Social Work Assessment And Intervention Plan For Jason, A 16-year-old Chinese Malaysian Teenager

Background of the Case: Conflicted Interests and Gender Identity Crisis

Discuss about the Case Study of Jason Through Social Assessment Framework.

This case study is concerned with Jason who is an 16 year old teenager of Chinese Malaysian ethnicity. Jason’s family history tells that his parents migrated to Australia when he was four years old. Jason has two sisters who were born in Australia. In Jason’s case, the main issue identified is that there is a conflict of interest between him and his parents. His parents want him to pursue higher education and remain in core academics whereas Jason is inclined towards arts. His father wants him to bequeath the legacy of the family business whereas Jason wants to purse arts and aims to build a career in arts. Apart from this conflict of interest between Jason’s family and Jason’s personal interest, another issue has plaguing the family. Recently, Jason has been found to have become withdrawn, reticent and prefers isolation. He has befriended a boy named Troy who is bullied by his peers for his so-called effeminate nature. It is being predicted that Jason’s proximity with the boy has led him to a whirlpool of gender and identity crisis. As a result, Jason have resorted o drugs as a coping mechanism to fight against this complexity. Jason has attempted suicide and has become a patient of depression. Therefore, this case study of Jason would give me, the social work supervisor of Jason’s school to analyse his issues and suggest a social work assessment plan to deal with his problem.

According to Payne (2014), the term assessment refers to the process of collecting information about specific factors that have implications on the life a person like the origin of the person, family, ethnic identity, and membership to a community or an organization. The interpretation of the available information, and identification and assessment of the strength and weakness of the client follow this (Haggerty, 2016). This further entails mutually agreed upon intervention strategies that would alleviate the plight and ordeal of the patients. This selection of the appropriate intervention would be helpful in dealing with the case of Jason. Considering the first step in the procedure of social work assessment it is important to collect information and then embarking on a systematic analysis (Hepworth et al., 2013). In Jason’s case it can be found that his parents have migrated to Australia from China when he was four years old, therefore his ethnic background is different. Secondly, it can be found that he speaks different language from that of the dominant Australians. Thirdly, a communication gap has been widened by the conflict of interest between Jason and his family. On the financial front, Jason’s parents have their family business and there is not enough data to support whether the business is successful. However, given the condition that his family wants him to take over the business it may be assumed that their family restaurant is doing a decent business. Therefore, financial constraint is not an issue in case of Jason. Jason has become completely repulsive towards academics and have a recluse post his friendship with Troy. Art is his passion and therefore, art can be understood as his strength. It needs to be understood that Jason is an involuntary client as he was not the one to approach me with his problems but it was the counsellor of the school who has sent me to assist him. Therefore, I need to make my position and role clear to Jason.

The Role of Assessment in Social Work: Information Collection and Analysis

I would request him to share his views about the changing scenario and the trigger that led him to become a recluse. I would also request him to share his views about his family and is there any tension between the two parties. I would maintain confidentiality and respect the code of ethics during the course of interaction. This assessment will be addressed though a solution-based approach (Groenewoud et al., 2015). The immediate goal would be to identify whether gender is going through a gender identity crisis especially after his interaction with Troy he has felt that he cannot identify with his given gender role.  The short-term goal would be to remove the drugs and anti-depressants in possession of Jason and talk with him. This will enable him to ease his pain and articulate his suppressed voice. The long-term goal would be to rebuild the trust between Jason and his parents. Since, art plays an instrumental role in Jason’s life art therapy can be used where Jason can be asked to articulate his feelings through pictures and therefore, it would become a medium to vent out his angst (Sorokin, 2017). It is also important to find whether the Confucian belief prohibits the gender fluidity and Jason’s family being a strong believer of the Confucian religion may have impact on Jason’s psyche.

After the completion of the initial assessment it can be compounded that the multidimensional approach as propounded by Harms (2010) and the collaborative approach as propounded by Maidment & Egan (2015) is most appropriate in this situation.

The multi-dimensional approach would be effective in understanding the role and impact of different social factors and institutions that circumscribe the life of an individual

Although the above information is useful for the case study of Jason, however the data is not sufficient to address the current issues plaguing his life. Therefore, it can be inferred that there is a lacunae in the information. Some of these gaps are that whether it is the cultural belief that creating any hindrance for Jason to deal with this supposed gender crisis and therefore, seek refuge in drugs and isolation as an alternative. It is important to talk with Troy and study the nature of conversations they had to understand the trigger that pushed Jason to the present situation. Another information, that is absent is that whether Jason has ever tried to communicate about this to his family and in return he was admonished and his voice got suppressed due to the fear of stigmatization. It is also important to know whether there is any history of drug addiction in Jason’s family. Supplement of all these information would be more helpful in studying the situation of Jason.

Intervention Plan for Jason: Solution-Based and Multidimensional Approach

After gathering all these information, a transformation can be brought in the life of Jason through synergy and help. The first step would be to contexualized the situation of Jason to understand whether there are any internal beliefs that have exacerbated his present situation. The next step would be to outline the goals that he aims to achieve and the hallmark of these sessions that I am going to conduct with Jason (Milner & O’Byrne, 2015). Therefore, keeping all these in mind, my intervention strategy would involve two steps one would be to ensure that there are necessary resources so that his goals are met without any problem. The second strategy would be to ensure that Jason is able to identify the strength and tap its use. The third strategy would be slacken the communication gap between Jason and his parents and sensitize his family about Jason’s internal conflict and that he needs the support of his family to come out of this situation. Considering his present academic decline, my suggestion would be to the academic skill unit of the school to take care of him and pay attention to class participation. Regarding his drug addiction, my role would be to sensitize him about the negative impact of drugs on the mental and physical health of an individual (Trotter, 2015). Since art can play a therapeutic role, I would keep him busy with art work. I would also place him away from Troy as the presence of the latter may have negative impact for Jason and hinder in his rehabilitation. I would also meet and talk with Jason’s parents, understand their viewpoints and make them collaborators in the recovery of Jason. This will foster a closer bond between Jason and his family.

The Australian Association of Social Work (AASW), 2010 along with Socila Work Practice Standards would guide me in the adoption of values and ethics in dealing with the case of Jason. My goal would be to prioritize Jason’s interest and make him a participant in his recovery. I would not try to make him feel guilty for drug abuse but rather would be a friend and embolden him to come out of the situation. I would keep all our conversations confidential and sensitize him about his right as a client. Since he belongs to a different ethnic background it would be my responsibility to respect that diversity and proceed with the intervention. Since he is dealing with identity crisis, I need to ensure that he does not feel stigmatized.

Ethical Dilemmas in Social Work Practice

One ethical dilemma in this context is that I do not have the adequate knowledge about his ethnicity and the cultural practises. This may make my position as an outsider all the more prominent. Secondly, I need to ensure that at no point Jason feels stigmatized or ashamed of his activities (Giurgiu & Marica, 2013). The third ethical dilemma would be to convince his family to under the dimension of gender fluidity and the possibility of an alternative career choice for Jason based on his interest.

Conclusion

Therefore, it can be stated that Jason should be intervened through a solution centred approach and a multi-dimensional approach to deal with his drug abuse. Jason’s family should also be made participants in this endeavour as it would provide Jason the necessary support to battle his declining mental and physical health condition. During the course of the intervention, I would maintain the professional and personal ethics and values of social work as enshrined in AASW Ethics (2010) and Practice Standards (2013).

References

Australian Association of Social Workers. (2010). Code of Ethics. Retrieved from https://www.aasw.asn.au/

Australian Association of Social Workers (2013) Practice standards. Canberra: AASW.

https://www.aasw.asn.au/practitioner-resources/practice-standards.

Giurgiu, L. R., & Marica, M. A. (2013). Professional values in social work students and mid-career practitioners: A comparative study. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences,76, 372-377.

Groenewoud, S., Van Exel, N., Bobinac, A., Berg, M., Huijsman, R., & Stolk, E. A. (2015). What influences patients’ decisions when choosing a health care provider? Measuring

preferences of patients with knee arthrosis, chronic depression, or Alzheimer’s disease, using discrete choice experiments. Health services research, 50(6), 1941-1972.

Haggerty, K. (2016). Ethics creep: Governing social science research in the name of ethics. In Engaging with Ethics in International Criminological Research (pp. 29-51). Routledge.

Harms, L. (2010). Understanding human development: A multidimensional Approach (2nd ed.). Australia: Oxford University Press.

Hepworth, D.H., Rooney, R.H., Rooney, G.D., Strom-Gottfried, K., & Larsen, J. (2013).

Direct social work practice: Theory and skills (9th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole. Chapter 14.

Maidment, J., & Egan, R. (20015). (Eds.) (3rd ed.). Practice skills in social work and welfare: More than just common sense. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen and Unwin.

Milner, J., & O’Byrne, P. (2015). Assessment in social work. (4th ed.). New York: Palgrave,Macmillan.

Payne, M. (2014). Modern social work theory (4th ed.). Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

Sorokin, P. (2017). Social and cultural dynamics: A study of change in major systems of art, truth, ethics, law and social relationships. Routledge.

Trotter, C. (2015). Working with involuntary clients: a guide to practice. (3rd ed.). St. Leonards, Australia: Allen and Unwin.

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