ASWB Masters 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A social work supervisor notices a supervisee is consistently late submitting documentation and appears distracted in sessions. The supervisor's FIRST action should be to:
- Place the supervisee on a formal performance improvement plan
- Schedule a private meeting to explore factors contributing to the performance issues (Correct answer)
- Report the supervisee to the licensing board for ethical violations
- Reassign the supervisee's clients to protect client welfare
Correct answer: Schedule a private meeting to explore factors contributing to the performance issues
Supervisors should first meet privately to understand underlying causes of performance problems before escalating to formal disciplinary action.
Question 2: The NASW Code of Ethics states that social workers' PRIMARY ethical obligation is to:
- The employing organization
- The social work profession
- Clients (Correct answer)
- Society at large
Correct answer: Clients
The NASW Code of Ethics identifies clients as the primary obligation of social workers, though other obligations to colleagues, employers, and society also exist.
Question 3: A social worker is meeting with a family experiencing food insecurity. Which intervention reflects a strengths-based perspective?
- Educating the family about the consequences of inadequate nutrition on child development
- Identifying and building on the family's existing coping strategies and resources (Correct answer)
- Completing a deficit-focused assessment to determine eligibility for services
- Referring the family to services without exploring their own solutions
Correct answer: Identifying and building on the family's existing coping strategies and resources
A strengths-based perspective focuses on identifying and amplifying existing competencies and resources rather than cataloging deficits.
Question 4: A social worker practicing from a trauma-informed care framework would MOST likely ask which of the following questions during an initial assessment?
- 'What is wrong with you that led to these problems?'
- 'What happened to you, and how has it affected your life?' (Correct answer)
- 'Why haven't you sought help sooner?'
- 'Do you have a history of mental illness in your family?'
Correct answer: 'What happened to you, and how has it affected your life?'
Trauma-informed care reframes assessment from 'What is wrong with you?' to 'What happened to you?', recognizing trauma as a root cause of many presenting problems.
Question 5: During termination of a long-term therapeutic relationship, a client gives the social worker an expensive gift. The MOST appropriate response is to:
- Accept the gift to avoid hurting the client's feelings at a vulnerable time
- Decline the gift and explore its meaning with the client therapeutically (Correct answer)
- Accept the gift but document it in the clinical record
- Immediately refer the client to another provider due to the boundary violation
Correct answer: Decline the gift and explore its meaning with the client therapeutically
Social workers should decline gifts that could compromise objectivity and use the opportunity to explore the gift's meaning as clinically meaningful material.
Question 6: Which of the following best describes 'informed consent' in social work practice?
- Obtaining a client's signature on an intake form before services begin
- Providing clients with sufficient information about services, risks, and alternatives so they can make voluntary, knowledgeable decisions (Correct answer)
- Getting court authorization to provide services to an involuntary client
- Ensuring the client understands the social worker's professional credentials
Correct answer: Providing clients with sufficient information about services, risks, and alternatives so they can make voluntary, knowledgeable decisions
Informed consent requires that clients receive complete information about services, voluntarily agree without coercion, and have the capacity to make decisions.
Question 7: A social worker is engaging in advocacy on behalf of a client whose housing benefits were wrongfully terminated. This activity MOST closely reflects which social work value?
- Dignity and worth of the person
- Social justice (Correct answer)
- Importance of human relationships
- Integrity
Correct answer: Social justice
Advocacy to correct wrongful denial of housing benefits reflects the social work value of social justice, which involves challenging injustice and pursuing equitable access to resources.
ASWB Masters 5
A social work supervisor notices a supervisee is consistently late submitting documentation and appears distracted in sessions.
The supervisor's FIRST action should be to: