errors in logic, particularly their distorted interpretations of reality. The use of these techniques is based on theory underlying the cognitive therapies which assumes that how people interpret and think about an event or experience (their self-talk) gives rise to an emotional reaction, which, in turn, gives rise to behavior
Cohort (Intergenerational) Effects
The effects of being part of a group (cohort) that was born at a particular time and, as a result, was exposed to unique educational, cultural, and other experiences. Cohort effects can confound the results of a cross-sectional study since any observed differences between age groups might be due to these effects rather than to differences in age only
Collaboration (Administration)
In social work administration, an agreement (joint venture) in which two or more agencies agree to work together to set up and operate a new program or service
Collaboration (Direct Practice)
Involves two or more other professionals working together to serve a client (individual, family, or group). The professionals may work together as part of a single helping team or work relatively independently of one another while making sure to communicate and coordinate their respective efforts in order to prevent a duplication of services
Collaboration (Macro Change)
Strategy used to gain support and acceptance for community or organizational change. Is used when there is a working relationship in which the action and target systems agree that change must occur, and the target system supports the allocation of resources. Related tactics include implementation and capacity building (e.g. empowerment). See also campaign and contest
Collaborative Therapy
Treatment format in which two or more social workers (or other therapists) each treat a single member of a family and coordinate their efforts
Collective Action
An organized effort that includes many people and attempts to effect political, economic, or cultural change
Collectivism (Social Policy)
In regard to social policy, an ideology that assumes that some individual choice must be limited to better serve the common good
Collectivism (Worldview)
Assumes that groups connect and mutually obligate individuals - the personal is subordinate to the larger social group or context. A person with this worldview (A) emphasizes family life over personal self-concept; (B) does not connect his sense of well-being to a sense of personal control; (C) attributes events or behaviors to situational factors; (D) sees events in terms of what he believes the expectations of others might be; (E) prefers indirect, high-context communication; and (F) in conflict situation, prefers an accommodation and negotiation approach
Combined Therapy
Intervention model in which a client participates concurrently in both individual therapy and group therapy
Committees on Inquiry
Groups of professional peers and others who look into alleged ethical violations, illegal activities, or other disputes between professionals or between professionals and clients and attempt to determine if any wrong-doing has been committed
Community Decision Network
All of the important individuals and organizations in a community who have formal or informal power to decide on the actions taken by the community. Its membership may include political leaders, industrial leaders, religious groups, and civic associations
Community Development
Community organizing efforts made by professionals and community members to improve social ties among residents of a community, motivate residents for self-help, develop reliable local leadership, and create or restore local institutions. Relies on a grass-roots, non bureaucratic approach that emphasizes community solidarity. Efforts are purposeful and involve a clear strategy and set of activities. Associated interventions include social action, public education, national and local planning, and community organizing
Community of Identification and Interest
A non place community in which people are united by common interest, values, and commitments or brought together based on their shared ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation, social class, ideology, lifestyle, profession, or workplace
Community Organizing
A type of macro (indirect) practice used to help individuals and groups resolve social problems and improve social welfare through organized collective action. Key objectives are to help community members achieve social justice and economic and social development and to develop the capacity of community members to help themselves. The individuals or groups who are helped have common interests or are from the same geographic region. Community organizing models include social planning, social action, and locality or community development
Community Self-help
Entails having community members, including volunteers, become involved in decision-making, planning, and working with professionals and agency personnel. Control and responsibility are decentralized from national, state, or local organizations to community groups and individuals
Competent Evidence
The facts about a case that are credible, persuasive, and sound as well as admissible in a court of law. Competent evidence is different from information given by an expert witness, who gives opinions and information to the best of his knowledge
Complementary Communication
Communication occurring between participants who are unequal and that emphasizes their differences (e.g. communication between a dominant and a subordinate participant)
Complementary Relationships
Dyadic relationships based on differences that fit together. In other words, the tendency of member A in a relationship is enhanced by the tendency of member B. For example, A’s submissiveness may be complemented by B’s dominance and vice versa
Compliance
Occurs when a person changes his behavior in order to obtain a reward or avoid a punishment. Compliance is public and does not involve a private change in opinions or attitudes. Reward and coercive power tend to produce compliance and a change in behavior, particularly when a person knows he is being observed. See also bases of social power; identification (social influence): and internalization
Compulsions
Repetitious and deliberate behaviors or mental acts that the individual feels driven to perform either in response to an obsession or according to rules that must be applied rigidly. The goal of compulsive acts is to reduce distress or prevent a dreaded situation from happening, but the acts are either excessive or are not connected in a logical way to this goal. The individual may attempt to resist a compulsion but experiences anxiety and tension as the result of doing so
Concrete Operational Stage
Third stage in Piaget’s model of cognitive development (age 7 to 11 years). During this stage, children acquire logical operations and use logic to reason about concrete events or situations. Children at this stage can conserve
Concurrent Therapy
Treatment format in which a social worker sees different members of a family or client system separately in individual sessions. This intervention model is used most commonly in couples therapy to encourage the clients to reveal thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that they might not feel able to disclose in the presence of their spouses
Conditioned Response (CR)
In classical conditioning, a response that is elicited by a conditional stimulus (CS) as the result of pairing the CS with an unconditioned stimulus. The conditioned response is similar to , but not identical to, the unconditioned response (it is usually weaker in strength or magnitude)
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
In classical conditioning, the previously neutral stimulus that, as the result of being paired with an unconditioned stimulus, now elicits a conditioned response (CR)
Conduct Disorder
The diagnosis of conduct disorder requires a persistent pattern of behavior that violates the basic rights of others and/or age-appropriate social norms or rules as evidenced by the presence of at least three characteristic symptoms during the past 12 months and at least one symptom in the past six months. Symptoms are divided into four categories: aggression to people and animals; destruction of property; deceitfulness or theft; and serious violation of rules. The disorder cannot be assigned to individuals over age 18 who meet the criteria for antisocial personality disorder
Confabulation
Fabrication of experiences or situations in order to fill in and cover up gaps in memory
Confidentiality
The ethical duty to protect from disclosure and information about a client, research or evaluation subject, supervised, employee, etc., obtained during the course of a professional relationship. A social worker can disclose confidential information, when appropriate, with valid consent from a client or a person legally authorized to consent on behalf of a client. In addition, the assumption that a social worker will keep information confidential does not apply when the worker needs to disclose certain information to prevent serious, foreseeable, and imminent harm to a client or another identifiable person or when laws or regulations require the worker to disclose certain information without a client’s consent. Confidential information includes the identity of the client, content of things said by the client, professional opinions about the client, and material form the client’s records
Conflict Induction
Community organizing technique used to compel community members to actively debate issues or value differences and form new coalitions. The social worker brings up issues and differences directly to motivate group members to work on them
Confrontation (Challenge)
Respectful and gentle efforts to help a client recognize that he is using distortions, deceptions, denials, avoidance, or manipulations that are getting in the way of desired change. The social worker challenges and invites the client to examine a thought or behavior that is self-defeating or harmful to others and to take action to change it. Efforts to confront a client generally emphasize factors that the social worker believes are contributing to the client’s problems and preventing the client from making progress
Congruent Communication
Communication in which two or more messages are sent via different levels (e.g., verbally and nonverbally) but none of the messages seriously contradicts any of the others
Conjoint Therapy
Treatment format in which a social worker (or other therapist) treats a family or couple by meeting with the family members or partners together for regular sessions. Sometimes, conjoint therapy is provided by a team of therapists rather than by only a single therapist
Connors 3
Scales used to evaluate behaviors and other concerns in youth ages 8 to 18. In contrast to its predecessor (Conners’ Rating Scales-Revised), offers a more thorough assessment of ADHD and addresses comorbid disorders, such as oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder. The Conners 3 includes parent rating scales (Conners 3-P), teacher rating scales (Conners 3-T), and self-report rating scales (Conners 3-SR)
Consensual Validation
Associated with all levels of social work practice (macro, mezzo, and micro). Refers to using mutual agreement as the criteria for defining what is true, Often used to define goals and assess progress toward goal achievement
Conservation (Piaget)
The ability to recognize that certain properties of an object or substance do not change when its appearance is altered in a superficial way (e.g., when a liquid is poured from a short, fat glass into a tall, thin one, the ability to recognize that the amount of liquid has not changed). The ability to conserve develops gradually during the concrete operational stage and is due to the emergence of decantation and reversibility.
Consideration (Leadership)
A dimension of leadership behavior that refers to the amount of warmth, concern, rapport, and support displayed by the leader. Leaders high in consideration are person-oriented and concerned with the expressive aspects of the job. Leaders who communicate both support (expressive) and high performance expectations (instrumental) are likely to have the most effective work groups. See also initiating structure
Consultation
A process in which a human services professional assists a consultee with a work-related problem within a client system. The goal is to help both the consultee and the client system in some specified way. Several principles guide consultation: First, consultation always has a problem-solving (educational) function. Second, a consultant has no administrative authority over staff members, and a consultee may turn down the consultant’s suggestions. The determining factor is the value of the consultant’s idea not his status as a consultant. Third, consultation relies on the quality of the relationship between the consultant and consultee. Thus, a consultant must be skilled at developing and maintaining relationships with consultees. Consultation is used by most social workers on an as-needed basis
Contact Comfort
Research by Harlow with rhesus monkeys indicated that a baby’s attachment to his mother is due, in part, to contact comfort, or the pleasant tactile sensation that is provided by a soft, cuddly parent
Contact Hypothesis
Proposes that prejudice may be reduced through contact between members of the majority and minority groups as long as certain conditions are met (e.g., members of the different groups have equal status and power and are provided with opportunities that disconfirm their negative stereotypes about members of the other group)
Contest (Macro Change)
Strategy used to gain support and acceptance for community or organizational change. Is used when there is deep disagreement or conflict between the action and target systems. Related tactics are confrontational and include bargaining and negotiation, large group or community action, and class action lawsuits. See also collaboration (macro change) and contest
Contingency Contract
A type of contingency management that involves a formal written agreement between two or more people (e.g., between therapist and client, parent and child, teacher and students) that clearly defines the behaviors that are to be modified and the rewards and punishments that will follow performance of those behaviors. Behavioral change may be required by one or all parties to the contract
Contingency Theory
Management theory suggesting that different organizational approaches can be appropriate depending on the circumstances faced by an organization. The key issue is not how closely an organization follows a certain model but rather how well it structures itself to accommodate to its unique environment (i.e. an organization’s structure and leadership are “contingent” on a variety of factors that are specific to that organization)
Continuity of Care
The cooperative functioning of an organization (or a group of related organizations) to ensure that clients are provided with the services they need without repetition of services from various departments or facilities
Continuous Schedule of Reinforcement
In operant conditioning, providing reinforcement after each emission of the target response. Associated with rapid acquisition of a response and susceptibility to extinction
Conventional Morality (Kohlberg)
According to Kohlberg, the stage of moral development in which moral judgments are based on adherence to authority. Includes the “good boy/girl” and “law and order” stages. Is characteristic of most adolescents and adults
Conversion Disorder
The symptoms of conversion disorder involve disturbances in voluntary motor or sensory functioning and suggest a serious neurological or other medical condition (e.g., paralysis, seizures, blindness, loss of pain sensation) with evidence of an incompatibility between the symptoms and recognized neurological or medical conditions
Co-Optation (Informal and Formal)
Tactic used to manage opposition to change by absorbing target system members and other opponents into the action system. Once people become part of the action system, they are likely to assume some “ownership” of the change effort. Co-opting individuals is called “informal co-optation”; and co-opting an organized group is called “formal Co-optation”. Formal co-optation of a number of groups leads to coalition building
Copayment
Condition of an insurance policy that requires the patient to contribute to the cost of the service he receives. Typically, the policy holder must pay a percentage of the service fee, and the insurance company pays the balance
Coping strategy vs. Ego Defense Mechanism
A coping strategy is a deliberate and conscious effort to solve a problem or handle personal distress, while an ego defense mechanism is an habitual, unconscious maneuver used to avoid facing a problem
Correlation Coefficient
A numerical index of the relationship (degree of association) between two of more variables. The magnitude of the coefficient indicates the strength of the relationship; its sign indicates the direction (positive or negative)
Cost-Benefit Analysis
Management/budgeting plan involving an evaluation of programs and services based on the cost of the program. The results of this analysis help the organization determine if programs are worthwhile
Cost Effectiveness / Cost-Benefit Analysis
Budgeting technique that quantitatively evaluates different program alternatives. The cost effective analysis (CEA) component evaluates the costs and benefits of a given program approach. The answer is a “cost-benefit ratio” ( the cost over the benefit). A program’s cost-benefit ratio is then compared to the cost-benefit ratios of other program alternatives to determine which approach is most cost effective
Costing
Involves estimating in advance all of the costs associated with a plan or program that seeks to meet a specified goal. Also called “costing out”
Cost-Sharing
Budgeting system that involves dividing the cost of various resources between different organizations (e.g., two schools might share the cost of one social worker who will spend time in both facilities). Allows organizations to use services that they might not otherwise be able to afford
Counterconditioning
In classical conditioning, the elimination of a response by pairing the response or associated stimuli with a stimulus that naturally elicits an incompatible and more desirable response
Countertransference
A set of conscious or unconscious emotional reactions to a client experienced by a therapist, usually in a clinical setting. Freud considered countertransference to be detrimental to psychoanalysis and believed that a therapist must always be aware of any countertransference feelings to ensure that they do not interfere with the progress of treatment. Current forms of psychotherapy view countertransference as a helpful tool in gaining understanding of a client’s process. Social workers should seek consultation when doing so is necessary to prevent countertransference-related problems, such as a loss of objectivity, from interfering with treatment
Critical Period vs. Sensitive Period
A “critical period” is a time during which an organism is especially susceptible to positive and negative environmental influences. A “sensitive period” is more flexible than a critical period and is not limited to a specific chronological age. Some aspects of human development may depend on critical periods, but, for many human characteristics and behaviors, sensitive periods are probably more applicable
Cross-Sectional Analysis
Technique for collecting and displaying data that provides several perspectives on a single population at a specific point in time; it does not reveal changes over time. The data collection may sometimes be “retrospective”, which involves asking people to reflect back on their past experiences and attitudes
Cross-Sectional Studies
Studies conducted to assess the effects of aging and/or developmental changes over time (e.g., to assess the effects of age on IQ). Involves comparing groups of individuals representing different age groups or developmental levels at the same point in time. Cohort effects are a possible confound when conducting these studies
Cross-Sequential Design
Used to assess the effects of aging and/or developmental changes over time. Combines cross-sectional and longitudinal methodologies by assessing members of two or more age groups at two or more different times
Cultural Encapsulation
Refers to the tendency of therapists and counselors to interpret everyone’s reality through their own cultural assumptions and stereotypes.
Cultural Paranoia
Term used to describe appropriate mistrust and suspiciousness of African-American toward whites resulting from racism and oppression. In therapy, may be a cause of nondisclosure
Cycle of Violence (Walker)
A three-stage cycle of violence that describes many abusive spousal/partner relationships. Includes tension building, acute battering incident, and loving-contrition (“honeymoon”)
Cyclothymic Disorder
Cyclothymic disorder involves fluctuating hypomanic symptoms and numerous periods of depressive symptoms that do not meet the criteria for a major depressive episode, with symptoms lasting for at least two years in adults or one year in children and adolescents
Decentralization
The delegation of responsibilities and activities by the leadership level of an organization to lower-level organization members who are closer to the problem or activity
Decentralized Communication Networks
Networks in which information flows freely between people in an organization without going through a central person. These networks work well for complex tasks
Decision Support Systems (DSS)
In an agency, the use of computers to collect and organize information and make decisions from among specified choices. A computer program uses a predefined set of facts and rules to determine the best decision, and an administrator then either agrees with or rejects the computer’s decision
Defense Mechanisms
For psychoanalysts, mental strategies that operate unconsciously, deny or distort reality, and are employed by the ego to reduce anxiety arising from the discrepant demands of the id, the superego, and reality. Include, among others, repression, reaction formation, and sublimation
Defensiveness (and defense mechanisms)
All people use defense mechanisms to cope with anxiety, stress, and problems of living, but defensiveness can interfere with a person’s ability to accurately perceive reality and get along with others. Rigid or excessive use of defenses impedes realistic problem solving, and very high levels of defensiveness and distortions of reality are characteristic of personality disturbances
Defensiveness (“Faking Good”)
A conscious effort by a client to convince a clinician that he is better off than is really the case
Deindividuation
A state of relative anonymity that allows group members to feel unidentifiable. Has been associated with increases in antisocial behaviors, apparently because the deindividuated person’s behavior is no longer controlled by guilt, fear of evaluation, or other inhibitory controls
Delirium
A diagnosis of delirium requires (A) a disturbance in attention and awareness that develops over a short period of time, represents a change from baseline functioning, and tends to fluctuate in severity over the course of a day and (B) an additional disturbance in cognition (e.g., impaired memory, disorientation, impaired language, deficits in visuospatial ability, perceptual distortions). Symptoms must not be due to another neurocognitive disorder and must not occur during a severely reduced level of arousal (e.g., during a coma), and there must be evidence that symptoms are the direct physiological consequence of a medical condition, substance intoxication or withdrawal, and/or exposure to a toxin
Delusional Disorder
Delusional disorder involves one or more delusions that last at least one month. Overall psychosocial functioning is not markedly impaired, and any impairment is directly related to the delusions. The DSM-5 distinguishes between the following subtypes: erotomania, grandiose, jealous, persecutory, somatic, mixed, and unspecified
Delusions
False beliefs that are firmly held despite what other people believe and/or the existence of clear and indisputable evidence to the contrary
Demand Characteristics
Cues in an experimental situation that inform research participants of how they are expected to behave during the course of the study. Demand characteristics threaten a study’s internal and external validity
Denial
A defense mechanism in which an individual admits that an anxiety-evoking impulse, thought, etc., exists but denies that it is personally relevant. A relatively primitive defense mechanism related to a child’s faith in the magical power of thoughts and words
Dependent Personality Disorder
Dependent personality disorder involves a pervasive and excessive need to be taken care of, which leads to submissive, clinging behavior and a fear of separation as manifested by at least five symptoms (e.g. has difficulty making decisions without advice and reassurance from others, fears disagreeing with others because it might lead to a loss of support, has difficulty initiating projects on his own, goes to great lengths to gain nurturance and support from others, is unrealistically preoccupied with fears of being left to care for himself
Dependent Variable
The variable that is observed and measured in a research study and is believed to be affected in some way by the independent variable. In direct practice evaluation, the client’s functioning is considered the dependent variable
Descriptive Research
Research conducted to describe behavior rather than to test hypotheses about behavior. Includes observational techniques, surveys and questionnaires, archival research, and case studies
Descriptive Survey Design
May be used to obtain measures on dependent variables at different points in time and to estimate client satisfaction with programs and to conduct needs assessments. In program evaluation, relies on representative sampling and is used to obtain explicit, quantitative data that can be generalized to other populations. Subjects participate in an interview or fill out a questionnaire and then data from these are analyzed using descriptive and correlational statistics
Detriangulatin
A term used to explain the process of Bowen’s therapy. Bowen believed that when a two-person relationship becomes too intense or too distant, the opposing members seek to join with the same person against the other, forcing this third party to alternate loyalties between the two. Triangulation stabilizes the system and, therefore, perpetuates the family’s pathology. According to Bowen, focusing on this stabilizing process is sometimes more effective for bringing about change than an emphasis an presenting issues.
Diabetes Mellitus (Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes)
A disorder involving a build up of glucose in the blood as the result of hypoinsulinism. Forms of diabetes include type 1, type 2, and gestational (developing during pregnancy). Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder. Its symptoms develop quickly and may include increased thirst and urination, constant hunger, weight loss, blurred vision, extreme fatigue, apathy, confusion, and mental dullness. Type 1 diabetes occurs most often in children and young adults. In type 2 diabetes, symptoms develop gradually and may include fatigue, nausea, frequent urination, increased thirst, weight loss, blurred vision, frequent infections, slow healing of wounds, and cognitive symptoms similar to those occurring in type 1. Type 2 diabetes is associated with obesity, family history of diabetes, history of gestational diabetes, low levels of physical activity, and older age. Due to increase rates of obesity among young people, however, type 2 diabetes is becoming more common among children, adolescents, and young adults.
Diagnostic Uncertainty
When using the DSM-5, diagnostic uncertainty about a client’s diagnosis is indicated by coding one of the following: Other specified disorder is coded when the clinician wants to indicate the reason why the client’s symptoms do not meet the criteria for a specific diagnosis, while unspecified disorder is coded when the clinician does not want to indicate the reason why the client’s symptoms do not meet the criteria for a specific diagnosis.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy
Linehan’s (1987) dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) was designed as a treatment for borderline personality disorder and incorporates three strategies: (A) group skills training to help clients regulate their emotions and improve their social and coping skills; (B) individual outpatient therapy to strengthen clients’ motivation and newly-acquired skills; and (C) telephone consultations to provide additional support and between-sessions coaching. Research has confirmed that it reduces premature termination from therapy, psychiatric hospitalizations, and parasuicidal behaviors
Diathesis-Stress Model
A model of certain mental disorders that attributes them to a combination of genetic predisposition and environmental stress factors
Differential Reinforcement
Differential reinforcement (e.g. DRA, DRO, and DRI) is an operant technique that combines positive reinforcement and extinction. During a specified period of time, the individual is reinforced when he engages in behaviors other than the target behavior. The alternative behaviors are reinforced, while the target behavior is extinguished
Differentiation (of Self)
For extended family systems (Brownian) therapists, the separation of an individual’s intellectual and emotional functioning from that of his family members. Allows the individual to resist being overwhelmed by the family’s emotional states
Diminished Capacity to Parent (Wallerstein)
The deterioration in the relationships between children and their parents following divorce. Following divorce, mothers and fathers spend less time with their children, are less sensitive to their children, have trouble separating their own needs from the needs of the children, and are often inconsistent, but more restrictive and demanding, in terms of control and punishment
Direct Assessment of Suicide
Involves questioning a client directly about his intent to commit suicide with an emphasis on three indicators that directly suggest an elevated and more imminent risk of a suicide attempt - intent, plan, and means. Risk to life is highest when a client has both a concrete, lethal suicide plan and the means available to carry it out
Direct Practice
Social work activities, such as individual therapy, family therapy, and group therapy, in which treatment goals are reached through personal contact and direct influence with clients
Direct Practice Systems (Change Agent, Client, Target, Action)
In direct practice, four systems are critical to a successful planned change process: (A) The change agent system includes the social worker and , as relevant, his agency. (B) The client system is the person (or group) who has requested the social worker’s/agency’s services and expects to benefit from what they do. (C) The target system is the person, group, or organization that needs to change and is targeted for change so that the client will benefit from the intervention. In direct practice, the client system and the target system are often the same. (D) The action system includes all of the people, groups, and organizations that the social worker (i.e., change agent system) works with or through in order to influence the target system and help the client system to achieve the desired outcome
Disability Benefit
A form of categorical assistance. Involves the provision of cash, products, and/or services to an individual who is unable to perform certain activities due to a mental or physical condition. For example, DI an SSI
Disability Insurance (DI) (aka Social Security Disability Insurance, SSDI)
Social security program that provides for the economic needs of individuals who can no longer earn an income because of chronic disability or incapacity. The disability must be expected to last for at least a year or to result in death. Others who may qualify for DI include individuals with HIV infection and disabled children. Pays benefits to individuals and certain members of their family if they are insured (individuals are insured if they have worked long enough and paid social security taxes)
Disciplinary Strategies
“power-assertive” discipline (punishment) includes physical punishment, threat of punishment, and physical efforts to control a child’s behavior. It tends to increase children’s aggressive tendencies. “love withdrawal” involves withdrawing love when a child’s behavior is considered inappropriate. Children of parents who apply this strategy tend to be excessively anxious and to have difficulty expressing their emotions. “induction” involves using explanation and rationality to influence a child’s behaviors and provides him with opportunities to learn how to exercise self-control and develop internal moral standards. Compared to children who are punished, these children tend to be more thoughtful and generous toward others
Discrimination vs Prejudice
Discrimination refers to behaviors such as unequal treatment, while prejudice refers to attitudes, which may or may not include behavioral manifestations
Disengagement vs Enmeshment
With disengagement, boundaries are too rigid, not allowing adequate communication between subsystems; and with enmeshment, boundaries are overly diffuse, allowing too much communication with other subsystems. In contrast, healthy boundaries are optimally permeable: They protect the integrity of a subsystem while also allowing interaction between subsystems and can adapt to the changing needs of the family system
Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder
Disinhibited social engagement disorder is characterized by a pattern of behavior that involves inappropriate interactions with unfamiliar adults as evidenced by at least two symptoms (e.g., reduced or absence of reticence in approaching or interacting with unfamiliar adults, overly familiar behavior with unfamiliar adults). The child must have a developmental age of at least 9 months and have experienced extreme insufficient care that is believed to be the cause of the disturbed behavior
Displacement
A defense mechanism. Involves the transfer of an instinctual drive from its original target to a less threatening target so that the drive can be more safely expressed
Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder
Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder involves: (A) severe recurrent temper outbursts that are displayed verbally and/or behaviorally and occur, on average, three or more times per week; and (B) a mood that is persistently irritable or angry between the outbursts. The temper outbursts and mood symptoms have been present for 12 or more months and occur in at least two of three settings (i.e., at home, at school, with peers). The diagnosis cannot be assigned for the first time before age 6 or after age 18, and the symptoms must have an onset before age 10. If criteria for both disruptive mood dysregulation disorder and oppositional defiant disorder are met, only the diagnosis of disruptive mood dysregulation disorder should be given. And, while bipolar I and bipolar II disorder are episodic conditions (include discrete periods of mood disturbance that can be differentiated from how the child usually is), disruptive mod dysregulation disorder is not an episodic condition
Dissociative Amnesia
A diagnosis of dissociative amnesia requires an inability to recall important personal information that cannot be attributed to ordinary forgetfulness and causes clinically significant distress or impaired functioning. It is often related to exposure to one or more traumatic events. The most common forms of amnesia are localized and selective
Doorknob Communication
Any client disclosure of important or difficult information just as a session is about to end. Some experts believe this behavior reflects an unconscious effort by the client to prolong an interview or set up the therapist for an accusation of indifference. Schulman believes that it reflects either information important to the client that the client has been uncomfortable discussions earlier in the session of important information that the client did raise earlier in the session but that the social worker overlooked
Double-bind Communication
A set of contradictory or logically inconsistent communication from the same person along with an injunction that the receiver of the communications must not comment on their inconsistency. For example, a mother says “ I love you” to her child while pushing the child off her lap.
Down Syndrome
Autosomal disorder usually caused by the presence of an extra chromosome 21. The cause of 10 to 30 percent of all cases of mild to moderate intellectual disability. Associated with physical abnormalities including slanted, almond-shaped eyes, heart lesions, cataracts, and respiratory defects
Dual Diagnosis
Term traditionally used when a client has both a major psychiatric disorder, such as a psychotic or bipolar disorder, and a substance use disorder
Dual Perspective
Proposes that the social environment includes two sets of influences: The nurturing environment is composed of individuals with whom a person interacts frequently and sometimes in an intimate way, and the sustaining environment includes individuals a person encounters in the wider community and broader society. Ideally, a person is accepted, respected, and supported in both environments
Dual Perspective Worksheet
Assessment tool used to depict the location of supports and barriers or problems that affect a client’s interactions with his social environment. Allows you and the client to identify areas of strength that might be resources for change and areas that need to be changed. Also helps you determine whether your intervention should target elements of the client’s nurturing environment, sustaining environment, or both
Dual Relationships (and Multiple Relationships)
The act of assuming two (“dual”) or more (“multiple”) roles at the same time or sequentially with a client or former client. Examples include: (A) providing therapy to an employee, friend, or relative, (B) going into business with a client, and (C) becoming friends with a former client. When a dual or multiple relationship exists, there is a risk that the client (or former client) will be exploited, primarily because of the power differential that is a basic part of the social worker-client relationship.
Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care
A type of advance directive used to legally designate another person to have the authority to make one’s health-care decisions if one becomes too ill or impaired (physically or cognitively) to make one’s own decisions or communicate one’s medical preferences
Duty to Warn (Duty to Protect)
Technically refers to the duty to notify the police and to attempt to warn the victim when a client reveals a serious intention to harm a reasonably identifiable individual. The “duty to warn”, which is sometimes called the “duty to protect,” was first laid out by the Tarasoff decision in California in the 1970’s. A subsequent rehearing of Tarasoff established a more flexible “duty of care,” which may or may not involve warning the intended victim: That is, to fulfill his “duty to warn,” an intended victim, a therapist may warn this person, notify the police, or take other reasonable steps
Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
A federal income tax credit for low-income workers. The credit reduces the amount of tax they owe (if any) and is intended to offset some to the increases in living expenses and social security taxes. Eligible persons who owe no taxes, or whose tax liability is smaller than their tax credit, receive all or part of the EITC as a direct payment. Some workers are prepaid their credits through their employers as “negative withholding” from paychecks. EITC is administered by the Internal Revenue Service as part of its responsibility for collection of federal income taxes
Eclecticism
A continuing trend in psychotherapy involving increasing integration of therapeutic techniques drawn from several schools of psychotherapy
Ecological Systems Perspective
Framework combining systems theory and ecological concepts that advocates a transactional view of the person-environment relationship. The transactional view suggests that a person and his environment are engaged in constant circular exchanges in which each is reciprocally shaping and influencing the other over time. Transactions between a person’s coping patterns and the qualities of his environment constitute a person-situation duality. In social work, the objective is to help people find ways of meeting their needs (of achieving an adaptive person-environment fit) by connecting them to needed resources and by improving their capacity to use resources and cope with negative environmental influences
Ecosystem
Concept pertaining to the physical and biological environment and the interaction of all components. Ecosystems theory is used to describe and analyze people and other living systems and their transactions
Educational Supervision
Supervision function concerned with providing the training that enables workers to achieve their objectives and the skills that prepare them to perform their jobs effectively and to function more autonomously
Education for all Handicapped Children Act (P.L. 94-142)
Passed in 1975 and mandates that public school education must accommodate the needs of all children. The law guarantees an appropriate free public education to all children ages 3 to 21 who need special education services, including those with physical disabilities, learning disorders, and other disabilities. An individualized educational program (IEP) must be developed for each student with a qualifying disability. The IEP must be written by a team of school personnel (which may include a school social worker) in collaboration with the student’s parents and must provide the least restrictive environment for each student - this environment must be as similar as possible to the regular classroom setting taking into account the nature of the student’s disability. Additionally, while reliable, valid, and nondiscriminatory psychological tests can be used, assignment to special education classes cannot be made on the basis of IQ test only. Over time, P.L. 94-142 has been amended and, in 1990, it was renamed the individuals with disabilities Education Act, or IDEA. (O.L. 101-476)
Effects of Divorce on Children
The effects of divorce are moderated by several factors including the child’s age and gender and the custody arrangements. Preschool children exhibit the most problems immediately after the divorce, but long-term consequences may be worse for children who were in elementary school at the time of the divorce. Boys exhibit more problems than girls initially, but there may be a “sleeper effect” for girls who may develop symptoms in adolescence. Overall, children do best when they reside with the same-sex parent. Negative consequences are reduced when the conflict between parents is minimized
Ego
As defined by Freud, the structure of the psyche that attempts to deal with reality in a practical, rational way (secondary process thinking) and that mediates the conflicting demands of the id, the superego, and reality: the “executive function” of the personality. Operates on the basis of the reality principle
Ego Dystonic (AKA ego alien)
Descriptive of impulses, behaviors, wishes, etc., that are unacceptable to the ego, or to the person’s ideal conception of self
Ego Functions (Ego Tasks)
Include self-regulation and self-control; judgement; reality testing capacity; thought processes (cognitive functioning); capacity for interpersonal relationships (object relations); integrative functioning (synthesis); and defensive functioning (ego defense mechanisms). When healthy ego functions are characteristic of a person’s long-term and current functioning (i.e., they don’t disappear under conditions of stress), they are associated with effective functioning and a subjective sense of personal well-being. Generally, a social worker evaluates a client’s ego functioning as it relates to the problem areas he/she has identified
Ego Syntonic
Descriptive of values, feelings, behaviors, ideas, etc., that are consistent with a person’s ego or sense of self; they feel real and acceptable to the consciousness
Elder Abuse
Physical battering, neglect, psychological or emotional harm, and/or exploitation (e.g., financial) of elderly individuals. Most often inflicted by those responsible for their care (e.g., their adult children, legal custodians, etc.). Two common causes of elder abuse are caregiver stress (a caregiver becomes overwhelmed by the demands of caring for a dependent older person and is then physically abusive in a moment of anger or begins to neglect the older person’s needs) and caregiver impairment (the caregiver’s mental illness or substance abuse
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)
EMDR was originally developed as an intervention for PTSD. It combines rapid lateral eye movements with exposure and other techniques drawn from cognitive, behavioral, and psychodynamic approaches. Some research suggests that its effectiveness does not depend on rapid eye movements but, instead, on exposure to the feared event
Emotional Maltreatment (Children)
(A.K.A. emotional abuse or neglect, psychological maltreatment) The failure to provide for the appropriate emotional development of a child resulting in psychological damage to the child. May consist of acts of commission or acts of omission. May include verbal or emotional assault; isolation or close confinement; attempted physical assault; exploiting or corrupting the child; withholding necessities from the child as a form of punishment; and withholding emotional responsiveness from the child. Generally the most difficult form of child abuse to identify
Emotion-Focused Coping vs. Problem-Focused Coping
Emotion-focused coping is used to reduce one’s emotional response to stress, while problem-focused coping is used to deal directly with the source of stress. Usually a person must deal with his/her emotional reactions before moving on to problem-solving, but emotion-focused and task-focused coping often occur simultaneously
Empathic Communication (Empathic Responding)
A helpful skill that involves first, empathic recognition of the client’s feelings, and then, demonstrating through accurate reflection of those feelings one’s understanding of the client’s inner experiencing. See also additive empathic responding and reciprocal empathic responding
Empathy
The ability to perceive, understand, and experience the emotional state of another person (Barker, 1987). Empathic responding is used throughout the helping process to develop rapport, maintain a working relationship, and enable social workers to move toward confronting a client’s problematic issues. Fundamental to empathic responding is reflecting an understanding and acceptance of not only the client’s overtly expressed feelings but also his/her underlying emotions. Can be conveyed through verbal and nonverbal communication
Empirically Based Practice
Social work intervention that uses research for practice and problem-solving. The social worker collects data to monitor interventions, makes note of problems, methods, and outcomes in terms that can be measured, and assesses the effectiveness of the interventions used. Methods for empirically assessing interventions are integrated into the social worker’s practice and the results are used to guide his/her interventions. Whereas traditional social work applies existing theory to practice, empirically-based social work generates theories through conclusions that are based on observed empirical relationships
Empirically Supported Treatments (ESTs)
Specific psychological treatments that have been shown to be efficacious in controlled clinical trials. The research indicates that ESTs, in general, have the following characteristics: (A) Most ESTs include homework as a component; (B) ESTs generally focus on skill building, not insight or catharsis; (C) ESTs are problem-focused; (D) ESTs incorporate continuous assessment of client progress; and (E) ESTs involve brief treatment contact, requiring 20 or fewer sessions
Empowerment
The process of helping individuals, families, groups, and communities increase their personal, interpersonal, socioeconomic, and political strength and develop influence toward changes in their circumstances
Empowerment Approach
A way of working with clients to help them acquire the personal, interpersonal, and political power they need to take control of their lives and bring about changes in policies, organizations, and public attitudes that are impacting their lives and the lives of their families in negative ways. Before choosing an empowerment strategy, the social worker must make sure that the client has, or is able to learn, the competencies needed to bring about changes in his/her environment and that the client’s difficulties are caused primarily by social or political barriers and a lack of resources
Empty Chair Technique (AKA double-chair technique)
A technique used to help clients understand their feelings about themselves or a significant other. Is useful for clarifying issues involved in an interpersonal conflict so that clients can view the conflict in a different light and gain insight into the reasons underlying their own behavior. Using the technique involves placing an empty chair opposite the client, asking the client to explain to the chair (which represents the other person or the situation) his/her perceptions and/or feelings, and then asking the client to sit on the chair (to assume the role of the other person of the situation) and respond to what was just said. The social worker uses interviewing skills to explore the dialogue as it develops
Enactment
Technique used to create a situation in which you can observe clients’ interactions directly. Generally entails asking clients to recreate a past conflict in your presence but can also involve having clients role-play contrived situations to find out how they interact when engaged in common activities such as planning, parenting, and decision-making
Encouragers (Prompts or Furthering Responses)
Single words, short phrases, or nonverbal gestures that encourage a client to continue talking. They convey an interest in and attention to what the client is saying. Examples include verbal encouragers (“minimal prompts:) such as “I see” or “Please go on”; nonverbal encouragers, which include hand gestures, facial expressions, and nodding one’s head; and accent responses, which entail repeating in a questioning or emphatic way a phrase or word the client has used.
Enuresis
Enuresis involves repeated voiding of urine into the bed or clothes at least twice a week for three or more consecutive months. Urination is usually involuntary but can be intentional and is not due to substance use or a medical condition. Enuresis is diagnosed only when the individual is at least 5 years old or the equivalent developmental level. The bell-and-pad (urine alarm) is the most common treatment
Equifinality
A term associated with family systems therapy that states that no matter where one enters the system, the patterning will be the same. According to this concept, different causes can produce the same results; therefore, a therapist studies patterns of behavior and interaction rather than individual topics
Equilibration
According to Piaget, the tendency toward biological and psychological balance. Equilibration underlies cognitive development
Equipotentiality
The concept in general systems theory that one cause may produce different results
Equity Theory
A theory of motivation that predicts that motivation (e.g., motivation to remain in a relationship) is affected by the comparison of input/outcome ratios
Ethnocentrism
Belief that one’s own culture, ethnic or racial group, or nation is superior to others
Exceptional Eligibility
Social service delivery policy in which benefits and services are developed for individuals in a special group (such as war veterans) due to sympathy for the group or political pressure. Eligibility is not necessarily based on need or circumstances
Existential Therapy
The existential therapies are derived from existential philosophy and share an emphasis on the human conditions of depersonalization, loneliness, and isolation and the assumption that people are not static but, instead, are in a constant state of “becoming”
Expert Power
A source of power for supervisors and other leaders that exists when the leader has special knowledge and skills that his subordinates need. See also bases of social power
Expert Witness
An individual who testifies before a lawmaking body or in a court of law because of his exceptional knowledge in a specific area. Information given by the witness is used to enlighten the court in assessing evidence
Ex-post Facto Research
“After the fact” research in which the experimental treatment (independent variable) has been applied prior to the onset of the study. Because ex-post facto studies do not allow the experimenter to control the assignment of subjects to treatment groups, they are considered a type of quasi-experimental research
Extended Family Systems Therapy (Bowen)
School of family therapy that extends general systems theory beyond the nuclear family. The emphasis is on intellectual and emotional differentiation of individual family members; and key terms include differentiation of self, undifferentiated family ego mass, emotional triangles, and multigenerational transmission process. Therapy often begins with the construction of a venogram. The therapist often sees two members of the family (spouses) and forms a therapeutic triangle in which the therapist comes into emotional contact with the family members but avoids becoming emotionally triangled.
External Validity
The degree to which a study’s results can be generalized to other people, settings, conditions, etc.
Extinction
See classical extinction and operant extinction and extinction bursts
Facilitative Conditions (Rogers)
For person-centered therapist, the three core conditions - empathy, genuineness (congruence), and unconditional positive regard - that must be provided to a client in therapy so that he can be steered back onto the path toward growth and self-actualization
Fact-Gathering Interview
Interview conducted when a client first contacts an agency; involves gathering predetermined and specific information from the client
Factional Analogy
A way of viewing social systems. Assumes that conflict is fundamental and instability and change are ongoing: A social system is seen as made up of competing subunits that are disposed to conflict; an conflict is seen as so basic that change is likely to be disorderly and unstable. Rather than assuming that order can be restored, social workers using this analogy face conflict head-on
Factitious Disorder
Individuals with factitious disorder imposed on self falsify physical or psychological symptoms that are associated with their deception, present themselves to others asa being ill or impaired, and engage in the deceptive behavior even in the absence of an obvious external reward for doing so. Individuals with factitious disorder imposed on another falsify physical or psychological symptoms in another person, present that person to others as being ill or impaired, and engage in the deceptive behavior even in the absence of an external reward. For both types of factitious disorder, falsification of symptoms can involve feigning, exaggeration, simulation, or induction (e.g., by ingestion of a substance or self-injury)
Fading
Fading refers to (A) the gradual withdrawal of props when teaching a new response and (B) a procedure used to eliminate an inappropriate stimulus-response connection by gradually replacing the inappropriate stimulus with appropriate stimuli so that the response becomes associated with the latter.
Failure to Thrive
Occurs when a baby’s weight falls below the 5th percentile for his age. In “organic failure to thrive,” there is an underlying medical condition that causes the slowed rate of growth. In “nonorganic failure to thrive,” no medical cause can be found. Risk factors for nonorganic failure to thrive include maternal childhood deprivation, the infant’s temperament (i.e., he is difficult to feed), and certain family characteristics such as high levels of stress, parents who don’t understand the baby’s nutritional needs, and poverty.
Family Life-Cycle Theory
Proposes that families pass through expected stages that are demarcated by entrances and exits of family members and the shifts in role function that these changes in membership require. These stages include between families (unattached young adult), joining families through marriage (newly married couple), the family with young children, the family with adolescents, launching children and moving on, and the family in later life. Factors such as traumatic events and a rigid, dysfunctional family structure can make it difficult for a family to accomplish its developmental tasks and increase the likelihood that normal developmental change will be experienced as a crisis
Family Map
Associated with structural family therapy; a symbolic representation of the family structure created from the therapist’s observations of a family. Differs from a venogram in that it reflects the arrangement of the family members around issues of concern. Through a series of connected and interrelated frameworks, the map attempts to illustrate coalitions and boundaries and helps with planning the course of therapy. It allows the therapist to keep in mind both the individual’s relationship to the family system and the family system’s relationship to the individual
Family Myths
Beliefs shared by all family members with regard to each other and their relative positions in the family. Myths go unchallenged and maintain family homeostasis.
Family Rituals
Regular, predictable behaviors or the family that have a sense of rightness about them. The whole collection of observable behaviors that add up to rules. May be conscious or unconscious and may increase family cohesiveness or be seen as burdensome.
Family Rules
Family rules - either overt or unconscious - illustrate a family’s values and determine the behavior of the members. For example, a family rule may be “nobody challenges father.” In this case, the implied rule prevents any members of the family from disagreeing or arguing with father. Thus, the “rule” directs and controls the family’s behavior. Therapists often help a family modify rules that are no longer appropriate and causing difficulties in the family.
Feasibility Study
A concurrent evaluation of (A) the resources needed to achieve a specific goal and (B) an organization’s current and expected ability to provide these resources.
Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (Buckley Amendment)
Federal law that grants parents (and students over the age 18) the right to inspect their children’s (their own) educational records
Feedback Loop
In systems theory and cybernetics, the flow of information back into the system. Negative feedback loops minimize change and maintain the system’s status quo (equilibrium), while positive feedback loops alter or disrupt the system’s normal functioning
Feminist Therapy
Form of therapy that has its origins in the women’s movement and that is based on the premise that “the personal is political.” Focuses on empowerment and social change and acknowledges and minimizes the power differential inherent in the client-therapist relationship. Feminist therapy must be distinguished from nonsexist therapy, which focuses more on personal causes of behavior and personal change.
Fatal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)
Caused by exposure to alcohol during prenatal development and may produce a variety of physical, behavioral, and cognitive symptoms depending on the amount consumed by the pregnant woman. Symptoms of FAS are largely irreversible and include facial deformities, retarded physical growth, heart defects, intellectual disability, hyperactivity, and irritability. Risk for FAS is highest, and symptoms are most severe, when the mother drinks heavily every day or, in the early stages of pregnancy, engages in binge drinking
Field Theory
Lewin’s theory of human behavior that describes it as a product of interdependent factors in the person and his physical and social environment
First-Generation (Traditional) Antipsychotics
The first-generation antipsychotic drugs (e.g., phenothiazines) are used for the management of schizophrenia and other psychoses. They are most effective for positive symptoms (delusions, hallucinations, agitation, thought disorders). See-effects include anticholinergic effects, extrapyramidal effects (e.g., tardive dyskinesia), and neuroleptic malignant syndrome. These drugs exert their beneficial effects primarily by blocking dopamine receptors, and their effectiveness provides support for the dopamine hypothesis which attributes schizophrenia to overactivity at dopamine receptors
First Order Change
Changes in a system that are superficial and leave unaltered the fundamental organization of the system. Changes may look dramatic, but the system itself remains the same in terms of process and dynamics. In therapy, a family can be said to undergo first order change whenever it adapts but does not cease its symptomatic functioning. The family may previously have been symptomatic in “that” way but now it is symptomatic in “this” way.
Fixation
In psychoanalysis, the notion that psychosexual development can be arrested at a particular stage such that the personality becomes structured around the unresolved conflict of that stage
Fixed Interval (FI) Schedule
In operant conditioning, an intermittent reinforcement schedule in which the subject is reinforced for each predetermined interval of time in which he makes at least one response. Associated with a “scallop” on the cumulative recording of the subject’s responses
Fixed Ratio (FR) Schedule
In operant conditioning, an intermittent reinforcement schedule in which the subject is reinforced following a predetermined number of responses (e.g. after each 10th response). The cumulative record exhibits “post-reinforcement pauses,” especially as the number of responses required for reinforcement increases
Flat Affect (Emotional Blunting)
A muted or apathetic response to stimuli that would normally evoke a stronger response (e.g. the client discusses a traumatic life event in a detached, matter-of-fact way). May indicate a mental disorder (e.g. depression or schizophrenia), substance use, or a medication side-effect.
Flat-Rate Fee
A fixed, pre-established fee charged by a professional for a particular service. The fee for a given service is the same for every client, and the amount charged is related to the service itself rather than the client’s ability to pay
Flight of Ideas
A verbal presentation in which the client’s responses seem to “take off” based on a particular word or thought, unrelated to any logical progression or the original point of the communication
Flooding
A classical extinction technique that involves exposing the individual in vivo or in imagination to a high anxiety-arousing stimuli. The key is exposing a client for long enough that he comes to see that none of the consequences he fears actually take place. When done in vivo, it is also known as in vivo exposure with response prevention.
Focusing Responses
Social work interview technique used to keep the conversation from wandering or jumping from one subject to another
Food Assistance Programs
For example, the Food Stamp, WIC, and school lunch programs. Social welfare benefits for qualified individuals to ensure that their nutritional needs are met.
Food Stamp Program
Social security program designed to improve the diets of poor and low-income families by enhancing their ability to buy food. The program issues monthly allotments of coupons that are redeemable at retail food stores or provides benefits through electronic benefit transfer (EBT). The EBT system allows food stamp customers, using a plastic card similar to a bank card, to buy groceries by transferring funds directly from a food stamp benefit account to a retailer’s account. Households cannot use food stamps to buy alcoholic beverages or tobacco, lunch counter items or foods to be eaten in the store, vitamins or medicines, pet foods, or nonfood items (other than seeds and plants).
Force Field Analysis (FFA)
Technique used to identify and assess significant factors that promote or inhibit change in a community or organization. Involves analyzing social forces supporting an intended program or policy change (driving forces) and those opposing it (restraining forces): This includes rating each force’s strength (power, consistency, openness to outside influence) and identifying and rating entities who might successfully oppose a driving or restraining force and, thereby, change its strength. These assessments are used to guide intervention planning.
Formal Operational Stage
Final stage in Piaget’s model of cognitive development; begins around age 11 or 12. People at this stage are aware of their own thought processes and can think more systematically about abstract and hypothetical concepts and ideas
Formal Power
Power that stems from the position a person holds and the authority delegated to that position. Formal power is acquired automatically when a person assumes a position of leadership
Formative Evaluation (Direct Practice Evaluation)
Evaluation used to guide ongoing practice decisions. A tool for monitoring an intervention and identifying when one needs to modify a planned intervention.
Formative Evaluation (Program Evaluation)
Describes the research goal when a program is in the process of being developed: The goal is to determine what modifications are needed so that the program achieves its goal and objectives. Formative evaluation is most useful when observational methods are used. Compared to summative evaluation, formative evaluation tends to be less threatening to program personnel because its results are used to modify a program rather than to make decisions about whether or not it should continue. Results of formative evaluation are not usually generalizable to other programs
Fourth Party
Fiscal intermediary between a provider of a social or health care service, the individual receiving the service, and the organization that pays for the service. A third party provides payment for the services, and the fourth party provides administrative support
Freedom of Information Act of 1996 (P.L. 89-487)
Federal legislation establishing the right of citizens to know what information the government and other organizations have about them. This right is not absolute and specific exceptions are noted. Based on this act, clients of federally administered health and welfare agencies under some circumstances have the right to access their case records.
Freudian Psychoanalysis
The goal of psychoanalytic psychotherapy is to reduce or eliminate pathological symptoms by bringing the unconscious into conscious awareness and integrating previously repressed material into the personality. During psychoanalysis, the analysis of free associations, dreams, resistances, and transferences consists of a combination of confrontation, clarification, interpretation, and working through.
Functional Analysis
In behavioral assessments, and assessment of the environmental variables (i.e., antecedents and consequences) that control a behavior.
Functional Budgeting and Program Budgeting
Relatively sophisticated budgeting techniques that are based on program planning and budgeting systems (PPBS). These approaches produce cost and expenditure data in relation to programs rather than in relation to the entire agency; and produce data such as total program costs, cost per unit of service, cost per output (client completion of program or service), and cost per outcome (the cost of producing measurable change in a client’s quality of life).
Functional Community
A community defined in terms of a purpose, function, or problem that needs to be addressed. Social workers, for example, belong to the welfare or human services functional community.
Functional Power
Power that depends on the person holding the leadership position. Functional power must be earned
Fusion
Associated with Bowen; the blurring of intellectual and emotional boundaries between the self and others arising out of an overly strong emotional attachment. Fusion is the opposite of differentiation of self.
Gain-Loss Theory
A theory of attraction proposing that liking is related to the pattern rather than the amount of rewards. The theory suggests that people tend to be most attracted to individuals who show increased liking for them and to be least attracted to individuals who show decreased liking for them.
Gantt Chart
Scheduling technique that graphically represents all of an organization’s or program’s activities, the people responsible for performing the activities, and a time-line for completing each activity. Horizontal bars on a calendar show the time allotted to each activity. The chart does not indicate the relationship among activities and, therefore, is less detailed than a PERT chart.
Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft
“Gemeinschaft” refers to community. It focuses on intimacy and relationship and emphasizes the mutual, common, and intimate bonds that bring people together in local units. The group is valued whether or not its members are creating a product or achieving a goal. Examples include the domestic unit, neighborhood, and groups of friends. “Gesellschaft” refers to society or association (e.g., the city or state). It represents formalized, task-oriented relationships in which people organize to achieve a purpose, goal. or task. People may benefit personally from these relationships, but their purpose is to create a product, achieve a goal, or complete a task.
Gender Dysphoria (in Adolescents and Adults)
The essential feature of gender dysphoria in adolescents or adults is a marked incongruence between assigned gender and experienced or expressed gender that is manifested by at least two symptoms (e.g., marked incongruence between one’s primary and/or secondary sex characteristics and one’s experienced or expressed gender, strong desire for the primary and/or secondary sex characteristics of the opposite gender, strong desire to be of the opposite gender, strong conviction that one has the feelings and reactions that are characteristic of the opposite gender). Symptoms must have a duration of at least six months and cause clinically significant distress or impaired functioning.
Gender Dysphoria (in Children)
For gender dysphoria in children, the diagnostic criteria are a marked incongruence between assigned gender at birth and experienced or expressed gender as evidenced by a strong desire to be the opposite sex and at least five symptoms (e.g., strong preference for wearing clothes of the other gender, strong preference for cross-gender roles during play, strong preference for toys and activities typically used or engaged in by the other gender, strong preference for playmates of the opposite gender, strong desire for primary and/or secondary sex characteristics of one’s experienced gender). Symptoms must have a duration of at least six months and cause clinically significant distress or impaired functioning.
Gender Role Development
According to Kohlberg’s cognitive-developmental theory, gender-role development involves a sequence of stages that parallels cognitive development: By age 2 or 3, children acquire a gender identity (i.e., they recognize that they are either male or female). Soon thereafter, children realize that gender identity is stable over time (gender stability). By age 6 or 7, children understand that gender is constant over situations and know that people cannot change gender by superficially altering their external appearance or behavior (gender constancy).
Gender Adaptation Syndrome
According to Selye, the human response to stress is mediated by adrenal-pituitary secretions (e.g. cortisol) and involves three stages: alarm reaction, resistance, and exhaustion. The model predicts that prolonged stress can result in illness or death.
General Assistance (GA) (A.k.a. General relief, general public assistance)
Aid provided by state and local governments to needy individuals or families who do not qualify for major assistance programs and to individuals whose benefits from other assistance programs are insufficient to meet basic needs. General assistance is often the only resource for individuals who cannot qualify for unemployment insurance or whose benefits are inadequate or exhausted. Help may either be in cash or in-kind, including such assistance as groceries and rent. The eligibility requirements and payment levels for general assistance vary from state to state and often within a state. Payments are usually at lower levels and of shorter duration than those provided by federally financed programs. General assistance is administered and financed by state and local governments user their own guidelines.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
GAD involves excessive anxiety and worry about multiple events or activities, which are relatively constant for at least six months, the person finds difficult to control, and cause clinically significant distress or impaired functioning. Anxiety and worry must include at least three characteristic symptoms (or at least one symptom for children) - restlessness or feeling keyed up or on edge; being easily fatigued; difficulty concentrating; irritability; muscle tension; sleep disturbance. Treatment usually involves cognitive-behavioral therapy or a combination of cognitive-behavioral therapy and pharmacotherapy.
General Systems Theory
The theory that the “whole” can be understood only in terms of the organization and interactions of its components; the theoretical framework underlying family therapy. Systems can be either “open” or “closed”: Open systems receive input from and discharge output to the environment; closed systems have no exchange with the environment. Families are primarily open systems.
Genogram
An assessment tool used to obtain and record information about a client’s family patterns and history. Provides a schematic diagram of the family system describing at least three generations of family relationships, geographical locations, and significant life events.
Genotype vs. Phenotype
“Genotype” refers to a person’s genetic make-up; “phenotype” refers to observable characteristics, which are due to a combination of genetic and environmental factors.
Gestalt Therapy
A humanistic therapeutic technique based on the concepts of Gestalt psychology (“the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”). Gestalt therapy adopts a here-and-now approach, views “awareness” as the primary goal of treatment, and defines neurosis as a “growth disorder” reflecting certain “boundary disturbances” (e.g. introjection) and involving an abandonment of the self for the self image.
Goals and Objectives (Direct Practice)
A goal is an outcome sought by social worker and client and is generally phrased as a broad statement that describes the desired outcome. Objectives (behavioral objectives) are discrete steps that will be taken to achieve the desired outcome. They define a series of behavioral changes that must take place in order to reach a goal. Objectives are more specific than goals and are always written in a manner that facilitates measurement and evaluation.
Goodness-of-Fit Model (Thomas and Chess)
Proposes that behavioral and adjustment outcomes are best for children when parents’ caregiving behaviors match the child’s temperament.
Grant
A transfer of money or other assets from a government, organization, or person to another organization or person so that the latter can achieve a particular function or purpose (typically, to educate or otherwise improve the well-being of people and cultural institutions).
Grant Applications
Used to secure funding from a governmental agency or private foundation, usually so that an agency can test or demonstrate program innovations (i.e. initiate a project) or conduct research on an aspect of the agency’s program.
Grass-Roots Organizing
Community social work method directed toward helping community members develop shared goals, strengthen their relationships, and organize in a way that will help them achieve their goals. The emphasis is on organizing all people who will be affected by a change rather than just the community’s leaders. It differs from a more bureaucratic means to social change, or one involving decisions that come from power centers in the community.
Groups Cohesion
The feeling of solidarity among group members. Cohesiveness is high in smaller groups; when initiation or entry into the group is difficult; when members are relatively homogeneous; and when there is an external threat.
Group Polarization and Risky Shift Phenomenon
The tendency of groups to make more extreme decisions (either more conservative or more risky) than individual members would have made alone. The tendency to make decisions in the risky direction only is referred to as the “risky shift phenomenon”.
Groupthink
Mode of group thinking in which group members’ desires for unanimity and cohesiveness override their ability to realistically appraise or determine alternative courses of action. Can be alleviated by encouraging dissent, having someone play devil’s advocate, and refraining from reaching a decision or solution too quickly.
Group Treatment Approach (Remedial Mode)
Type of small group work in which the group is seen as a therapeutic environment that has the potential to influence members to change their behavior. Treatment groups help members cope with serious problems or correct dysfunctional behavior, and the social worker assumes the role of a therapist, expert, and group leader. The primary focus is on the members as individuals and on the problems they are having outside the group, but a member’s behavior during group meetings may be used as a way of assessing and illustrating his attitudes and behavioral patterns.
Growth/Development and Training Groups
Social work groups used to promote members’ normal growth and development and teach ordinary skills for living. Groups used to teach and train are goal oriented, and the social worker assumes the roles of leader, teacher, and planner and arranger of group activities and relies heavily on programming. Some of these groups emphasize member interaction, building trust, and developing a sense of belonging to the group and others do not. Examples of topics addressed in these groups include parent training, learning communications skills, learning job skills, learning about a medical condition, etc.
Guardian (Legal Guardian)
An individual who is legally responsible for the management and care of another individual. Usually, this other individual is a child or is an adult who has been determined by a court to be incapable of acting on his own behalf.
Guardian Ad Litem
A person (usually an attorney) appointed by the court to represent the child(ren) in a legal dispute concerning their custody or welfare. This person is empowered to investigate the background, living conditions, family relationships, and any other relevant matter in order to make a recommendation to the court as to what would be in the best interests of the child(ren) in terms of placement, visitation, and other matters ruled on by the court. The guardian usually makes a report to the court recommending on outcome. The judge, however, makes the final determination on the disposition of the child(ren).
HAART (Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy)
Term used to describe a medication regimen taken by patients with HIV/AIDS that includes combination of anti-HIV drugs from at least two of the main classes. This combination helps combat new resistant strains of the virus that emerge as HIV makes copies of itself and also decreases the rate of opportunistic infections.
Hallucinations
Sensory perceptions occurring without external stimulation of the associated sensory organ.
Hawthorne Effect
Refers to a change in performance resulting from participation in a research study (the novelty of the situation, increased attention, etc.)
Hazardous Event (Crisis)
An initial shock that disrupts a person’s equilibrium and initiates a series of reactions that may culminate in a crisis. The hazardous event may be anticipated (e.g. marriage, retirement) or unanticipated (e.g. the unexpected death of a family member).
Helping Social Networks
Networks that allow individuals in a community to give and receive reciprocal help for specific problems and that exist whether a person uses them or not. They differ from close-knit networks because their concerns are specialized (i.e. they are problem-anchored), their membership is heterogeneous, and their members may lack other common values.
Hemispheric Specialization
Although the left and right hemispheres of the brain are both involved to some degree in most functions, they tend to specialize. The left (dominant) hemisphere dominates in verbal activities (e.g. spontaneous speaking and writing, memory for words and numbers); analytical, logical thought; and positive emotional states. The right (non-dominant) hemisphere dominates in visual-spatial activities such as facial recognition, spatial interpretation, and memory for shapes and in negative emotions.
Heteronomous vs. Autonomous Morality
Piaget distinguished between two stages of moral development. The stage of “heteronomous morality” (morality of constraint) extends from about age 7 through age 10. During this stage, children believe that rules are set by authority figures and are unalterable. When judging whether an act is “right” or “wrong,” they consider whether a rule has been violated and what the consequences of the act are. Beginning at about age 11, children enter the stage of “autonomous morality” (morality of cooperation). Children in this stage view rules as being arbitrary and alterable when the people who are governed by them agree to change them. When judging an act, they focus more on the intention of the actor than on the act’s consequences.
High-Context vs Low Context Communication
Refers to different communication styles exhibited by different cultural groups. Members of many culturally diverse groups in America exhibit high-context communication, which relies on shared cultural understanding and nonverbal cues. In contrast, Anglos are more likely to exhibit low-context communication, which relies primarily on the verbal message.
Higher-Order Conditioning
In classical conditioning, a situation in which a previously established conditioned stimulus (CS) is used as an unconditioned stimulus (US) to establish a conditioned response with a new conditioned (neutral) stimulus.
