_____ involves the propensity and skill to use reflective skepticism when engaged in some specific activity
A. Fast thinking
B. Critical thinking
C. Statistical power
D. System 1 thinking
What are the factors that contribute to social well-being?
What will be an ideal response?
Discuss the Human Development Index.
What will be an ideal response?
It is essential that as a social worker you develop a strong social support network to help you manage the
impact of the demands of this highly stressful profession. Assess the areas where you may be most impacted by your
own social circumstances
What will be an ideal response?
Why is the person-in-environment perspective important to you as a social worker?
What will be an ideal response?
Do you agree with the view that empathy may appear in several forms?
What will be an ideal response?
Imagine a scenario where you are in charge of a shelter for women who are victims of domestic violence.
You encounter a case where a woman is physically and emotionally tortured by her spouse. But instead of staying
away from the abuse and trying to improve her life, she wants to stay at home in fear of disgrace. Outline the
knowledge and skills required to handle this particular case
What will be an ideal response?
As a social worker, how would you show integrity?
What will be an ideal response?
Is it ethical for a social worker to lie to his or her supervisor?
What will be an ideal response?
Assume that you are the supervisor of a social worker who is responsible for overseeing the welfare of
abused and neglected children placed in foster care. You discover that the social worker fraudulently reported that
he visits each child twice a week when the truth is that he visits most children about once every two or three months.
What would you do in this situation? How would your decision be affected if (a) the children are all safe and healthy
and (b) one of the children has died as a result of abuse by members of the foster family?
What will be an ideal response?
1)
ANS: B
PG: 50
Feedback: Critical thinking involves the propensity and skill to use reflective skepticism when engaged in some
specific activity (McPeck, 1990, p. 3). Involving the careful examination and evaluation of beliefs and actions
(Gibbs & Gambrill, 1996, p. 3), critical thinking is the art of thinking about your thinking while you are thinking in
order to make your thinking better: more clear, more accurate, or more defensible
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2)
ANS: Students' answers will vary. Several factors contribute to social well-being. A leader in the positive
psychology movement, Seligman (2002) suggests that personal happiness involves three different dimensions: (1) a
more or less pleasant life that includes considerably more positive than negative emotional experiences; (2) an
engaged life in which one becomes challenged by and invested in activities such as work, recreation, and love; and
(3) a meaningful life in which one uses her or his assets, talents, and strengths with others in purposeful endeavors
that contribute to something greater than oneself. For Seligman (2002), Lyubomirsky and colleagues (2005),
Maslow (1943, 1968), and Kenrick et al. (2010) happiness involves much more than pleasurable experience alone.
All recognize the limits of hedonism in their views of sustained well-being. Active engagement with others,
meaningful pursuits, and acts of kindness, generosity, and gratitude contribute to lasting happiness as well
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3)
ANS: Students' answers will vary. In looking at the social well-being of nations, the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) incorporates several related indicators in their Human Development Index (HDI). The HDI is a
composite index of three dimensions and four indicators associated with human development. The dimensions
include (1) healthas indicated or measured by life expectancy at birth; (2) educationas indicated by expected
years of schooling and the average years of schooling; and (3) living standardsas measured by the gross national
income per capita (United Nations Development Programme, 2011
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4)
ANS: Students' answers will vary. Social support involves several dimensions. As a social worker, you may help
clients identify sources of social support that are satisfying or energizingbecause they represent strengths within
their social world. You might help clients take steps to increase the size or enhance the quality of their social
networks and relationships. Sometimes a client's family members and friends might join you and your client in
meetings intended to further such goals. At other times, you and a client may determine that certain people or groups
are not now and are unlikely to become future sources of support. In such contexts, your client may decide to
reconfigure or restructure selected social networks. Efforts such as these may help clients enhance their social
functioning and improve the overall quality of their lives. Of course, social relationships and social networks also
influence social workers. Indeed, the nature and extent of our own social support and personal well-being
undoubtedly affect the quality of our professional work, as well as the satisfaction we experience in providing
service. The interpersonal and emotional demands of professional social work practice can be exhausting. Social
workers who feel personally and professionally supported in their networks and personal relationships are better
prepared to cope effectively with the inevitable stress and the numerous temptations that accompany professional
practice.
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5)
ANS: Students' answers will vary. Social workers are dedicated to the resolution of social problems and the
enhancement of social functioning and social well-being. We could not possibly provide effective service if we
operated in isolation. Rather, we are grounded in a person-in-environment perspective and remain deeply involved
with others. The nature of the work requires regular collaboration and cooperation, ongoing supervision or
consultation, and a great deal of social support. In the absence of energy-enhancing support and reality-testing
feedback, social workers would quickly deplete our personal resources and increase the likelihood of improperly
meeting some of our own psychosocial needs and personal wants through our relationships with clients. Indeed, if
social workers are isolated and lack strong, positive personal and professional social networks, we become quite
vulnerable to numerous temptations. We need substantial social support and a solid sense of well-being.
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6)
ANS: Students' answers will vary. Empathy may indeed appear in several forms. For example, when we interact
with someone who feels distress and we both feel her or his distress and show our concern, we engage in proximal
empathy. When we become concerned about people outside our immediate vicinityperhaps those in another part
of our community or in a distant corner of the worldwe reflect altruistic empathy. When we say or do something
that contributes to others' discomfort and then, upon noticing their reaction, express our awareness and show our
concernperhaps by acknowledging the impact of our own actions through an expression of remorsewe engage
in self-corrective empathy (Quann & Wien, 2006, July).
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7)
ANS: Students' answers will vary. For social workers, self-efficacy involves the confidence in their ability to
execute specific skills in a particular set of circumstances and thereby achieve a successful outcome (Holden,
Meenaghan, Anastas, & Metrey, 2001, p. 116). Without knowledge-based self-efficacy, social workers would likely
be relatively inactive, passive observers rather than energetic, collaborative agents of change
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8)
ANS: Students' answers will vary. As a social worker, you demonstrate integrity when you share information that is
supported by valid and reliable evidence, and, conversely, when you refrain from repeating gossip, rumors, and
other forms of invalid and unreliable information. You reflect integrity when you publicly acknowledge others'
contributions and credit sources of information used to support your statements and positions. You demonstrate
integrity when you openly state that you are sharing a personal opinion rather than a professional recommendation
or admit ignorance when you do not know the answer to a particular question. You exemplify integrity when you
manage your own personal or religious beliefs in order to better serve clients who hold different views. You show
integrity when you resist temptations to cheat, lie, or misrepresent facts; and when you recognize that your
immediate thoughts and emotional reactions may not always serve as a valid basis for professional action. You
reflect integrity when you keep your promises and fulfill your commitments. You display integrity when you
willingly acknowledge mistakes and errors in your own thoughts, words, and deeds; and change your mind when
credible evidence challenges your previously held beliefs.
You manifest integrity when you report a colleague who exploited a client, cheated on an exam, or
plagiarized a report; or, when you admit that you have done so. You reflect integrity when you reveal that your
organization intentionally defrauds its funding sources by billing for services it does not provide; and perhaps lose
your job when you do so. Despite laws intended to protect honest whistleblowers from retaliation, the consequences
of trying to right wrongs and combat injustice can be painful indeed (Devine & Maassarani, 2011; Kohn, 2011;
Press, 2012). Unfortunately, direct or indirect punishment sometimes results from doing the right thing. Integrity
can be costly indeed.
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9)
ANS: Students' answers will vary. Personal and professional integrity are essential aspects of professionalism.
Within the context of social work service, integrity suggests honesty, truthfulness, sincerity, humility, and
trustworthiness. In its Code of Ethics, the National Association of Social Workers (2008) states that Social workers
should not participate in, condone, or be associated with dishonesty, fraud, or deception (Section 4.04). However,
in social work, integrity goes well beyond the simple avoidance or absence of misbehavior. Rather, we pursue
professional integrity with conviction, dedication, and enthusiasm.
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10)
ANS: Students' answers will vary. Social workers affect people in profound ways, often for the better, but
sometimes for the worse. Given the large number of social workers and the nature and scope of the services we
provide, the importance of professionalism cannot be overemphasized. When social workers are competent and
trustworthy, our clients feel satisfied and society as a whole benefits. The overall reputation of social workers and
our profession improves. However, when social workers lack professionalism, many people suffer. Clients or others
affected by our policies, programs, and practices may be harmed. Indeed, lives can, and sometimes are, lost due to
social workers' negligence or incompetence. When some social workers lack professionalism, employers may
become reluctant to hire others. The stature of the profession may decline, and funding sources may become less
inclined to support social services in general.
The stakes are so high that social workers are obligatedpersonally, morally, ethically, and legallyto
reflect high standards of professionalism in all aspects of our service activities. Fortunately, most of us are
committed to providing ethical and effective services to our clients and promoting a better quality of life for all
people.