LMSW LMSW Crisis Intervention Strategies Questions and Answers 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A social worker using Roberts' Seven-Stage model has just established rapport with a crisis client. What is the NEXT step?
- Identify major problems and precipitating events (Correct answer)
- Implement an action plan
- Restore cognitive functioning
- Explore feelings and emotions
Correct answer: Identify major problems and precipitating events
After establishing rapport (Stage 2), Roberts' model calls for identifying the major problems or precipitating events (Stage 3).
Question 2: A client presents in a state of acute grief following a sudden loss and is unable to function. The social worker should recognize this as:
- Major depressive disorder requiring medication referral
- A situational crisis requiring immediate stabilization support (Correct answer)
- Complicated grief requiring long-term psychotherapy
- Adjustment disorder with depressed mood
Correct answer: A situational crisis requiring immediate stabilization support
Acute grief following a sudden loss is a situational crisis, and the immediate goal is stabilization and support, not diagnosis.
Question 3: When conducting a risk assessment using the SAD PERSONS mnemonic, which factor does the letter 'O' represent?
- Organized plan
- Organic brain syndrome (Correct answer)
- Ongoing substance use
- Object relations deficits
Correct answer: Organic brain syndrome
In the SAD PERSONS scale, 'O' stands for Organized or serious previous attempts in some versions, but most commonly refers to Organic (neurological) factors; the standard mnemonic uses 'O' for Organized plan or Organic illness depending on the version — the most widely taught LMSW version uses Organized plan.
Question 4: A school social worker learns that a 15-year-old student made a suicide attempt over the weekend. What is the PRIORITY intervention upon the student's return to school?
- Notify all teachers so they can monitor the student
- Conduct a private risk assessment and develop a safety plan (Correct answer)
- Inform peers so they can provide peer support
- Document the incident and refer to outside therapy only
Correct answer: Conduct a private risk assessment and develop a safety plan
A private risk assessment and collaborative safety planning with the student is the priority clinical intervention upon school reentry after a suicide attempt.
Question 5: Which of the following BEST describes the concept of 'precipitating event' in crisis theory?
- A longstanding pattern of maladaptive coping
- The immediate stressor that triggers a state of crisis (Correct answer)
- A client's baseline level of psychological functioning
- The cumulative effect of multiple life stressors over time
Correct answer: The immediate stressor that triggers a state of crisis
A precipitating event is the specific, identifiable trigger — often a recent loss, threat, or change — that disrupts equilibrium and initiates the crisis state.
Question 6: A social worker is providing crisis counseling to a survivor of domestic violence who just left an abusive partner. Which intervention is MOST appropriate?
- Encourage the client to return home and establish better communication with the partner
- Assess immediate safety needs including housing, finances, and legal protection options (Correct answer)
- Focus sessions on exploring the client's childhood attachment patterns
- Refer immediately to long-term trauma therapy and close the crisis case
Correct answer: Assess immediate safety needs including housing, finances, and legal protection options
Immediately assessing safety needs — shelter, financial resources, legal options such as protective orders — is the priority crisis intervention for a domestic violence survivor.
LMSW LMSW Crisis Intervention Strategies Questions and Answers 3
A social worker using Roberts' Seven-Stage model has just established rapport with a crisis client.
What is the NEXT step?