ASWB Masters MCQ 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A social worker begins experiencing romantic feelings toward a client. The MOST appropriate action is to:
- Transfer the client immediately without explanation
- Seek supervision and personal therapy to address the feelings (Correct answer)
- Disclose the feelings to the client to maintain transparency
- Continue treatment while keeping feelings strictly private
Correct answer: Seek supervision and personal therapy to address the feelings
When countertransference involves romantic feelings, seeking supervision and personal therapy is essential to protect the client and maintain professional boundaries.
Question 2: In solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT), the 'miracle question' is primarily used to:
- Explore the root causes of the client's problem
- Help the client envision life without the presenting problem (Correct answer)
- Assess the client's level of magical thinking
- Identify the client's defensive coping styles
Correct answer: Help the client envision life without the presenting problem
The miracle question invites clients to imagine what their life would look like if the problem were suddenly resolved, helping generate concrete goals and exceptions.
Question 3: A social worker disagrees with a court order mandating reunification of a child with a parent the social worker believes poses ongoing risk. The BEST course of action is to:
- Refuse to implement the court order and advocate for the child
- Document concerns thoroughly and consult with a supervisor and legal counsel (Correct answer)
- Comply with the order without documentation to avoid conflict
- Contact the media to highlight the case as a public safety issue
Correct answer: Document concerns thoroughly and consult with a supervisor and legal counsel
Social workers must generally comply with court orders while thoroughly documenting professional concerns and seeking supervisory and legal guidance through proper channels.
Question 4: A client with Borderline Personality Disorder alternates between idealizing and devaluing the social worker. This behavior pattern is BEST described as:
- Projection
- Splitting (Correct answer)
- Reaction formation
- Displacement
Correct answer: Splitting
Splitting is a defense mechanism characteristic of BPD in which people are perceived as entirely good or entirely bad, without integration of both qualities.
Question 5: Which of the following BEST defines the concept of 'dual relationship' in social work ethics?
- Providing services to two members of the same family simultaneously
- Having both a professional and a personal or business relationship with a client (Correct answer)
- Working with a client across two different service settings
- Co-treating a client with another licensed professional
Correct answer: Having both a professional and a personal or business relationship with a client
A dual relationship occurs when a social worker holds more than one role with a client, such as combining a therapeutic relationship with a personal friendship or business relationship.
Question 6: A school social worker notices that a student's academic performance has declined sharply following her parents' divorce. Using a systems perspective, the MOST appropriate first step is to:
- Refer the student for individual psychotherapy for depression
- Assess the impact of the family system change on the student's functioning (Correct answer)
- Meet with teachers to develop an academic improvement plan
- Recommend the parents attend co-parenting counseling
Correct answer: Assess the impact of the family system change on the student's functioning
A systems perspective requires first understanding how the change in the family system is affecting the student before selecting an intervention.
Question 7: A client who recently immigrated reports feeling like 'two people'—one at home following traditional practices and one at work adopting American norms. This experience BEST reflects:
- Dissociative Identity Disorder symptoms
- Bicultural identity navigation (Correct answer)
- Cultural assimilation failure
- Role diffusion from adolescent identity crisis
Correct answer: Bicultural identity navigation
Bicultural identity navigation is a normal adaptive process in which immigrants manage and integrate norms from their culture of origin and their new cultural environment.
ASWB Masters MCQ 4
A social worker begins experiencing romantic feelings toward a client.
The MOST appropriate action is to: