Socw 6530 wk 2 peer response | SOCW 6530 – Social Work Field Education IV | Walden University

SOCW 6530 wk 2 peer response

Respond to the blog posts of three colleagues in one or more of the following ways:

• Validate      an idea in your colleague’s post with your own experience.
• Make a      suggestion to your colleague’s posting.

Say hello and peer name each one must be a separate response with name and full reference at the end of each. I have provided each peer blog.

PEER 1: Cheeia Xiong  

An explanation of potential challenges for engagement in field education experience

A potential challenge I have experience during engagement in my field education is language barrier. The clients we serve are Spanish speaking primary and they feel more comfortable with a Spanish speaker. I have found myself unable to connect with them and often rely on a interpretor to translate our conversation. Language barrier is a potential challenge I see in the social work field as well. I currently work for DaVita and we have a clinic with only Vietnamese population. The patients only speak Vietnamese and they do not allow an interpretor to join the conversations. Either you have to speak the language or the patient is non compliant which makes it hard for anyone who is not Vietnamese to engage with them. Another challenge I have experience is trust which results in lack of rappor. It can start from language barrier, however, it is hard to build a rapport with a client when they feel that you don’t understand them. 

An explanation of personal action plans you might take to address engagement in your field education experience

First, I think it is extremely important to have stakeholders and build that partnership. I currently work alongside case managers and when they introduced me such they already have a rapport with the client. One way I have found that work for me is through cultural competent. I go the extra mile to learn about who they are and what they enjoy that way when I am engaging with my clients they feel that I truly care about them. To further elaborate, we knew of a Holiday this client celebrated and I asked if he will be attending the event. He immediately got so excited that I knew about this event and had so much to share. Also another personal action plan I have is to learn basic Spanish, I recently learned how to say “Hi, how are you? I’m doing well.” It surprises the clients and I can immediately tell they start to open up. The last personal action I have for myself is to reach out to my supervisor when I feel that I am unable to engage with my clients. I believe it is important to address it sooner than later. It will also give me advices on how to approach my clients as well. 

Reference: 

Birkenmaier, J., & Berg-Weger, M. (2018). The practicum companion for social work: Integrating class and fieldwork (4th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson. Chapter 2, “Socialization into the Social Work Profession” (pp. 34-61)

PEER 2: David Jones 

An explanation of potential challenges for engagement in field education experience

Engagement is important to connecting and developing interpersonal relationships with clients. The engagement process involves developing a mutual agreement about client goals and the most effective interventions. Engagement is universal to all client and social worker interactions (Tetley, Jinks, Huban & Howells, 2011). When trying to engage clients, challenges can surface. One challenge is language barriers. It can be difficult to build rapport when the client speaks a different language. Another challenge is engaging difficult clients. Some clients are resistant to change. They can be demanding, rude, and hostile. Building relationships with the difficult client also takes more time. Establishing a social worker-client relationship is the best way to engage clients in helping themselves.

An explanation of personal action plans you might take to address engagement in your field education experience

Because engagement is critical to developing interpersonal relationships with clients, it is important to create a plan. The first step in the plan is to build rapport. Rapport is built through respect and building trust. This begins with clear and honest communication. The second step in the plan is to connect with the client. Connections are made through positive interactions (Pope & Kang, 2011). The third step in the plan will be to focus on client goals. I will work with the client to help them problem solve and identify specific life goals. Lastly, I will encourage clients to complete tasks to reach these goals. Engaging client is key to helping them navigate life problems.

References

Pope, N. D. & Kang, B. (2011). Social work students’ attitudes about working with involuntary

clients. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 31, 442-456.

Tetley, A., Jinks, M., Hubans, N. & Howells, K. (2011). A systematic review of measures of

therapeutic engagement in psychosocial and psychological treatment. Journal of Clinical

Psychology, 67(9), 927-941.

PEER 3: Sasha Ritchie 

An explanation of potential challenges for engagement in field education experience:

Some challenges to patient or family engagement to the hospice experience are denial of end-of-life, language barriers, cultural differences, and lack of quality of care (Ingebretsen & Sagbakeen, 2016). Infinity Hospice does its very best to ensure the patient and their loved ones have exceptional support when in hospice services. However, engagement to services are at time lacking from either the patient or their family members. Some factors are there are cultural difference. In each culture the dying experience is a unique process varied in views. This week I had the opportunity to work with a patient who is primarily Spanish speaking. When providing support to the loved ones, its requirement education to understanding what comfort care and the hospice philosophy is. The assessed the emotional distress the family members are currently under and provide therapeutic emotional support with additional resources for services. Though the family members did not outright deny services, they did say they were fine without additional services for now. The family disclosed being in denial over the patient’s terminal diagnose and states they have hope that the patient will pull through. When the family is at high-risk for revoking hospice services, I must thread the waters to this very carefully because it is undetermined if the patient themselves would agree or not to being on hospice. We still want to honor their wishes while also keeping the family engaged in hospice services with self-determination (Murdach, 2011).

An explanation of personal action plans you might take to address engagement in your field education experience:

To overcome these challenges or address issues to engagement, I ensure that the family and patient understand all services offered with Hospice Care. Next, building rapport is a crucial step in ensuring family feels supported in the difficult time with witnessing their loved one, the patient transition. There is also the concern of ‘follow through’. In hospice there is a team of professional, nurses, physicians, chaplains, and social workers all working together to ensure the needs of the patient and family are met. At times, certain promises might be made by another discipline in which a different professional may be held accountable to uphold. For example, with hospice patients many may have a last wish that nurse say social workers can help fulfill. In situations like this, the social worker than is put in a position where the patient feels this promise must be fulfilled. Working with the team and proper communication is then important to ensure once again, engagement is addressed.

Reference

Ingebretsen, L. P., & Sagbakken, M. (2016). Hospice nurses’ emotional challenges in their encounters with the dying. International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being, 11, 31170. https://doi.org/10.3402/qhw.v11.31170

Murdach, A. D. (2011). What happened to self-determination? Social Work, 56(4), 371–373.