Week 3: Intervention With Families

Families are complicated systems that continually evolve. The structure of the family system can change due to circumstances that occur within the family or in a social environment. When a family is exposed to a traumatic event, whether it is a spouse returning home from war or a tragedy within the community, each family member is affected. The more members in the family system, the more factors the clinical social worker has to take into account. Finding an intervention that meets the needs of the individual members and the family as a whole can be challenging. No one intervention will fit all families. It is crucial that the intervention is appropriate for that particular family and that it addresses their specific issues.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Analyze evidence-based interventions for families
• Identify behaviors related to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Analyze PTSD interventions for families
• Analyze group process skills

Learning Resources

Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.

Required Readings

Holosko, M. J., Dulmus, C. N., & Sowers, K. M. (2013). Social work practice with individuals and families: Evidence-informed assessments and interventions. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Chapter 10, “Intervention With Families” (pp. 265–294)

Saltzman, W. R. (2016). The FOCUS Family Resilience Program: An innovative family intervention for trauma and loss. Family process, 55(4), 647-659

Wheeler, D. P., & Bragin, M. (2007). Bringing it all back home: Social work and the challenge of returning veterans. Health & Social Work, 32(4), 297–300.

Mullen, E. J., Bledsoe, S. E., & Bellamy, J. L. (2008). Implementing evidence-based social work practice. Research on Social Work Practice, 18(4), 325–338.

Required Media

Laureate Education. (Producer). (2013c). Levy (Episode 1) [Video file]. In Sessions. Baltimore, MD: Producer. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 2 minutes.
Accessible player –Downloads–Download Video w/CCDownload AudioDownload Transcript

Discussion: Trauma and Loss

With seemingly never-ending violence, natural disasters, and soldiers returning home from wars growing numbers of people are suffering long lasting mental health crises. It is imperative for clinical social workers to implement effective interventions that address trauma and loss within families.

For this Discussion, view the “Levy” video.

By Day 3

Post a description of the how the trauma related behaviors evident in the Levy video affect family interactions and the family system. Identify the problems in this case and explain whether these problems would best be addressed through individual treatment, family treatment, or a combination of both. Review the literature and recommend an evidence-based family intervention that might help Jake and Sheri and their sons. Describe how the intervention is implemented and its underlying theory. Explain how this intervention might help the Levy family and ameliorate the presenting problems. Finally, describe why you chose this intervention. Use this week’s resources or the literature to support your conclusions.

By Day 5

Respond to a colleague’s intervention choice that differs from yours. Contrast the underlying theories of the two interventions.  Explain whether you agree or disagree with your colleague’s identification of the problem and recommendation to address the problem through individual and/or family treatment.

Response to the discussion

 Sherene Campbell RE: Discussion – Week 3COLLAPSE

             The Levy video uncovered various trauma related behaviors that obviously is affecting family interactions, as well as the family system.  Jake has been drinking on a daily basis, showing signs of anger, recluse, denial, aggression, unhappiness, irritation, depression, and possible PTSD.  The impact of Jake’s daily alcohol consumption has also affected his livelihood, by preventing him from functioning and going to work.  Sheri also expressed concern about her sons witnessing their father impaired, and in obvious distress (Plummer, Makris & Brocksen, 2014). 

            Based on the problems identified in this case, the family will benefit from both individual treatment and family treatment.  Individual treatment is a joint process between the clinician and the individual involved in therapy.  The common goal for individual therapy is to inspire change, and improve quality of life.  This form of therapy will be very beneficial for Jake to help him overcome the obstacles that has driven him to self-medicate with alcohol.  It can also increase self-awareness, self-growth, and positive feelings, such as compassion and self-esteem (Holosko, Dulmus, & Sowers, 2013).

            Family treatment would also be a valuable source for helping to repair the family dynamics, by repairing parent-child bonds, parental bonds, in addition to working towards rebuilding emotionally secure relationships.  Family treatment will resolve conflicts between family members, address issues of substance abuse or addiction, mental illness, trauma, and behaviors that cause conflict and friction within the family unit.  It will most importantly demonstrate effective ways to improve communication, and resolve conflicts in an appropriate fashion (Holosko, Dulmus, & Sowers, 2013).  The individual and family interventions will focus on cognitive and/or behavioral change, communication skills, parenting skills, family relationships, peer relationships, school performance, and/or social networks (Holosko, Dulmus, & Sowers, 2013).       

            An appropriate evidence-based family intervention that may help Jake, Sheri and their sons would be Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT).  This treatment would focus on the parent-child treatment that uses cognitive-behavioral principles and exposure techniques to prevent and treat PTSD, depression, and behavioral problems (Ramirez de Arellano et al., 2014).  Research shows that TF-CBT successfully resolves a broad array of emotional and behavioral difficulties associated with single, multiple, and complex trauma experiences (Ramirez de Arellano et al., 2014). 

            Focus Family Resilience Program is another evidence-based family intervention that allows families to build their own story about their life experiences.  This intervention will support clients identify, manage, and discuss their emotions, clarify misunderstanding while respecting individual points of view, build on family strengths, and utilize family-level problem solving and goal setting to empower the entire family (Saltzman, 2016).

            TF-CBT and Focus Family Resilience Program were chosen based on how effective they are when considering treatments for reducing trauma-related symptoms, PTSD, depression, problem behaviors, and overall communication within the family system (Ramirez de Arellano et al., 2014).  Focus Family Resilience Program is designed to reduce the likelihood of problematic outcomes for families and members who are “at risk” due to to stress, trauma, or loss and to support the recovery of symptomatic family members by mobilizing supportive and resilience-enhancing processes within the family (Saltzman, 2016). 

References

Holosko, M.J., Dulmus, C.N., & Sowers, K.M. (2013). Social work practice with individuals and families: Evidence-informed assessments and interventions. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Plummer, S., Makris, S., & Brocksen, S. M. (Eds.). (2014). Social work case studies: Concentration year. Baltimore, MD: Laureate International Universities Publishing. ISBN-13: 978-1-62458-012-3 (VitalSource edition).

Ramirez de Arellano, M. A., Lyman, D. R., Jobe-Shields, L., George, P., Dougherty, R. H., Daniels, A. S., Ghose, S. S., Huang, L., Delphin-Rittmon, M. E. (2014). Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Assessing the Evidence. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4396183/

Saltzman, W. R. (2016). The FOCUS Family Resilience Program: An Innovative Family Intervention for Trauma and Loss. Family Process, 55(4), 647-659.

Submission and Grading Information

Grading Criteria

To access your rubric:
Week 3 Discussion Rubric

Post by Day 3 and Respond by Day 5

To participate in this Discussion:
Week 3 Discussion

Assignment 1: Group Wiki Project Summary

Many types of groups can facilitate a successful social work practice. Peer groups, for example, can be very valuable to clinical social workers. In clinical practice, it is helpful to participate in a group with colleagues, to discuss a case or just to seek professional and emotional support. Understanding the roles, communication methods, and goals when working with your colleagues is important for the functioning of the group.

For this project, you will work with colleagues to submit a one-page timeline of your group’s plan to develop a Wiki on a family issue.

Each member of the group will submit a one-page timeline of the group’s plan for developing the Wiki on a family intervention. Include the following:

• Brief description of the family
• Roles/assignments for the group members
• Communication methods
• Timeline of each part being completed, including weekly objectives and goals

2 parents and 1 child 1 parent is struggling with balancing work and home life
Peter 34 yr old (Caucasian male) and Fernando 33 yr old (Latino male) marriedPeter originates from San Francisco, California and Fernando is a first generation American.  His parents are immigrants from CubaPeter and Fernando live on the outskirts of San Francisco and have been married for 3 yrsThey met while in collegePeter has a business degree and Fernando has a BS in nursingThe couple adopted a child about 9 months ago. The child’s name is Jose.  Jose is 24 months old and he originates from Columbia. Peter’s job keeps him very busy and requires him to travel a lot

By Day 7

Submit your Assignment.

Submission and Grading Information

To submit your completed Assignment for review and grading, do the following:

• Please save your Assignment using the naming convention “WK3Assgn1+last name+first initial.(extension)” as the name.
• Click the Week 3 Assignment 1 Rubric to review the Grading Criteria for the Assignment.
• Click the Week 3 Assignment 1 link. You will also be able to “View Rubric” for grading criteria from this area.
• Next, from the Attach File area, click on the Browse My Computer button. Find the document you saved as “WK3Assgn1+last name+first initial.(extension)” and click Open.
• If applicable: From the Plagiarism Tools area, click the checkbox for I agree to submit my paper(s) to the Global Reference Database.
• Click on the Submit button to complete your submission.

Grading Criteria

To access your rubric:
Week 3 Assignment 1 Rubric

Check Your Assignment Draft for Authenticity

To check your Assignment draft for authenticity:
Submit your Week 3 Assignment 1 draft and review the originality report.

Submit Your Assignment by Day 7

To submit your Assignment:
Week 3 Assignment 1

Assignment 2: Assessing Group Process 1

Reflection and self-awareness are important exercises when practicing as a clinical social worker. Journaling is not only useful for clients, but it is a useful exercise for social workers in clinical practice. Understanding one’s own comfort levels is part of practicing as a competent social worker.

Reflect on your experience so far in starting the Group Wiki Project. Describe how your group initiated contact and your level of comfort in working on a project with a group online. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of completing this project as a group.

Group Process Assignments should integrate course concepts related to group process. Assignments should demonstrate critical thought when applying course material to your group experience. Support ideas in your Assignment with APA citations from this week’s required resources.