ASWB Masters Trivia 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A client discloses that she plans to harm her neighbor. Under the Tarasoff ruling, what is the social worker's duty?
- Maintain confidentiality because the threat may not be carried out
- Warn the identifiable third party and relevant authorities (Correct answer)
- Only document the threat in clinical notes
- Consult a colleague before taking any action
Correct answer: Warn the identifiable third party and relevant authorities
Tarasoff v. Regents of UC established the duty to protect identifiable third parties from serious threatened harm, requiring a warning to the potential victim.
Question 2: Which defense mechanism involves attributing one's own unacceptable feelings to another person?
- Reaction formation
- Projection (Correct answer)
- Rationalization
- Displacement
Correct answer: Projection
Projection is the defense mechanism in which a person unconsciously attributes their own unwanted thoughts or feelings to someone else.
Question 3: The DSM-5 replaced the multiaxial system with what type of diagnostic approach?
- A categorical-only classification without dimensions
- A non-hierarchical list of symptom clusters
- A dimensional and cross-cutting symptom assessment approach (Correct answer)
- A purely etiology-based diagnostic structure
Correct answer: A dimensional and cross-cutting symptom assessment approach
DSM-5 eliminated the five-axis system and introduced dimensional assessments (e.g., cross-cutting symptom measures) alongside categorical diagnoses.
Question 4: In motivational interviewing, OARS stands for:
- Observe, Assess, Reflect, Summarize
- Open questions, Affirm, Reflect, Summarize (Correct answer)
- Outline, Agree, Reinforce, Support
- Orient, Affirm, Reframe, Sustain
Correct answer: Open questions, Affirm, Reflect, Summarize
OARS—Open questions, Affirming, Reflecting, and Summarizing—are the four core communication skills in motivational interviewing.
Question 5: A social worker notices a pattern of countertransference toward a particular client. The BEST response is to:
- Transfer the client to a colleague immediately
- Increase session frequency to resolve the dynamic faster
- Seek clinical supervision to examine the reaction (Correct answer)
- Disclose the feelings to the client to maintain transparency
Correct answer: Seek clinical supervision to examine the reaction
Clinical supervision is the appropriate professional response when a social worker identifies countertransference, allowing exploration without harming the therapeutic relationship.
Question 6: Which level of Bronfenbrenner's ecological model refers to the direct environment in which an individual interacts, such as home and school?
- Mesosystem
- Exosystem
- Macrosystem
- Microsystem (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Microsystem
The microsystem is the innermost level of Bronfenbrenner's model, encompassing immediate settings like family, school, and peer groups where direct interaction occurs.
Question 7: What does the term 'disenfranchised grief' describe?
- Grief that is complicated by a co-occurring mood disorder
- Grief that is not openly acknowledged or publicly mourned (Correct answer)
- Grief following the death of a non-family member
- Grief that leads to prolonged functional impairment
Correct answer: Grief that is not openly acknowledged or publicly mourned
Coined by Kenneth Doka, disenfranchised grief refers to losses that are not recognized or sanctioned by society, leaving mourners without social support.
ASWB Masters Trivia 3
A client discloses that she plans to harm her neighbor.
Under the Tarasoff ruling, what is the social worker's duty?