SOCW6121: Assignment Group Process (Week 9) Wiki Final Project
Assessment of Group Process. The assignments must discuss the group process as noted in Toseland and Rivas (2017). Assignments should be well organized and presented in a scholarly manner, including APA references. Assignments should demonstrate critical thought and ability to apply course material to group experience.
Group C: Balance of Work and Family—Family of 3 (parents and child) concerned due to one parent who is unable to balance work and family demands.
This Project requires peer collaboration, critical thinking, and ongoing research to amass knowledge of an issue that would be presented with when treating a family. This final project encourages ongoing group investigation into a selected treatment approach or model.
The 5000-7000 word Paper should include the following elements: (Be very detailed in responses, use sub-headings and each section should have 550 wordsminimum to meet word count for entire project and use 6 peer reviewed reference)
- Introduction – Bonita
• Description of the family system:
- Develop a case study of a family system starting with the basic description assigned to you. The case study needs to present identifying characteristics of the family including gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, culture, socio-economic status, employment, ability, age, religion.
- Identify and discuss any problems that may be presented to the social worker working with this family. Research the literature in developing your case study to identify potential issues affecting this type. (Don’t worry about this heading)
|
Case Study Balance of Work and Family—Family of 3 (parents and child) concerned due to one parent who is unable to balance work and family demands. The family of 3 (parents and child) concerned due to one parent who is unable to balance work and family demands. Father: Bobby Jones, Caucasian male 31 years of age, married to Linda his High School sweetheart for 12 years right after high school. Daughter: April 12 years of age, average student, shy and isolates herself. Parent’s history Dad name: Bobby Jones, 31 years old Dad works for a Costco as an Assistant Manager, and his salary is a larger part of the income that supports the family. Bobby is taking night classes twice a week to get his bachelor’s degree in Business Management. This will help him advance in his career. He works long hours in a retail job and when he comes home he spends hours on his school work. When he is off from work he feels he needs a break, so he hangs out with his single friends and spends lots of money on drinks and nightlife. He is trying to keep up with his friends, which a few are still single, that were his buddies in High School. Mother name: Linda, 30 years old She works as a teacher’s assistant at her daughter’s school. She has health issues that have caused her to work less. The medical bills have gotten excessive from her repeated health issues. The cost of medical insurance is expensive due to the medications she is taking as she has to pay out of pocket for some since Bobby’s health insurance is not very good. Daughter: April 12 years of age average student, isolates by herself a lot though she has a friend who told her she self-harms to ease her pain she goes through. So April has started experimenting with cutting due to peers around her and having difficulties making friends. Problem: At Home Bobby is either working or when he is home doing school work. When he comes home from being out with his friends he complains that the house isn’t clean and accuses Linda of being lazy, using her health problems as an excuse. They argue about finances and Bobby going out spending money they need for the family household expenses. Bobby ends up storming out and stays with a friend. Linda complains to her daughter she doesn’t feel well and goes to her room leaving April alone for the night. Family history Linda – She grew up in a household of 4 her mother/father, older sister and herself. Linda’s parents both were educated professionals. They spoiled Linda and her sister Sara. They had everything materialistic they wanted but mom and dad traveled most of the time. Her parents were never around and missed many events, so they bought them material items they wanted to compensate for the missed time with them. Which Linda and Sara stayed with grandparents which did everything for them down to ironing their clothes for them. Sara always felt sad when she needed her parents around. But, that’s when she met Bobby a boy at school. Bobby was always so tired from working afterschool. Bobby was always so nice and attentive to her. Bobby made her smile by saying the simplest things and she took to Bobby instantly. Linda and Bobby became immediate friends as she helped him with his homework and studying. Linda was always encouraging to Bobby. Bobby and Linda started dating in their sophomore year of high school and became inseparable from that point. Linda relied on Bobby as much as he did on her. The two of them planned to have a life after high school and after college. Bobby – Bobby grew up in a family of 5. His mother/father and two younger sisters. Bobby’s parents both don’t have education. Bobby’s dad didn’t attend college, but mom did, but she didn’t complete her education due to getting pregnant for Bobby and then his sisters. Bobby’s mom had gotten into a bad car accident which caused her to go through a major depression. His parents went through a strain on their marriage and dad decided he would leave them. His parents divorced when he was about 12 years old. Bobby took on a paper route and helping neighbors with odd jobs to make ends meet at the house. That’s when he met Linda in school. Bobby had a girlfriend that would always help him because he was always tired he couldn’t keep up with his studies. Linda would help him do his homework and help support him when he was down about his dad leaving him. Bobby always felt his dad left him to support the family. Linda and Bobby became sweethearts in high school. The became inseparable from one another. Bobby needed Linda and she needed him. They planned a life with each other Problem
At Home Bobby is either working or when he is home doing school work. When he comes home from being out with his friends he complains that the house isn’t clean and accuses Linda of being lazy, using her health problems as an excuse. They argue about finances and Bobby going out spending money they need for the family household expenses. Bobby ends up storming out and stays with a friend. Linda complains to her daughter she doesn’t feel well and goes to her room leaving April alone for the night. There are many different issues within this family dynamic which needs addressing by the family through professional family and individual sessions with a social worker. The first that needs looked into is the usage of unhealthy coping skills. Bobby (Father) uses alcohol as a coping skill this could be for his wife’s illness, his financial situations and it could have even further underlining issues such as Corney Et al states “many partners became stressed, exhausted, frustrated, and resentful eventually”(P.17) when describing reactions of males whose partners have cancer. April has started using the unhealthy coping skill of cutting herself in order to feel some relief of her situation and to fit in with her peers. Bobby also uses the unhealthy stress management skills of avoidance by staying overnight at a friend’s house when he and Linda (Mother) argue about finances and the house work. Communication between the Bobby and Linda is another area that needs addressed. Both are using ineffective communication because as Holosko ET. Al states “Poor communication equals communication style characterized by angry arguments with yelling and screaming; disagreements remain unresolved” (P.276) which is exactly what happens when Bobby and Linda communicate with each other. An example of this is when Bobby comes home from drinking with his friends only to start an argument with Linda about the house not being clean and her “using the illness as an excuse.” Linda use unhealthy communication and avoidance with April when Linda complains about her illness to her and then leaves her to fend for herself as Linda isolates to her room for the night. |
- Define the extent or scope of the issue by offering specific current statistics of the broader issue.
- Explain which populations may be most affected and whether or not the family your group created for this project matches the typical family addressing this issue.
- Describe techniques of how a social worker would engage with this family and assess the presenting issue.
- Explain any cultural factors that should be taken into account during engagement and assessment.
- Provide scholarly evidence to support techniques.
References
- Chapter 7, “The Group Begins” (pp. 197–230)
- Chapter 8, “Assessment” (pp. 230-263)
- Chapter 11, “Task Groups: Foundation Methods” (pp. 336-363)
- Chapter 12, “Task Groups: Specialized Methods” (pp. 364–395)
