Communication in Social Work - Assignment Example

Communication in Social Work The most important element in social work is the ability to communicate effectively. “Social work is about people. It is also about words” (Rojek et al, 1998: 1). Without an effective exchange between the social worker and the client, there can be no positive progress, meaning there must be reciprocal exchange rather than one-way directives (Seden, 1999: 19). Social workers are required to communicate regarding often very sensitive issues with clients, care-givers, colleagues and officials within a variety of different fields. The idea that this communication is a reciprocal process among all these factions, some of which are not overly amenable to reciprocal interaction, begins to highlight why effective communication skills must be developed for a social worker to be effective. At the same time, it is important to remember that communication does not refer to just words, but also to a whole body of unspoken language that is depicted in letters, tone of voice over the phone or body language and facial expression in face to face meetings. According to Koprowska (2005: 6), “The quality of the relationship and the quality of communication are deeply connected with each other … Communication is by definition interactive.” To help foster effective communication skills, it is helpful to both practice and analyse practice as a means of determining what was done well and what could be improved upon. Toward this end, a video recording of one social worker’s encounter with a client will be analysed to determine what was effective and what could be improved. The video analysed is available through Facebook, submitted by Gavin Lacey. It depicts the arrival of a social worker at the home of a young woman with two very young boys. The sound quality is poor, making it difficult at times to discern what is being said, particularly at the beginning when the case is introduced, presumably providing the viewer with the same basic information the social worker has been provided as to this particular family situation. The video spans from the social worker’s arrival at the apartment, through the beginning stages of the initial interview with the young woman. Rather than depicting through to the end of the interview, the video cuts off after approximately three minutes of conversation. The scenario presented in the video is that of Sylvia Walker, the social worker, visiting with Lorraine, a young woman with two young boys who has been reported as not properly caring for the boys. The opening segment of the video reveals that a neighbour called protective services claiming that she has often heard the boys screaming in the apartment and that they were not fed properly. In addition, the neighbour said that they were rarely dressed properly and never clean. Finally, the neighbour has reported that Lorraine is ‘not all there’, insinuating that she isn’t fully mentally competent to be a single mother. The social worker, Sylvia Walker, is introduced and her actions to date are briefly recapped. According to the announcer, she has briefed herself on the nature of the complaints against the client and has sent a letter to Lorraine to set up an appointment and is now visiting at the appointed time. The subsequent interview reveals important elements of communication for a social worker including the importance of preparation, strong negotiation skills, the ability to ask appropriate and non-threatening questions, the use of body language, the need to provide the client with a sense of empowerment and the importance of keeping personal judgment out of the assessment process. The interview is the primary means of contact between the social worker and the client family, which highlights its importance in assuring quality services are provided. Kadushin (1990: 3) supports this, saying, “Although social work involves a great deal more than interviewing, social workers spend more time in interviewing than in any other single activity. It is the most important, more frequently employed, social work skill.” For this reason, it is essential that the social worker be prepared for the interview by having reviewed the case to some extent before the initial meeting. Barker (1995: 195) refers to the interview as a “conversation with a purpose” or as conversation with a “specific and usually predetermined purpose.” In the video, it is mentioned that Sylvia Walker has written a letter to inform the client of her impending visit. This is recommended practice by Travithick (2000: 188-189) as it provides the client with written verification of the meeting while also giving them a record of the date, time, location and purpose for the appointment. Unfortunately, there isn’t much information provided as to how else Sylvia might have prepared for the interview. The client seems unaware of the appointment at the time of Sylvia’s arrival, suggesting that perhaps some form of verification that the message had been received should have been undertaken, perhaps through the use of a phone or a return postage paid response card. Given that the client, Lorraine, seemed unaware of the interview date, it was more important than usual that Sylvia let Lorraine know what to expect. Davies (1985) suggests ten important elements of the interview beginning with ensuring that the client knows the length of the interview and starting where the client is in understanding of the situation. This small oversight can, perhaps, be forgiven in that Sylvia had to resort to negotiation skills in order to secure the interview to begin with as Lorraine felt unsure about the visit and in that this was a first-time visit arranged for assessment of services needed, which may be variable in length depending upon the situation. She does seem to approach the interview with a large dose of sympathy and presents the reasons for the visit in as delicate and non-accusatory terms as possible, telling Lorraine the reason for the visit is because a neighbour had complained that Lorraine “may be having some difficulties trying to cope with the children.” She gives Lorraine a chance to respond and reassures Lorraine that the visit is simply a matter of protocol as a means of removing judgment and providing the client with a sense that she will still be given an opportunity to tell her own side of the story. Sylvia Walker uses questions to help her assess the situation in Lorraine’s home, following many of the recommendations brought forward by the experts, but does so in a less than effective way. Egan (2002) suggests social workers concentrate on asking more open ended questions when attempting to open up conversations with clients. This helps to “create a safe emotional environment” even while it encourages the social worker to be an active listener, providing the client the opportunity to relate their experiences in a less accusatory, judgmental atmosphere. Sylvia, though, begins the conversation with a suggestion that Lorraine is completely on her own in raising the two boys, instantly placing Lorraine on the defensive as she insists that she isn’t on her own all the time. Although she quietly gives Lorraine time to explain why she is not alone all the time, the question she asks to prompt this answer is a closed question: “How often does he come?” It is only because Lorraine is on the defensive that she answers as completely as she does. The next question Sylvia asks is the type of loaded, accusatory question that Jacobs (1985) indicates social workers should avoid as she confronts Lorraine about allowing the older of the two boys, still in diapers, to use cooking devices, again putting Lorraine on the spot and forcing her to respond defensively. The only open-ended question Sylvia asks in the entire three minute interview is ‘why doesn’t Shane go to nursery?’ Egan (2002) recommends social workers should avoid using ‘why’ questions because they end up sounding accusatory and are sometimes difficult for the client to answer. While Sylvia manages to keep a sympathetic tone in her voice throughout the interview, with one harsh sounding question regarding children cooking, she does not seem to be practicing the type of active listening recommended for greatest possible benefit. “If listening is open with positive unconditional regard and lack of negative judgement, this offers the gift of space and the discharge of internal pain leading to a sense of control over the self which is empowering” (Cornwell, 1990, in Seden, 2005:26). In study after study it has been found that empowerment is an effective intervention method social workers can use to bring about positive change in a person’s ability to function and to begin to develop a person’s inner strength (Browne, 1995; Cowger, 1994; Kondrat, 1995; Saleeby, 1996; Shera & Page, 1995; Weick et al, 1989). To illustrate Sylvia’s lack of providing any of these communicative supports to Lorraine, thus instigating a positive, empowering relationship between them, LeRiche and Tanner (1998) asks “was the mother’s flat demeanour and low self-agency due to drug use, depression, learned helplessness as researched by Selingman …, an abusive family history, crisis factors such as relationship breakdown, forced house moves, debts, redundancy, illness or feeling anxious in the meeting?” At no point does Sylvia indicate that she truly understands Lorraine’s situation or that she is listening with an open mind as Coulshed & Orme (1998). That Sylvia has no apparent idea how she is affecting Lorraine’s distress and shows no inclination to discover the answer to this question reveals her inability to properly assess the situation as it is. In the end, it is only in the body language that Sylvia Walker expresses that she is there to try to help this young woman. Her body position throughout most of the interview attempts to communicate that she is open and available for Lorraine. “One of the more subtle uses of space is our use of gestures, body position, and other physical cues to communicate our sense of what is going on in a given situation and how we relate to other people” (Schein, 2004: 167). Student social workers are trained to adhere to the SOLER acronym. The letters of the acronym stand for Sit squarely, Open posture, Lean in, Eye contact and Relax. All of these elements can be traced through Sylvia’s body language as she talks with Lorraine, despite the idea, as has been discussed, that her words tend to be more accusatory than empowering or understanding. Lorraine is apparently feeling distressed by Sylvia’s approach as expressed in her body language. Compared to Sylvia, Lorraine is presenting a defensive shoulder to Sylvia’s open posture and remains curled in upon herself in a protective fashion throughout much of the interview. The one time she forgets to keep herself closed, when she is telling her young son to go fix some food, is the one time Sylvia delivers an unquestionably accusatory statement. Knowing that Lorraine is feeling threatened calls into question the validity of her statements as well, insisting that the father of one of the two boys comes around every weekend and her mother comes by two or three times per week. In making an assessment, it is important for a social worker to gather information about the client and several others to determine just what the circumstances are and the true value of support the client has within their established networks. This process only begins with establishing a good relationship with the client, something Sylvia has already negated to some extent through her approach. In this situation, there were really only two of three identified assessment methods available to Sylvia as identified by Milner & O’Byrne (2002). These are the questioning model and the exchange model. The questioning model places the social worker in the expert position and in control. The exchange model emphasizes the need to exchange information, leaving power in the hands of the client as they are considered to be the true expert on their own problems. While Sylvia was occupied assessing the risk factors of the household to the two young boys, meaning the questioning model was an appropriate approach, upon finding the insecure young woman, it may have been more helpful had she adopted an exchange approach instead as a means of discovering the true issues Lorraine was facing, such as the perception that all the other women were looking down on her as mentioned at the end of the video clip. Sylvia’s concentration on her own feelings towards Lorraine prevented her from following up on a more complete analysis of Lorraine’s social network, an important element of the assessment process. “Analysis of peoples’ social networks gives a greater understanding of their social experience and the support or lack of support that they have” (Mitchell, 1969: 2). This element of the visit is not only recognized in the literature, but specified in the 1982 Barclay Report. Social workers are directed to work with networks in three different ways within the report. The first is to identify the most important people in the client’s experience. This was done accidentally within the video as Lorraine attempted to defend herself, indicating that the older boy’s father came to visit on weekends, the mother tried to come by two or three times per week and the younger boy’s father didn’t come around so much anymore because of an ominous-sounding ‘problems’ that should have been followed up. The second ways in which Sylvia is expected to work with networks is to promote relationships between the people who have spent time together, yet instead she is reinforcing the same attitude and experience Lorraine has had in the past that caused her to withdraw her oldest son from nursery. Finally, social workers should attempt to develop networks between people who have shared interests and concerns, an aspect of this relationship that is not available in the video, but one that doesn’t seem overly likely as Sylvia’s approach to Lorraine has proved thus far to be as judgmental as the society Lorraine has withdrawn from. After analyzing this brief video clip of a social worker’s visit to the home of a troubled young mother it is possible to see how easy it is to allow personal feelings and judgment to enter into an interview situation. Although Sylvia follows the recommended steps of setting up the interview and expressing appropriate body language, her questioning method and approach serve to close off the relationship, establishing it as contentious and threatening to the client. This is highly detrimental to the success of the worker/client relationship. Barker (1995: 320) described rapport in a relationship to social work interviews as “the state of harmony, compatibility and empathy that permit mutual understanding and a working relationship between the client and the social worker.” As can be seen in the video, this state of harmony, when missing, only serves to reinforce to the client that they are somehow looked down upon and condemned before their particular circumstances are truly known. This places them on the defensive and reduces the ability of the social worker to bring about effective, positive, healthy change for every individual involved. References Browne, J.C. 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