ASWB Masters Practice 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A social worker employed by a managed care organization is told to limit sessions to six visits regardless of client need. This creates an ethical dilemma primarily involving:
- Duty to warn versus confidentiality
- Client self-determination versus worker beneficence
- Professional obligations to clients versus obligations to the employer (Correct answer)
- Informed consent versus client privacy
Correct answer: Professional obligations to clients versus obligations to the employer
Social workers are ethically obligated to act in clients' interests but also operate within organizational constraints, creating a conflict between professional duty and employer directives.
Question 2: Which of the following BEST describes the concept of 'parallel process' in clinical supervision?
- The supervisor and supervisee reviewing session recordings simultaneously
- Dynamics in the client-worker relationship being replicated in the supervisory relationship (Correct answer)
- A technique in which two supervisors jointly evaluate a supervisee's performance
- The supervisee mirroring the supervisor's theoretical orientation
Correct answer: Dynamics in the client-worker relationship being replicated in the supervisory relationship
Parallel process occurs when relational patterns between a worker and client unconsciously recreate themselves in the supervisory relationship.
Question 3: A client from a collectivist cultural background defers all treatment decisions to their adult children and objects to being seen individually without family present. A culturally competent social worker should:
- Insist on individual sessions to protect the client's confidentiality
- Explore the client's preferences and negotiate a treatment approach that honors their cultural values (Correct answer)
- Refer the client to a worker who shares the same cultural background
- Document that the client lacks decision-making capacity due to family dependence
Correct answer: Explore the client's preferences and negotiate a treatment approach that honors their cultural values
Cultural competence requires adapting practice to honor the client's values; family-centered decision-making is normative in many collectivist cultures.
Question 4: According to Erikson's stages of psychosocial development, a 45-year-old client struggling with a sense of stagnation and lack of purpose is most likely experiencing conflict in the stage of:
- Identity vs. role confusion
- Intimacy vs. isolation
- Generativity vs. stagnation (Correct answer)
- Integrity vs. despair
Correct answer: Generativity vs. stagnation
Generativity vs. stagnation is Erikson's stage for middle adulthood, centered on contributing to the next generation versus feeling unproductive.
Question 5: A social worker discovers mid-treatment that a new client is the ex-spouse of a close friend. The MOST appropriate action is to:
- Continue treatment as long as the client consents to the dual relationship
- Consult with a supervisor and consider referring the client to another provider (Correct answer)
- Immediately terminate the therapeutic relationship without explanation
- Disclose the connection to the client and ask if they wish to proceed
Correct answer: Consult with a supervisor and consider referring the client to another provider
This situation presents a conflict of interest that compromises objectivity; consultation and likely referral protect both the client and the social worker.
Question 6: Which of the following is the PRIMARY goal of crisis intervention?
- Resolving the underlying psychological issues that caused the crisis
- Restoring the client to at least their pre-crisis level of functioning (Correct answer)
- Diagnosing the psychiatric disorder contributing to the crisis
- Preventing future crises through long-term psychotherapy
Correct answer: Restoring the client to at least their pre-crisis level of functioning
Crisis intervention is time-limited and aims to stabilize the client and restore equilibrium to pre-crisis functioning, not to achieve deeper therapeutic change.
Question 7: A social worker is using narrative therapy with a client who feels defined by their anxiety disorder. The technique of 'externalizing the problem' involves:
- Helping the client blame external circumstances for their anxiety
- Separating the client's identity from the problem so the problem can be examined as distinct from the person (Correct answer)
- Identifying environmental stressors that trigger the client's anxiety
- Encouraging the client to express anxious feelings outwardly rather than suppressing them
Correct answer: Separating the client's identity from the problem so the problem can be examined as distinct from the person
Externalization is a core narrative technique that positions the problem as separate from the person — 'the anxiety' rather than 'I am anxious' — creating space for agency.
ASWB Masters Practice 5
A social worker employed by a managed care organization is told to limit sessions to six visits regardless of client need.
This creates an ethical dilemma primarily involving: