MSW - Master of Social Work MSW-FREE Master Of Social Work 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: According to the NASW Code of Ethics, when a social worker's personal values conflict with a client's autonomous choices, the social worker's primary obligation is to:
- Refer the client to another professional immediately
- Uphold the client's right to self-determination (Correct answer)
- Disclose personal values to help educate the client
- Suspend services until the conflict is resolved
Correct answer: Uphold the client's right to self-determination
The NASW Code of Ethics identifies self-determination as a core value; social workers respect and promote clients' rights to make their own decisions, even when those decisions conflict with the worker's personal values, as long as the client is not causing harm.
Question 2: A social worker who focuses on identifying a client's existing resources, resilience, and capabilities rather than emphasizing deficits and pathology is applying which perspective?
- Psychoanalytic perspective
- Problem-saturated perspective
- Strengths-based perspective (Correct answer)
- Diagnostic and statistical perspective
Correct answer: Strengths-based perspective
The strengths-based perspective, associated with Dennis Saleebey, shifts the focus from what is wrong with a client to what capacities and assets the client already possesses, empowering them to leverage those resources toward change.
Question 3: In Roberts' Seven-Stage Crisis Intervention Model, what is the FIRST step a social worker should complete when working with a client in acute crisis?
- Establish rapport and a therapeutic relationship
- Assess lethality and immediate safety needs (Correct answer)
- Explore and define the presenting problem
- Generate and evaluate coping alternatives
Correct answer: Assess lethality and immediate safety needs
Roberts' model begins with a thorough assessment of lethality, dangerousness, and immediate safety because the worker must determine the level of risk before any other therapeutic work can proceed.
Question 4: In clinical social work practice, 'countertransference' is best defined as:
- A client unconsciously projecting feelings onto the social worker
- The social worker's emotional reactions and responses toward the client (Correct answer)
- The formal transfer of a case file from one worker to another
- A cognitive-behavioral technique for reframing distorted thoughts
Correct answer: The social worker's emotional reactions and responses toward the client
Countertransference refers to the social worker's own emotional reactions—positive or negative—triggered by the client; recognizing and managing countertransference is essential to maintaining professional objectivity and ethical practice.
Question 5: A social worker who campaigns for state legislation to increase funding for community mental health services is primarily engaged in which type of advocacy?
- Case advocacy
- Cause advocacy (Correct answer)
- Administrative advocacy
- Forensic advocacy
Correct answer: Cause advocacy
Cause advocacy (also called class advocacy) targets systemic or policy-level change to benefit broad populations, whereas case advocacy focuses on securing services or rights for a specific individual client.
Question 6: Which therapeutic approach is based on the premise that clients are the experts on their own lives and uses externalizing conversations to separate a person's identity from their problems?
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT)
- Narrative Therapy (Correct answer)
- Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)
Correct answer: Narrative Therapy
Narrative Therapy, developed by Michael White and David Epston, holds that people construct meaning through stories; externalizing the problem—treating it as separate from the person—allows clients to reauthor their life narrative from a position of agency rather than shame.
MSW - Master of Social Work MSW-FREE Master Of Social Work 1
According to the NASW Code of Ethics, when a social worker's personal values conflict with a client's autonomous choices, the social worker's primary obligation is to: