Assignment Code: MSW-014/TMA/2022-23

Course Code: MSW-014

Assignment Name: Relevance of Social Case Work in Counselling

Year: 2022-2023

Verification Status: Verified by Professor

Answer all the five questions. All questions carry equal marks. Answers to question no. 1 and 2 should not exceed 600 words each.

Q1) What is industrial social case work? Discuss roles and responsibilities of social case worker in industrial settings.

Ans) Industrial social work is the practise of utilising social work knowledge, abilities, and ideals to solve problems at the workplace. This is not just welfare work as it is commonly understood in businesses and organisations. Much more than that is involved. The social work position might range from family therapy to supporting the worker's family to being a part of an employee assistance programme. Workplace social work or occupational social work are other names for industrial social work. The majority of social work roles in the workplace are clinical in nature, and social case work is a common approach.

Industrial social work is a field of practise defined by Bradley and Jolme as one in which social workers care to the needs of employees in the workplace through the design and implementation of suitable interventions to promote healthier individuals and settings. Smith claims that occupational social work gives practitioners the chance to rationalise and humanise modern society by improving an organization's sensitivity to employee equality, opportunity, and respect.

Roles of Social Case Worker in Industrial Settings

Social case workers play a crucial part in ensuring that all employees are treated fairly and with respect at work, as well as in delivering services that enhance their social functioning and productivity. They accomplish this by engaging in case studies in an industrial setting. Employee assistance programmes place social workers in human resources and healthcare departments of businesses, organisations, and government agencies to offer health and social services to staff members and their families. Social workers assist individuals in coping with pressures from the workplace or personal issues that have an impact on the quality of their work and home lives. The employees or members of their families are frequently the focus of the social workers' work.

There are numerous instances where workers who received casework assistance from social workers were able to perform better at work. This method often entails a series of hour-long interviews, usually once a week; the client and the therapist frequently come to a rough understanding regarding the number of interviews that will occur. On the most fundamental level, they strive to ensure safe, drug- and alcohol-free workplaces. A worker needs understanding of the biopsychosocial elements that impact a person's work life as well as an understanding of small group dynamics and organisational behaviour in order to effectively manage difficulties in the workplace. Social workers make an effort to identify solutions to pressures both inside and outside of the workplace.

Tasks of Social Case Worker in Industrial Settings

1. Counselling for the whole family, both individually and in groups, as well as home visits are provided in order to adapt job preferences, personality, and other issues at the level of prevention.

2. Taking an active part in industry-sponsored CSR programmes and community development programmes.

3. Management of employees and efficient correction of labour management issues.

4. Industrial therapy.

5. Interventions in case studies.

6. Help with health and education, including referrals to other organisations.

7. Coordination of social services with other social service organisations.

8. Employee education

9. Family life education and family planning.

10. Recreation management for employees.

Q2) How counselling can add value to the social case work practice? Discuss in detail with the help of relevant examples.

Ans) Different models represent the duties and responsibilities of counsellors in the workplace. The models listed below are not mutually exclusive, nor are they an exhaustive list. Here, we present seven models.

1. Counselling Orientation Models: It is distinguished by the fact that the primary component of what is provided to employee clients uses a counselling approach. Most counsellors adhere to, are associated with, and are frequently trained in a specific therapeutic style that they apply when dealing with clients from organisations. Companies that were more interested in the individuals hired than the theoretical direction from which they originated appointed individual counsellors. The organisational aspects of counselling practise are usually disregarded as the major focus is nearly entirely on individuals.

2. Problem Focused Models: According to the problem-focused model of counselling, a counsellor's job is to assist clients in resolving any immediate issues they bring up. Even though these issues might not totally be related to the workplace, counselling only deals with current situations. An example of this can be found in a training guide for workplace counsellors.

3. Work Oriented Models: The work-oriented therapy is so called because the only difficulties addressed are those that prevent a person from doing their work. Counselling is limited to problems that interfere with finding and keeping a job. Work-oriented counselling approaches identify the current issue as a workplace problem and deal with it. They return to work as soon as possible without taking the time to address the root causes of troubles or showing interest in matters that are unrelated to those at work. For managers seeking value for their money and wanting to believe that time spent receiving counselling is for the benefit of the organisation through the client, this paradigm is appealing.

4. Manager Based Model: Although it is uncommon, some organisations have a propensity to see managers as akin to counsellors for their employees. It is only a small step to advance managers into the counselling profession given that they spend a lot of time managing and working with individuals. Nixon and Carol have vehemently opposed managers assuming an official counselling role. They believe it crosses moral and ethical lines and puts workers in a difficult position by requiring them to be prepared for career appraisals with the same management while also expecting them to discuss personal matters with them.

5. Externally Based Models: Counselling models that are externally based are ones that are imported and purchased from other organisations. They are managed and structured from the outside and typically take the shape of an EAP. Any model, or even a combination of models, may be used in the format.

6. Internally Based Models: To work with employees, a part-time, full-time, or in some cases a team of counsellors is hired. The counselling service may operate independently or as a division inside an already established department.

7. Welfare Based Models: Counselling is one of the roles that is combined with employees. In the past, welfare officers have been employed by a variety of organisations to carry out a variety of tasks based on the needs of the clients, including befriending, information sharing, advocacy, home visits during illness, providing legal and financial advice, advising on a variety of topics, and counselling.

Q3) Answer any two of the following questions in about 300 words each: 10x2

a) What are the similarities between social case work and counselling?

Ans) One of the methods used in social case work to get the client ready to take part in the treatment plan is counselling. It implies that there are certain parallels between casework and counselling, including:

1. Similar Objectives: The goal of social case work is to assist a specific client in resolving his psycho-social issues in a way that will enable him to deal with them now and in the future, should they recur. Counselling attempts to help people overcome their current difficulties, get ready for their future tasks, and become more effective in handling their challenges.

2. Similar Type of Clients: In case work and counselling, a "client" is a man, woman, or child who needs assistance in some element of his social-emotional living, shelter, or counselling. They can also need tangible goods.

3. Similar Type of Problems: The issues covered by social case work are those that have a significant impact on or are impacted by someone's social functioning. In case work, the client believes that his issues are caused by interactions between himself and other people or his surroundings. The client receives assistance in some self-readjustment in respect to the requirements and expectations of the social position he plays. Help is also given with some aspects of his social environment that need to be adjusted. The client may require counselling if he discovers that his inner issues are having such an impact on his social functioning issues.

4. Relationship: In both casework and counselling, the client is assisted through the channel of the connection. The client's capacities can be mobilised through this process, which runs throughout the entire casework and counselling process. Every step of the process interviewing, research, diagnosis, and treatment is scheduled.

5. Worth and Dignity of the Individual: Case The client is treated as an individual with the right to hope and the ability to reorganise as a person of worth and dignity in both work and counselling. He has the right to exercise independent judgement while making decisions.

6. Common Principles: Social case work and counselling both support treating each client as an individual, regardless matter how similar their problems may be. Both encourage the client to express himself and accept him as he is. The clients are not subjected to the case worker or counsellor’s own opinions. The client has the right to choose the best course for a quick recovery from malfunctioning.

b) Discuss five phases of social case work in detail.

Ans) The three stages of social case work practise, according to Mary Richmond, are social investigation or psycho-social research, diagnosis, and treatment or management. These three phases have been separated into five sections in modern social casework practise, namely:

1. A social investigation or study is a methodical examination of the client and his or her surroundings in relation to the issue at hand. According to Mary Richmond, a case worker in social studies must gather all relevant information that, when put together through deductive and inductive reasoning, would disclose the client's personality and the circumstances so that the right course of action could be adopted.

2. A client's social status and personality are attempted to be as precisely defined as feasible through assessment. The client comes to the employee for assistance as they look for the root of the issue.

3. The goal of a social case work intervention is to reduce client suffering while restoring, maintaining, or improving social functioning in a needy person. The comfort, contentment, and self-realization of the client are to be improved. This can call for improving the ego's capacity for adaptation and the way in which the person circumstance system works.

4. Termination denotes the completion of a procedure that started when the client consented to participate in a social case work interventive process. Both the employee and the client must agree on the method of termination. When a worker is confident in a client's capacity to deal with current circumstances and emerging ones, that stage is known as termination.

5. The process of evaluation is one in which the effectiveness and success of the process are sought after. It is the activity that determines whether the social casework process has succeeded in achieving the case's objectives. In social case work, evaluation gives caseworker and client the critical feedback they need to know whether the intervention programme is succeeding as intended.

Q4) Answer any four of the following questions in about 150 words each: 5x4

a) Why 'relationship' is foundational to the case work practice?

Ans) The foundation of social casework is referred to as a relationship. It is crucial that the caseworker and client have a good working relationship. The fundamental law of life is what gives study, diagnosis, and treatment life and transforms casework into a vibrant, genuinely human endeavour. Social work flourishes because it respects people for who they are at their core and helps them realise their full potential as human beings.

The caseworker-client relationship serves as the conduit via which knowledge of human nature and the individual is applied; knowledge on its own, without the ability to build rapport, is insufficient. Relationships are also the conduit through which the entire casework process flows; through them, the capacities of the individual and the resources of the community are mobilised; additionally, interviewing, research, diagnostic, and treatment skills are mobilised.

b) What are the emerging roles of social case workers in post-pandemic health care?

Ans) The three main levels of health care application prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation are typically covered by services in health settings. It is acknowledged that individual social workers may only operate in one setting or blur the lines between all three in order to meet the varied needs of their clients, families, and communities.

1. Prevention: Focuses on reducing the prevalence of sickness or dysfunction in a community by altering stressful settings and enhancing a person's coping skills. Promoting and maintaining good health through education, paying attention to acceptable standards for fundamental needs, and taking specific precautions against known hazards are all part of prevention.

2. Treatment: Encompasses early diagnosis, intervention, and treatment with the goal of reducing the prevalence of a condition or dysfunction. Individuals who are experiencing acute symptoms, emotional trauma, interpersonal issues, stress, or crisis are the focus of treatment activities, which also include advocacy, risk management, risk assessment, individual, couple, family, and group counselling, as well as intervention or therapy. All interventions in social work are built on relationships.

3. Rehabilitation: Reduces the effects of disorder or dysfunction and entails the provision of services for re-training and rehabilitation to ensure that the person makes the most use of their remaining capacities. Individual, couple, family, and group interventions to develop knowledge and skills, the provision of specialised residential, vocational, and leisure resources, and advocacy to ensure the development of necessary services and to change community attitudes are just a few examples of rehabilitation activities that are focused on clients who are disabled by mental illness.

c) What are various ethical issues involved in the case work?

Ans) Confidential information is anything that is typically kept out of the public eye, such as a fact, a condition, or knowledge of such things relevant to a person's private life. Biestek disclosed three categories of private data:

1. The information that, if exposed, would disparage, harm, or unfairly console the person is considered a natural secret. No of the type of connection, everyone is obligated to protect natural secrets.

2. After learning the secret knowledge, the confident person makes a guarantee that the caseworker will keep it a secret. This is known as a Promised secret. The topic matter may contain libellous information about the client's private life that the client does not want made public.

3. Information shared with a confidant with the prior explicit or implied understanding that the topic will not be exposed is referred to as an entrusted secret. There may or may not be a natural secret included in the topic.

Confidentiality in professional relationships encompasses all three categories of secrets. The ethical obligation of the case worker to maintain the client's confidence is always assumed. Without the case worker sharing the information with co-workers/teammates, the agency would not be able to offer assistance.

d) Discuss the relevance of social case work practice in India.

Ans) Case work concepts are viewed differently by social case work practitioners in India. They contend that only a democratic society can successfully undertake social case work. Democracy connotes freedom and self-fulfilment in the practise of social case work. In the context of India, the ideas of fulfilment and self-expression coexist with the idea of adhering to social norms. According to this theory, a person does not have the right to express themselves or choose an action that they are capable of or would like to take.

In Indian society, each person is still essentially a contributing member who is linked to his or her original group. His or her group teaches him or her how to control themselves and what traits they should hide in order to be accepted by other members. If he or she deviates from social norms, they risk being rejected or mocked by their community. In other words, the customer won't have the right to individualism or the right to self-determination in the Indian setting.

Q5) Write short notes on any five of the following questions in about 100 words each: 4x5

a) Empathy

Ans) Being able to put oneself in another person's shoes and empathise with them are two definitions of empathy. It could happen on its own or be the result of carefully learned "hearing with the third year" and tuning in to the other person. Empathy entails considering a scenario or issue from the viewpoint of another individual. By using empathy, the case worker may accurately, and unison communicate to the client how well they understand their dilemma. Empathy differs from compassion in that the latter fosters a sense of being supported by another person. The act of feeling into and absorbing another person's essence in the present time is known as empathy. The client feels valued and understood when they experience the caseworker's empathy.

b) Social History

Ans) It is generally agreed that understanding someone requires knowledge of his or her early experiences, family and social affiliations, and general way of life. However, the goal of taking a client's history is to obtain as clear a picture of the external, actual social situation as possible, as well as the client's subjective perception of it. For a case worker, social history is crucial because if it is correctly constructed, therapy relationships won't suffer. A thorough social history is necessary for a diagnosis and may prevent one from receiving an early or inappropriate course of treatment.

c) Leading Questions

Ans) These inquiries are phrased in a way that is intended to elicit a specific response. For instance:

1. Is your behaviour upsetting your wife?

2. Do you agree that that is a good course of action?

3. You must be feeling better about it now.

d) Social Diagnosis

Ans) The term social diagnosis was first used in the early nineteenth century by Mary Richmond. She broadened and systematised the variety of sources from which social workers might gather the facts while emphasising the concept of evidence and its judicial evaluation. A diagnosis is a description of the road of discovery, the end result, and the process by which it was discovered. Neither the endless collection of information, while facts must be gathered and organised, nor the professional categorization of particular behaviours, though the importance of behaviours must be acknowledged, are part of the diagnosis process.

e) Process Recording

Ans) A process recording is essentially a verbatim written account of a client engagement. It is a narrative account of everything that occurred during a client interaction, including the employee's emotions and thoughts regarding what has happened. When dealing with people one on one or in a family, process recording is most frequently used. As the case progresses, regular recording is done based on chronologically related material. Process recording has been heavily emphasised in social work school as a teaching-learning method, particularly for aiding field-based learning. All social work education institutes have set standards for Process Recordings, which are written accounts of interviews or other interactions that reflect both the content and the dynamic interaction.