LMSW LMSW Treatment and Intervention Planning Questions and Answers 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A social worker is using a strengths-based approach to treatment planning with a client experiencing homelessness. Which action best reflects this framework?
- Assess all the client's deficits and barriers to stable housing
- Document the client's history of failed treatment attempts
- Identify the client's existing resources, skills, and support networks to build upon (Correct answer)
- Focus exclusively on securing emergency shelter before addressing any other goals
Correct answer: Identify the client's existing resources, skills, and support networks to build upon
A strengths-based approach centers treatment planning on identifying and mobilizing the client's existing capabilities, resilience, and resources.
Question 2: When establishing measurable goals in a treatment plan, which goal best meets SMART criteria?
- The client will improve coping skills
- The client will attend two AA meetings per week for the next 30 days (Correct answer)
- The client will feel less anxious
- The client will work on communication with their spouse
Correct answer: The client will attend two AA meetings per week for the next 30 days
SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound; attending two AA meetings weekly for 30 days meets all these criteria.
Question 3: A social worker is planning a family therapy intervention for a child exhibiting behavioral problems at school. Which systemic framework would guide examining the roles and communication patterns within the family?
- Structural family therapy (Correct answer)
- Psychoanalytic theory
- Behavioral modification
- Cognitive restructuring
Correct answer: Structural family therapy
Structural family therapy examines and seeks to reorganize the hierarchies, subsystems, and boundaries that govern family interaction and behavior.
Question 4: A client with PTSD is being considered for trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT). Which factor would most likely indicate the client is NOT yet ready for trauma processing?
- The client has limited insight into their symptoms
- The client has a stable housing situation
- The client is currently experiencing active psychosis (Correct answer)
- The client has some difficulty with emotional regulation
Correct answer: The client is currently experiencing active psychosis
Active psychosis is a contraindication for trauma processing interventions because the client cannot safely engage in stabilization and grounding required for TF-CBT.
Question 5: Which intervention is most appropriate when a social worker identifies that a client's treatment plan goals have not been achieved after several months?
- Discharge the client for non-compliance
- Continue the original plan without changes to allow more time
- Conduct a reassessment to identify barriers and collaboratively revise the treatment plan (Correct answer)
- Refer the client to a higher level of care immediately
Correct answer: Conduct a reassessment to identify barriers and collaboratively revise the treatment plan
Ongoing reassessment and collaborative revision of the treatment plan when goals are unmet is a core standard of evidence-based, client-centered practice.
Question 6: A social worker is planning psychoeducation as part of a client's treatment for generalized anxiety disorder. Which topic is MOST directly relevant to this diagnosis?
- The impact of childhood trauma on adult relationships
- The fight-or-flight response and physiological symptoms of anxiety (Correct answer)
- Stages of grief and bereavement
- The role of dopamine in substance use disorders
Correct answer: The fight-or-flight response and physiological symptoms of anxiety
Psychoeducation about the physiological fight-or-flight response helps clients with anxiety disorder normalize and better understand their symptoms as a foundation for treatment.
LMSW LMSW Treatment and Intervention Planning Questions and Answers 3
A social worker is using a strengths-based approach to treatment planning with a client experiencing homelessness.
Which action best reflects this framework?