Clinical Social Work Processes and Procedures

Question 1

Access Provision

Answer 1

Actions taken by social agencies to ensure that their services (or a program’s services) are available to the target population. Examples include educating the public about the service, establishing convenient referral procedures, and having ombudsperson services to deal with obstacles to getting the service

Question 2

Categorical Assistance

Answer 2

State welfare programs for particular groups of people identified in the Social Security Act (e.g., the disabled, needy)

Question 3

Concurrent Therapy

Answer 3

Treatment format in which a social worker sees different members of a family or client system separately in individual sessions. This intervention model is used most commonly in couples therapy to encourage the clients to reveal thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that they might not feel able to disclose in the presence of their spouses

Question 4

Empathy

Answer 4

The ability to perceive, understand, and experience the emotional state of another person (Barker, 1987). Emphatic responding is used throughout the helping process to develop rapport, maintain a working relationship, and enable social workers to move toward confronting a client’s problematic issues. Fundamental to emphatic responding is reflecting an understanding and acceptance of not only the client’s overtly expressed feelings but also his underlying emotions. Can be conveyed through verbal and nonverbal communication

Question 5

Formative Evaluation (Direct Practice Evaluation)

Answer 5

Evaluation used to guide ongoing practice decisions. A tool for monitoring an intervention and identifying when one needs to modify a planned intervention

Question 6

Institutional Social Services

Answer 6

Social services provided by major public service systems that administer benefits such as financial assistance, housing programs, health care, or education

Question 7

Medicaid

Answer 7

Social security program providing medical and health related services for individuals and families with low incomes through direct payment to suppliers of the program. Low income is only one test for Medicaid eligibility; assets and resources also are tested against established thresholds determined by each state (i.e., means testing). Within federal guidelines, states have discretion in determining which groups their Medicaid programs will cover and the financial criteria for eligibility. States must cover categorically needy individuals, however, which usually includes recipients of SSI and families with dependent children receiving cash assistance, as well as other mandatory low-income groups such as pregnant woman, infants, and children with incomes less than a specified percent of the federal poverty level. States must also cover certain low-income Medicare beneficiaries

Question 8

Ombudsman

Answer 8

(a) An advocate or spokesperson for the people who are served by an organization to ensure that the organization’s obligations, ethical duties, and rule are being followed, or (b) an individual employed by an organization to investigate potential illegal and/or unethical activities or unintended harmful consequences stemming from the organization’s activities and to facilitate fair negotiations or actions toward satisfactory solutions

Question 9

Process Recording

Answer 9

A detailed case recording procedure that emphasizes recording objective and subjective information about social worker-client interactions during treatment. It is frequently used to help new social workers and social work students learn practice skills; more experienced workers may use it when they are having unusual problems with a client and want to maintain a detailed record that can be examined by a supervisor, consultant, or peers

Question 10

Role-Playing

Answer 10

A technique in which a client rehearses behaviors that will be useful in a particular situation so that he can meet a goal or fulfill an expectation. For example, the client practices the behavior in the social worker’s presence and then receives feedback from the worker. When used in this way, as a part of behavioral rehearsal, role-playing is effective for increasing a client’s sense of self-efficacy

Question 11

Self-Help Groups

Answer 11

Groups intended to improve members’ social functioning through a group experience and discussions with others who have, or had, similar problems or concerns. Examples of self-help groups include those through self-help organizations such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous, and Parents Without Partners. Many self-help groups rely on leaders who are also members of the group but some are led by professionals or by members who have received training on how to conduct and lead meetings

Question 12

Systematic Eclecticism

Answer 12

An approach to selecting intervention strategies for a client that entails choosing interventions from different practice perspectives, theories, and models based on how well they match a client’s problem and the empirical research showing the interventions to be effective

Question 13

Veterans’ Benefits

Answer 13

Provided under the Social Security Act. Eligibility for most veterans benefits is based on discharge from active military service under other than dishonorable conditions for a minimum period specified by law. Many of the benefits and services provided to veterans were adopted to help war veterans readjust to civilian life. These benefits include, but are not limited to, disability compensation, benefits for survivors, health care, and educational assistance and training

Question 14

Advocate

Answer 14

A social worker role that involves working with and on behalf of clients to ensure that they receive the services and benefits to which they are entitled and that the services are delivered in ways that protect their dignity

Question 15

Categorically Needy

Answer 15

Individuals who are automatically eligible for certain welfare benefits without a means test because they fit certain predetermined criteria

Question 16

Confrontation (Challenge)

Answer 16

Respectful and gentle efforts to help a client recognize that he is using distortions, deceptions, denials, avoidance, or manipulations that are getting in the way of desired change. The social worker challenges and invites the client to examine a thought or behavior that is self-defeating or harmful to others and to take action to change it. Efforts to confront a client generally emphasize factors that the social worker believes are contributing to the client’s problems and preventing the client from making progress

Question 17

Empirically Supported Treatments

Answer 17

Specific psychological treatments that have been shown to be efficacious in controlled clinical trials. The research indicates that ESTs, in general, have the following characteristics: (a) Most ESTs include homework as a component; (b) ESTs generally focus on skill building, not insight or catharsis; (c) ESTs are problem-focused; (d) ESTs incorporate continuous assessment of client progress; and (e) ESTs involve brief treatment contact, requiring 20 or fewer sessions

Question 18

General Assistance (GA)

Answer 18

(A.K.A. General relief, general public assistance) Aid provided by state and local governments to needy individuals or families who do not qualify for major assistance programs and to individuals whose benefits from other assistance programs are insufficient to meet basic needs. General assistance is often the only resource for individuals who cannot qualify for unemployment insurance or whose benefits are inadequate or exhausted. Help may either be in cash or in-kind, including such assistance as groceries and rent. The eligibility requirements and payment levels for general assistance vary from state to state and often within a state. Payments are usually at lower levels and of shorter duration than those provided by federally financed programs. General assistance is administered and financed by state and local governments under their own guidelines

Question 19

Interdisciplinary Teaming

Answer 19

A form of intervention in which the members of different professions or disciplines (e.g., social work, medical, psychiatric) work together on behalf of a client. For team practice to be effective, team members from different professions must be able to reach an agreement regarding approaches to care and willing to move beyond their own expertise to address the needs of the “whole” client

Question 20

Medicare

Answer 20

Social security program providing health care benefits (health insurance coverage) to most people over age 64 (i.e., those who are eligible for monthly social security benefits and are U.S. citizens or permanent residents of the U.S. who have lived in the U.S. for at least five years); to some people with disabilities under age 65; and to people of all ages with end-stage renal disease (permanent kidney failure treated with dialysis or a transplant). Part A of Medicare is a compulsory Hospital Insurance (HI) program, and Part B is a voluntary program of Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI). Part A covers inpatient hospital services, care in skilled nursing facilities, home health services, and hospice care

Question 21

Open-Ended Questions

Answer 21

Interview questions that define a topic area but allow a client to respond in whatever way he chooses. Effective for encouraging a client to self-disclose or expand on personal information and, thus, tend to elicit valuable data

Question 22

Programming (Small Group Work)

Answer 22

Involves selecting and planning activities (drama, art, dance, music, sports, parties, work tasks, etc.) to create opportunities for clients to learn new behaviors and experience positive interactions with others and to guide the group process in desired directions

Question 23

Role-Reversal

Answer 23

A technique used to help clients understand the perceptions and feelings of significant others. It involves having one person (e.g., a spouse, a parent) take on the perspective of another person (e.g., the other spouse, the child) in an effort to better understand him. Is particularly useful in couples and family therapy and is indicated whenever one or both parties in a relationship have little or no awareness of how the other one feels

Question 24

Service Delivery System

Answer 24

Means of delivering health and human services within communities. Informal services-delivery units include household units and social networks; mediating service-delivery units includes self-help groups, grassroots associations, and voluntary associations; and formal service-delivery units include nonprofit and for-profit private agencies and public agencies

Question 25

TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families)

Answer 25

Social security program that provides assistance and work opportunities to needy families by granting states federal funds and flexibility to develop and implement their own welfare programs. TANF places restrictions on recipients (e.g., most recipients must work after no more than two years on cash assistance, families receiving assistance for five cumulative years may become ineligible for cash aid)

Question 26

Voucher System

Answer 26

For example, Food Stamps, housing subsidy checks. Method of subsidizing a person’s needs on the open market; the person is given vouchers to buy a specified service or product

Question 27

Case Aide

Answer 27

Paraprofessional member of a social work team who helps a social worker provide client services (e.g., contacts the client’s family for information). Typically develops proficiency with particular functions

Question 28

Closed-Ended Questions

Answer 28

Interview questions that elicit responses that provide either factual information or a simple “yes” or “no”. Used primarily in the latter portion of an interview to obtain missing factual data

Question 29

Disability Benefit

Answer 29

A form of categorical assistance. Involves the provision of cash, products, and/or services to an individual who is unable to perform certain activities due to a mental or physical condition. For example, DI and SSI

Question 30

Exceptional Eligibility

Answer 30

Social service delivery policy in which benefits and services are developed for individuals in a special group (such as war veterans) due to sympathy for the group or political pressure. Eligibility is not necessarily based on need or circumstances

Question 31

Growth/Development and Training Groups

Answer 31

Social work groups used to promote members’ normal growth and development and teach ordinary skills for living. Groups used to teach and train are goal oriented, and the social worker assumes the roles of leader, teacher, and planner and arranger of group activities and relies heavily on programming. Some of these groups emphasize member interaction, building trust, and developing a sense of belonging to the group and others do not. Examples of topics addressed in these groups include parent training, learning communications skills, learning job skills, learning about a medical condition, etc.

Question 32

Long-Term Care (LTC)

Answer 32

Comprehensive long-term social, personal, and health care services given to individuals who have lost some degree of functioning (i.e., due to a functional impairment, they have limited ability to perform important activities of daily living). LTC may be provided in nursing homes or in the community and is provided in nursing homes or in the community and is provided by professionals, volunteers, and family members

Question 33

Negotiator

Answer 33

A role of social workers. As a negotiator, a social worker acts as an intermediary who attempts to settle disputes and/or resolve disagreements between various parties. The worker takes the side of one of the parties (i.e., the client system) and seeks to resolve the conflict on behalf of that party

Question 34

Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA)

Answer 34

PRWORA (1996) was designed to reform the nation’s welfare system into one that requires work in exchange for time-limited assistance. The law either eliminated or placed new restrictions on many national programs and established the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program

Question 35

Public Housing

Answer 35

Social security program established to provide decent and safe rental housing for eligible low-income families, the elderly, and persons with disabilities. Public housing ranges from single family houses to high-rise apartments for elderly people. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) administers federal aid to local public housing authorities (PHAs) that manage and operate the housing program for low-income residents at rents they can afford. Public housing is limited to low-income families and individuals. The PHA determines the individual’s eligibility based on annual gross income; whether the applicant qualifies as elderly, a person with a disability, or a family; and U.S. citizenship or eligible immigration status

Question 36

Section 8 Single Room Occupancy

Answer 36

SRO housing assistance seeks to bring more standard single-room dwelling units into the local housing supply and to use those units to assist homeless individuals. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) contracts with public housing authorities (PHAs) to rehabilitate residential properties for SRO housing. PHAs make Section 8 rental assistance payments to participating owners on behalf of homeless individuals who rent the rehabilitated dwellings. The rental assistance payments cover the difference between a portion of the tenant’s income (normally 30 percent) and the unit’s rent,which must be within the fair market rent established by HUD. Rental assistance for SRO units is provided for a period of 10 years

Question 37

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI)

Answer 37

(AKA. Social Security Disability Insurance, SSDI) Social security program that provides for the economic needs of individuals who can no longer earn an income because of chronic disability or incapacity. The disability must be expected to last for at least a year or to result in death. Others who may qualify for DI include individuals with HIV infection and disabled children. Pays benefits to individuals and certain members of their family if they are insured (individuals are insured if they have worked long enough and paid social security taxes)

Question 38

Transtheoretical Model

Answer 38

Prochaska and DiClemente’s model of behavior change that proposes that change involves six stages: precontemplation (the person is unaware of his problem or unwilling to change it); contemplation (the person is considering the possibility of change but remains ambivalent); determination ( a person’s decisional balance tips in favor of change and he becomes ready and determined to change); maintenance ( the goals are to sustain the change accomplished through action and to prevent relapse); and relapse ( may occur before the person achieves stable change and is considered a normal part of the change process, especially when a person is attempting to change a longstanding behavior or pattern)

Question 39

Worker’s Comp

Answer 39

Social security program that provides benefits to individuals with injuries or diseases traceable to industrial accidents and with certain occupational diseases. The benifits provided include periodic cash payments and medical services to the worker during a period of disablement, and death and funeral benefits to the worker’s survivors. Lump-sum settlements are permitted under most programs

Question 40

Case Conference

Answer 40

Agency and organizational procedures in which professionals working with a client meet to discuss his case. Typically involves a discussion of the client’s problem, prognosis, and treatment. In addition to professionals working on the case, a case conference may include other professionals who have knowledge or expertise about the client’s problem and friends and family members of the client

Question 41

Collaboration (Direct Practice)

Answer 41

Involves two or more other professionals working together to serve a client (individual, family, or group). The professionals may work together as part of a single helping team or work relatively independently of one another while making sure to communicate and coordinate their respective efforts in order to prevent a duplication of services

Question 42

Disability Insurance (DI)

Answer 42

(AKA Social Security Disability Insurance, SSDI) Social security program that provides for the economic needs of individuals who can no longer earn an income because of chronic disability or incapacity. The disability must be expected to last for at least a year or to result in death. Others who may qualify for DI include individuals with HIV infection and disabled children. Pays benefits to individuals and certain members of their family if they are insured (individuals are insured if they have worked long enough and paid social security taxes)

Question 43

Focusing Responses

Answer 43

Social work interview technique used to keep the conversation from wandering or jumping from one subject to another

Question 44

Housing Assistance

Answer 44

In most communities, there are three kinds of housing assistance available: (a) Public housing, in which low-income housing is operated by the housing authority; (b) Section 8 housing, in which the housing authority gives tenants a certificate or voucher that says the government will subsidize their rent payments, and tenants find their own housing; and (c) privately owned subsidized housing, in which the government provides subsidies directly to the owner who then applies those subsidies to the rents he charges low-income tenants

Question 45

Low Income Energy Assistance

Answer 45

Through LIHEAP, the federal government provides grants to states, territories, Indian tribes, and tribal organizations to help low-income households meet home heating and cooling costs and to weatherize and make energy saving repairs

Question 46

Network

Answer 46

Any informal or formal linkage of people or organizations that share resources, skills, knowledge, and contacts with one another

Question 47

Personal Social Services

Answer 47

Social services that address individualized needs involving interpersonal relationships and the ability to function within one’s immediate environment

Question 48

Relapse Prevention (RP)

Answer 48

A self-management approach emphasized at all stages of addiction treatment. The most common precipitant of relapse among people recovering from substance-use disorders is the experience of anxiety, frustration, depression, or other negative emotional states. According to Marlatat and Gordon, the potential for future relapse is reduced when the client is encouraged to view the episode of drinking as a mistake resulting from specific, external, and controllable factors. Their relapse prevention program combines behavioral and cognitive techniques that are aimed at helping clients deal effectively with situations that elicit negative emotions and other high-risk situations.

Question 49

Seeking Concreteness

Answer 49

Interview technique used to determine the specific meaning of vague words that a client has used or to elicit specific information that might not otherwise be revealed. Having a client define or explain certain words helps the social worker understand the problem and prevents the worker from making assumptions

Question 50

Summative Evaluation (Direct Practice)

Answer 50

An assessment of the final outcome of an intervention; also identifies factors that contributed to the relative success or failure of an intervention

Question 51

Treatment Manuals

Answer 51

Originally developed to assist in research and training but are now considered a means of delivering empirically supported treatments (ESTs) to clients with specific disorders. Manuals have several advantages: They provide a theoretical framework for understanding a client’s symptoms/disorder; offer concrete descriptions of therapy techniques; and present case examples that illustrate the appropriate application of the techniques. However, like practice guidelines, treatment manuals do not take into account a client’s unique characteristics or the nonspecific factors that have been linked to positive treatment outcomes

Question 52

Block Grant

Answer 52

System of disbursing funds that permits the recipient to determine how best to distribute the money

Question 53

Channeling

Answer 53

A process associated with case management in which social agency staff direct clients to relevant programs in the community for additional or supplementary services during the helping process

Question 54

Consultation

Answer 54

A process in which a human services professional assists a consultee with a work-related problem within a client system. The goal is to help both the consultee and the client system in some specified way. Several principles guide consultation; First, consultation always has a problem-solving (educational) function. Second, a consultant has no administrative authority over staff members, and a consultee may turn down the consultant’s suggestions. The determining factor is the value of the consultant’s idea not his status as a consultant. Third, consultation relies on the quality of the relationship between the consultant and consultee. Thus, a consultant must be skilled at developing and maintaining relationships with consultees. Consultation is used by most social workers on an an-needed basis

Question 55

Empowerment Approach

Answer 55

A way of working with clients to help them acquire the personal, interpersonal, and political power they need to take control of their lives and bring about changes in policies, organizations, and public attitudes that are impacting their lives and the lives of their families in negative ways. Before choosing an empowerment strategy, the social worker must make sure that the client has, or is able to learn, the competencies needed to bring about changes in his environment and that the client’s difficulties are caused primarily by social or political barriers and a lack of resources

Question 56

Goals and Objectives (Direct Practice)

Answer 56

A goal is an outcome sought by the social worker and client and is generally phrased as a broad statement that describes the desired outcome. Objectives (behavioral objectives) are discrete steps that will be taken to achieve the desired outcome. They define a series of behavioral changes that must take place in order to reach a goal. Objectives are more specific than goals and are always written in a manner that facilitates measurement and evaluation

Question 57

Interpretation (Interpretive Response)

Answer 57

An explanatory statement that responds to something about a client’s thinking or behavior that the client is not aware of with the goal of increasing the client’s self-understanding and understanding of the problem, fostering his insight, and/or helping him make new connections. This helps the client view a problem from a different perspective, which can open the door to new solutions. An interpretive response includes not only what a client has verbalized but also an inference the social worker has drawn from implicit parts of the client’s message

Question 58

Motivation, Capacity, and Opportunity

Answer 58

A client’s motivation to change, capacity for change, opportunity to change have a significant impact on the success of the planned change process. Motivation refers to a state of readiness to take action; capacity refers to the abilities and resources that the client or people in his environment bring to the change process; and opportunity refers to conditions and circumstances within the client’s immediate environment that support positive change.

Question 59

Outreach

Answer 59

Public relations approach in which efforts are made to bring an agency’s services and information about its services to people in their homes or other natural environments. Avenues used to achieve outreach include case finding, public, speaking, interagency collaboration and written material

Question 60

Psychoeducation

Answer 60

A form of information giving that involves teaching a client and his family about the nature of the client’s disorder or condition, including its etiology, progression, consequences, prognosis, treatment, and alternatives

Question 61

School Breakfast Program

Answer 61

A federal program that provides states with cash assistance for nonprofit breakfast programs in schools and residential child care institutions

Question 62

SOAP Charting

Answer 62

Charting system used in many medical and mental health professions that entails classifying client information according to the acronym, SOAP (Subjective information, Objective information, Assessments, and Plan)

Question 63

Title XXI of the Social Security Act

Answer 63

An amendment to the Social Security Act designed to prevent, reduce, or eliminate dependency on welfare and change how social services were delivered to low-income people. Under Title XX (Social Services Block Grant, 1974), states started receiving funding for social service programs through block grants from the federal government which increased their flexibility in determining where to allocate the funds

Question 64

Warm-Up Period

Answer 64

A brief period of “small talk” that may be used at the beginning of an interview to help a client feel more comfortable before he begins self-disclosing. Is most appropriate to use when a client appears resistant or defensive and is also useful with many adolescent clients

Question 65

Career Counseling

Answer 65

The provision of counsel, support, information, and linkage of resources to individuals deciding on a career or wishing to make changes in their current employment. Offers individuals help in recognizing their strengths and weaknesses and gives information about available opportunities. Is offered by social workers, personnel and guidance counselors, and other professionals

Question 66

Clarification

Answer 66

A helping skill used in response to vague or unclear client messages. Using this skill is appropriate when the social worker doesn’t understand a client’s message, would like the client to become more explicit, or wishes to check his understanding of a client’s message

Question 67

Direct Practice Systems

Answer 67

In direct practice, four systems are critical to a successful planned change process: (a) The change agent system includes the social worker and , as relevant, his agency, (b) The client system is the person (or group) who has requested the social worker’s/agency’s services and experts to benefit from what they do, (c) The target system is the person, group, or organization that needs to change and is targeted for change so that the client system and the target system are often the same, (d) The action system includes all of the people, groups, and organizations that the social worker (i.e., change agent system) works with or through in order to influence the target system and help the client system to achieve the desired outcome

Question 68

Encouragers (Prompts or Furthering Responses)

Answer 68

Single words, short phrases, or nonverbal gestures that encourage a client to continue talking. They convey an interest in and attention to what the client is saying. Examples include verbal encouragers (minimal prompts) such as “I see” or “Please go on”, nonverbal encouragers, which include hand gestures, facial expressions, and nodding one’s head; and accent responses, which entail repeating in a questioning or emphatic way a phrase or word the client has used

Question 69

Group Treatment Approach

Answer 69

Type of small group work in which the group is seen as a therapeutic environment that has the potential to influence members to change their behavior. Treatment groups help members cope with serious problems or correct dysfunctional behavior, and the social worker assumes the role of a therapist, expert, and group leader. The primary focus is on the members as individuals and on the problems they are having outside the group, but a member’s behavior during group meetings may be used as a way of assessing and illustrating his attitudes and behavioral patterns

Question 70

Linkage

Answer 70

Bringing together the resources of various agencies, personnel, etc., and coordinating their efforts on behalf of a client or social objective

Question 71

National School Lunch Program

Answer 71

A federally assisted meal program that operates in public and private schools and residential child care institutions and provides nutritionally balanced low-cost or free lunches to children

Question 72

Paraphrasing

Answer 72

A selective restatement of the main idea of a client’s message that resembles his message but is not identical to it. A paraphrase emphasizes the literal meaning of the client’s message ( the content rather than affect) and is expressed in fewer words than the client has used

Question 73

Public Assistance

Answer 73

Government funded financial assistance to individuals who cannot support themselves

Question 74

Section 8 Programs

Answer 74

Section 8 rental voucher and rental certificate programs are the federal government’s major programs for assisting very low-income families, older adults, and the disabled to rent decent, safe, and sanitary housing in the private market. Because the rental assistance is provided on behalf of the family or individual, participants are free to choose any housing that meets the requirements of the program and are not limited to units located in subsidized housing projects. Eligibility is determined by the local public housing authority based on total annual gross income and family size and is limited to U.S. citizens and specified categories of non-citizens who have eligible immigration status

Question 75

Social Security Act

Answer 75

Federal legislation passed in 1935 and designed to help meet the economic needs of older people, dependent survivors, people with disabilities, and needy families. The two major provisions of the Act, in its original form, were a mandatory insurance program for workers funded by payroll taxes and matching employer contributions and a public assistance program financed by both federal and state treasuries

Question 76

Transfer Payments

Answer 76

Used to fund some social security programs. Involve taking cash benefits from one group and redirecting them to another group (i.e., through withholding payroll money and placing it in the federal treasury, which then disburses the funds to the eligible group)

Question 77

WIC Program

Answer 77

Social security program that provides a combination of food, nutrition counseling, and access to health services to low-income women, infants, and children who are at nutritional risk. Among its goals are to improve fetal development and reduce the incidence of low birth-weight, short gestation, and anemia through intervention during the prenatal period. Participants receive food supplements, nutrition education, and access to health care services to maintain and improve their health and development. Most states provide WIC vouchers that can be used at authorized retail food stores for specific foods that are rich sources of nutrients. Pregnant and postpartum women, infants, and children up to age 5 are eligible. They must meet income guidelines and a state residency requirement and be determined to be at “nutritional risk” by a health professional

Question 78

Case Finding

Answer 78

Outreach approach in which social workers seek and identify individuals or groups who are vulnerable to or are experiencing the problems for which their social agency has responsibility to provide services or other forms of assistance

Question 79

Collaborative Therapy

Answer 79

Treatment format in which two or more social workers (or other therapists) each treat a single member of a family and coordinate their efforts

Question 80

Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)

Answer 80

A federal income tax credit for low-income workers. The credit reduces the amount of tax they owe (if any) and is intended to offset some of the increases in living expenses and social security taxes. Eligible persons who owe no taxes, or whose tax liability is smaller than their tax credit, receive all or part of the EITC as a direct payment. Some workers are prepaid their credits through their employers as “negative withholding” from paychecks. EITC is administered by the Internal Revenue Service as part of its responsibility for collection of federal income taxes

Question 81

Food Assistance Programs

Answer 81

For example, the Food Stamp, WIC, and school lunch programs. Social welfare benefits for qualified individuals to ensure that their nutritional needs are met

Question 82

Income Maintenance Programs

Answer 82

Social welfare programs that provide individuals with sufficient goods and services or financial aid to maintain a certain standard of living

Question 83

Means Test

Answer 83

Process used to evaluate a person’s financial means or well-being based on his income, debts, health, number of dependents, etc. The results are used to determine the person’s eligibility to receive a benefit. A person who has the “means” to pay for the services he is seeking will be turned down. Examples of mean-tests federal programs and services include Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), the Food Stamp Program, and Medicaid

Question 84

Networking

Answer 84

Efforts to develop and enhance the social linkages between people by (a) strengthening the quality of existing networks, (b) establishing new networks, (c) creating linkages among various networks to engender more competent support, and (d) mobilizing networks

Question 85

Planned Change Process

Answer 85

A deliberate series of actions directed toward improving a client’s social functioning or well-being. Includes five phases (intake and engagement; data collection and assessment; planning and contracting; intervention and monitoring; and final evaluation and termination) and the involvement of four main systems (change agent system, client system, target system, and action system)

Question 86

Resocialization Group

Answer 86

A self-help or therapy group that helps members adjust to new social roles (e.g., the members may be newly divorced)

Question 87

Selective Eligibility

Answer 87

Social service delivery policy in which benefits and services are provided to only persons who meet specific, pre-established criteria; eligibility is often determined by using a means test. The amount of the benefit varies based on special needs, circumstances, or economic status

Question 88

Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

Answer 88

A social security program. A federal income supplement program funded by general tax revenues (not social security taxes). SSI is designed to help aged blind, and disabled people who have little or no income and provides cash to meet basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter. Basic requirements for SSI eligibility involve citizenship, income, financial resources, age, and disability. Since the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, SSI eligibility is generally restricted to U.S. citizens living in one of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, or the Northern Mariana Islands. However, eligibility is still possible for non-citizen members of certain classes of refugees or asylees, active duty or retired military personnel and their families, and lawful permanent residents who have earned or can be credited with 40 quarters of social security covered employment

Question 89

Unemployment Insurance

Answer 89

Social security program designed to provide partial income replacement to regularly employed members of the labor force who become involuntarily unemployed. All workers whose employers contribute to or make payments in lieu of contributions to state unemployment funds are eligible if they become involuntarily unemployed and are able to work, available for work, and actively seeking work, and register at a public employment office. Unemployment benefits are subject to federal income taxes

Question 90

Case Management

Answer 90

A procedure used to identify, plan, access, coordinate, and monitor services from different social agencies and staff on behalf of a client. Clients needing case management services usually have multiple problems that require assistance from multiple providers, several problems that need to be addressed at the same time, and special difficulties in seeking and using help effectively

Question 91

Combined Therapy

Answer 91

Intervention model in which a client participates concurrently in both individual therapy and group therapy

Question 92

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)

Answer 92

EMDR was originally developed as an intervention for PTSD. It combines rapid lateral eye movements with exposure and other techniques drawn from cognitive, behavioral, and psychodynamic approaches. Some research suggests that its effectiveness does not depend on rapid eye movements but, instead, on exposure to the feared event.

Question 93

Food Stamp Program

Answer 93

Social security program designed to improve the diets of poor and low-income families by enhancing their ability to buy food. The program issues monthly allotments of coupons that are redeemable at retail food stores or provides benefits through electronic benefit transfer (EBT). The EBT system allows food stamp customers, using a plastic card similar to a bank card, to buy groceries by transferring funds directly from a food stamp benefit account to a retailer’s account. Households cannot use food stamps to buy alcoholic beverages or tobacco, lunch counter items or foods to be eaten in the store, vitamins or medicines, pet foods, or nonfood items (other than seeds and plants)

Question 94

Information and Referral Service

Answer 94

Agency (or office within an agency) that notifies individuals about existing programs, resources (including referrals to other services), and benefits and how to obtain and use them

Question 95

Mediator

Answer 95

A role of social workers. As a mediator in direct practice, a social worker settles disputes between conflicting parties and restores communication between them (e.g., disputes between a client and provider or between the members of a family). As a mediator in indirect practice, a social worker helps factions within a community or organization resolve their differences or disagreements. A mediator stays neutral, tries to understand the positions of both parties, help the parties clarify their respective positions, etc.

Question 96

OASDHI (Old Age, Survivors, Disability And Health Insurance)

Answer 96

The OASDI program (commonly known as “social security”) is the largest income-maintenance program in the U.S. The program provides monthly benefits designed to replace, in part, the loss of income due to retirement, disability, or death. Coverage is nearly universal (approximately 96 percent of jobs in the United States are covered). Workers finance the program through a payroll tax that is levied under the Federal Insurance and Self-Employment Contribution Acts (FICA and SECA)

Question 97

Practice Guidelines

Answer 97

Systematically developed statements to facilitate practitioner and patient decisions about appropriate health care for specific clinical circumstances. Developed on the basis on empirical (observed) evidence of efficacy and serve several purposes including standardizing and improving the quality of client care; helping clinicians identify the most effective treatment approaches for specific disorders; and reducing the costs of health care

Question 98

Resource Systems

Answer 98

Resource systems in communities include (a) societal resource system (e.g., social service agencies and programs and health-care and educational systems) that provide specific kinds of assistance to community residents; (b) formal resource system (e.g., voluntary membership organizations such as congregations and civic groups); and (c) informal resources systems that perform mutual support activities and include family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers

Question 99

Self-Determination

Answer 99

Principle in social work practice that recognizes clients’ need and right to make their own decisions and choices

Question 100

Supportive Counseling

Answer 100

Counseling in which the emphasis is on providing reassurance, guidance, support, encouragement, explanation, and opportunities to express emotions and reinforcing a client’s healthy and adaptive patterns of thought and behavior

Question 101

Universal Eligibility

Answer 101

Social service delivery policy in which benefits or services are provided in the same amount to all individuals in the nation rather than on the basis of need, circumstance, or economic status. This policy can take the form of universal programs, such as OASDI (social security) and Medicare. Universal programs are open to everyone who falls into a certain category; people are not required to undergo tests of need or income