Clinical social work is a derivative profession, drawing its knowledge and practice base from several theoretical schools. The four primary theoretical schools contributing to social-work philosophy are psychodynamic, humanist, cognitive–behavioral, and postmodern. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), although considered one of the third-wave behavioral approaches, draws from all four theoretical schools of clinical intervention. This entry gives an overview of ACT development, its essential features, empirical base, tenets and techniques, and relevance to the social-work profession.
Article
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Claudia J. Dewane
Article
Adult Protective Services
Patricia Brownell and Joanne Marlatt Otto
Adult Protective Services (APS) are empowered by states and local communities to respond to reports and cases of vulnerable adult abuse, neglect, and self-neglect. While incorporating legal, medical, and mental health services, APS programs are part of the social services delivery system and incorporate principles and practices of the social work profession.
Article
Aging: Services
Nancy Morrow-Howell and Leslie Hasche
Despite high levels of functioning among older adults, chronic health conditions lead to impairment and the need for help. Family members provide most of the assistance; yet formal services such as in-home personal and homemaker services, congregate and home-delivered meals, adult day services, employment and educational services, transportation, nursing homes, assisted and supportive living facilities, legal and financial services, and case management are available. Even with the growing number and type of services, unequal access and uneven quality persist. In these settings, social workers develop and administer programs, provide clinical care, offer case management and discharge planning, and contribute to policy development.
Article
Alcohol and Drug Problems: Practice Interventions
Maryann Amodeo and Luz Marilis López
This entry focuses on practice interventions for working with families and individuals including behavioral marital therapy, transitional family therapy, and the developmental model of recovery, as well as motivational interviewing, cognitive-behavioral therapy, relapse prevention training, and harm reduction therapy. A commonality in these intervention frameworks is their view of the therapeutic work in stages—from active drinking and drug use, to deciding on change, to movement toward change and recovery. We also identify skills that equip social work practitioners to make a special contribution to alcohol and other drug (AOD) interventions and highlight factors to consider in choosing interventions.
There are a range of practice interventions for clients with AOD problems based on well-controlled research.
Article
Assessment
Catheleen Jordan and Cynthia Franklin
Assessment is an ongoing process of data collection aimed at identifying client strengths and problems. Early assessment models were based on psychoanalytic theory; however, current assessment is based on brief, evidence-based practice models. Both quantitative and qualitative methods may be used to create an integrative skills approach that links assessment to intervention. Specifically, assessment guides treatment planning, as well as informs intervention selection and monitoring.
Article
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Sandy Magaña and Lauren Bishop
Autism spectrum disorder is a heritable, developmental disability that is characterized by challenges with social communication and the presence of restrictive and/or repetitive patterns of behavior. Autism spectrum disorder affects development and quality of life from very early development through old age. Social workers play a number of different roles in supporting and advocating for individuals on the autism spectrum and their families. It is important that social workers understand the etiology, diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorder, how it manifests throughout the lifespan, and challenges faced by families affected by ASD.
Article
Bioethics
Larry W. Foster
Bioethics and biomedical ethics are defined. Common bioethical concepts, exemplary moral values, fundamental ethical principles, general ethical theories, and approaches to moral reasoning are reviewed. The scope of topics and issues, the nature of practice situations in bioethics, and social work roles on organizational bodies that monitor and respond to bioethical issues are summarized, as are trends in bioethics. Practice contexts, from beginning to end of life, are highlighted with biopsychosocial facts, ethical questions and issues, and implications for social work—a profession uniquely positioned in giving bioethics a social context.
Article
Borderline Personality Disorder
Gloria Hegge
The historical development of the borderline concept is traced up through the development of the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Treatments for BPD during the 1970s and 1980s are discussed, including the object relations theories of Margaret Mahler and James Masterson, as well as trauma theory described by Judith Herman. Three evidence-based treatments (EBTs) that have emerged from the 1990s to the present time are described, as well as findings from brain imaging techniques and how new EBTs and neuroimaging have changed the view of this disorder.
Article
Care Transitions, Patient Health, and System Performance in the United States
June Simmons, Sandy Atkins, Janice Lynch Schuster, and Melissa Jones
Transitions in care occur when a patient moves from an institutional setting, such as a hospital or nursing home, to home or community, often with the hope or expectation of improving health status. At the very least, patients, clinicians, and caregivers aim to achieve stability and avoid complications that would precipitate a return to the emergency department (ED) or hospital. For some groups of vulnerable people, especially the very old and frail, such transitions often require specific, targeted coaching and supports that enable them to make the change successfully. Too often, as research indicates, these transitions are poorly executed and trigger a cycle of hospital readmissions and worsening health, even death. In recognizing these perils, organizations have begun to see that by improving the care transition process, they can improve health outcomes and reduce costs while ensuring safety, consistency, and continuity. While some of this improvement relies on medical care, coaching, social services and supports are often also essential. Lack of timely medical follow-up, transportation, inadequate nutrition, medication issues, low health literacy, and poverty present barriers to optimal health outcomes. By addressing social and environmental determinants of health and chronic disease self-management, social workers who make home visits or other proven timely interventions to assess and coach patients and their caregivers are demonstrating real results. This article describes care transitions interventions, research into barriers and opportunities, and specific programs aimed at improvement.
Article
Chronic Illness
Patricia A. Fennell and Sara Rieder Bennett
There is a paradigm shift occurring in medicine, from models focused on treating acute illnesses to those concerned with managing chronic conditions. This shift coincides with the higher prevalence of chronic illnesses resulting from factors such as lower mortality from formerly fatal illnesses and an aging population. The chronically ill do not fare well in an acute care model, and as a result, it has become imperative to develop new models effective for these chronic conditions. These new care models will require comprehensive, coordinated case management, an activity in which social workers can play a significant role.
Article
Client Violence
Christina E. Newhill
Client violence and workplace safety are relevant issues for all social workers across practice settings. This entry addresses why and how social workers may be targets for a client's violent behavior, and what we know about who is at risk of encountering violence. Understanding violence from a biopsychosocial perspective, identifying risk markers associated with violent behavior, and an introduction to guidelines for conducting a risk assessment will be discussed. The entry concludes by identifying and describing some general strategies for the prevention of client violence.
Article
Clinical Social Work
Darlene Grant
The soldiers from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as large numbers of nonwounded soldiers, experience post-traumatic stress disorder. Further, the families, groups, and communities from which all U.S. service men and women come, during and after these and other wars, have experienced their own war-related trauma. Stories on the nightly news reveal soldier reaction to combat stress, including intrusive memories, racing thoughts, nightmares, troubled sleep, irritability, anxiety, fear, isolation, depression anger, poor concentration, hyper- or hypovigilance, exaggerated responses, and increased alcohol and other drug abuse. The stories of family, friends, and community are filled with war stress symptoms of their own. Charged with keeping their families together, bills paid, jobs afloat, children safe and growing, families may experience a drop in income, loneliness and isolation, long deployments, multiple last minute combat redeployment and duty extensions, anger, frustration, depression, increased alcohol and other drug abuse, loss of trust, fear, increase in domestic violence, and school disruption. Not all of the change for family is negative as some spouses and children who are left behind find they have new skills and new independence with which to negotiate their world. The returning soldier's response to this newfound independence and skill may require the services of the clinical social worker.
Article
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Addie Weaver, Joseph Himle, Gail Steketee, and Jordana Muroff
This entry offers an overview of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Cognitive behavioral therapy is introduced and its development as a psychosocial therapeutic approach is described. This entry outlines the central techniques and intervention strategies utilized in CBT and presents common disorder-specific applications of the treatment. The empirical evidence supporting CBT is summarized and reviewed. Finally, the impact of CBT on clinical social work practice and education is discussed, with attention to the treatment’s alignment with the profession’s values and mission.
Article
Cognitive Therapy
Joseph Walsh
Cognitive therapy is a perspective on social work intervention with individuals, families, and groups that focuses on conscious thought processes as the primary determinants of most emotions and behaviors. It has great appeal to social work practitioners because of its utility in working with many types of clients and problem situations, and its evidence-based support in the literature. Cognitive therapies include sets of strategies focused on education, a restructuring of thought processes, improved coping skills, and increased problem-solving skills for clients.
Article
Community Violence
Muhammad M. Haj-Yahia, Neil B. Guterman, and Maria João Lobo Antunes
Community violence is a widespread concern that is receiving increasing attention by social workers. We consider here the problem of community violence and the present understanding of its rates, risk factors, protective factors, consequences, and some orientations for prevention and intervention. Growing evidence identifies a multifaceted and multisystemic ecological perspective of risk and protective factors linked with community violence exposure and its effects. Current research points to potentially helpful ameliorative and preventive strategies for social workers to consider at the micro and macro levels; however, the main focus of this article is on the macro-level factors and processes.
Article
Counseling Older Adult Victims of Ageism in the Workplace
Margo A. Jackson
Despite the significant life and work experiences that a growing number of older adults have to contribute to the workforce, pervasive ageism operates in overt and covert ways to discriminate against older workers in hiring and workplace practices. This article provides a current overview of definitions, prevalence, types, and effects of ageism in the U.S. workplace. For social workers counseling older adult victims of workplace ageism, this article discusses theories, foundational knowledge, and ongoing self-awareness and training needed for bias awareness. Counseling strategies and resources are highlighted, including coping and resilience strategies to counteract ageist stereotypes and discrimination, facilitate job-seeking support, and advocate for older workers by promoting awareness and serving as a resource for employers to reduce workplace ageism.
Article
Crisis Interventions
Albert R. Roberts
Crisis intervention has been used to help millions of at-risk and vulnerable social work clients throughout the world. Acute crisis-inducing situations range from the sudden loss of a loved one to a Stage IV cancer diagnosis to a school shooting spree. This entry includes definitions and descriptions of crisis theory and crisis intervention protocols. It traces the historical background on the development of crisis intervention programs. The next two sections discuss social work roles and techniques with persons in crisis, and evidence-based crisis intervention protocols based on the latest meta-analysis.
Article
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Janet B. W. Williams and Michael First
The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of the American Psychiatric Association is referred to as DSM-5
™
. DSM-5’s early predecessor, DSM-III, differed considerably from the first two editions. Its innovative incorporation of specified diagnostic criteria had a major impact on the field of mental health. In DSM-5, these criteria have been further updated to reflect the important gains in our understanding of mental disorders.
Article
Eating Disorders
Elizabeth C. Pomeroy and Polly Y. Browning
Eating disorders involve maladaptive eating patterns accompanied by a wide range of physical complications likely to require extensive treatment. In addition, “eating disorders” frequently occur with other mental disorders, such as depression, substance abuse, and anxiety disorders. The earlier these disorders are diagnosed and treated, the better the chances are for full recovery” (NIMH, 2011). As of 2013, lifetime prevalence rates for anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder are 0.9%, 1.5%, and 3.5% among females, and 0.3%, 0.5%, and 2.0% among males respectively (Hudson, Hiripi, Pope, & Kessler, 2007). Early diagnosis is imperative; the National Institute of Mental Health estimates that the mortality rate for anorexia is 0.56% per year, one of the highest mortality rates of any mental illness, including depression (NIMH, 2006). More recent research (Crow et al., 2009) indicates mortality rates as high as 4.0% for anorexia nervosa, 3.9% for bulimia nervosa and 5.2% for eating disorders not otherwise specified. Current research and treatment options are discussed.
Article
EMDR Treatment for Trauma
Allen Rubin
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is one of the two most empirically supported treatments for adult populations with noncombat, single-episode posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with the other being exposure therapy. This entry describes the unconventional origin, theoretical underpinnings, and treatment protocol of EMDR, including its distinctive use of bilateral stimulation (that is, dual-attention stimulation). Also discussed are possible contraindications, unresolved issues, and the need for more research regarding the effectiveness of EMDR with other populations with PTSD, such as children and individuals with combat PTSD and complex trauma.
