SWK291

Timed Online Assignment – January 2021 Semester

Social Work Practice and Skills Lab I:

Working with Individuals and Families
Tuesday, 18 May 2021 7:00 pm-10:30 pm
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Time allowed: 3.5 hours

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INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS:

1. This Timed Online Assignment (TOA) contains FOUR (4) questions and comprises
THREE (3) pages (including cover page).

2. You must answer FOUR (4) questions.

3. If you have any queries about a question, or believe there is an error in the question, briefly
explain your understanding and assumptions about that question before attempting it.

4. Upon completion of your assignment, submit it online to your TOA group of this course in
Canvas, inside the “Assignments” section, in the “Written” folder.

5. You MUST submit your answers by the end time of this TOA (as stated on this cover
page). The 15 minutes grace period as shown on Canvas is strictly meant for technical issues
encountered during submission. Thereafter, you will not be able to submit your answers and
you will be considered as having withdrawn from the course. No appeal will be allowed.

6. The end time will be based on the server time as found on submission page at the “Written”
folder in the “Assignments” section of your TOA group. You may wish to visit the
submission page at the start of the paper to sync your clock with the server time.

7. Your submission should consist of only one file and must not exceed 500MB in size. The
file must be a Microsoft Word file saved in .docx format. All answers are to be typed. For
the drawing of any genogram, ecomap or other diagrams, you may choose to either complete
the drawing digitally, or complete the drawing manually and insert the photograph inside the
word document of your submission. Images of handwritten answers will not be marked.

8. To prevent plagiarism and collusion, your submission will be reviewed by Turnitin. The
Turnitin report will only be made available to the marker and you will not be able to view it.
 

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9. The University takes plagiarism and collusion seriously, and your Turnitin report will be
examined thoroughly as part of the marking process. 

Please answer ALL questions. (100 marks)

Case Study

The family comprises Mr Ivan Ho, 53, his wife Ms Stacey Ho, 50, and their three
children. Ivan is a taxi-driver while Stacey is a homemaker. Ivan was working as a
manager at a shipping firm before he was laid off without any compensation due to the
Covid-19 situation, about 9 months ago.

The couple has three school-going children. The eldest, Alvin is 18 years of age and is
in his second year in the polytechnic. Brian is 16 years old and studying at the Institute
of Education (ITE). Cathy, 12 is the youngest child. She is sitting for the Primary School
Leaving Examination this year.

The family was referred to your agency for counselling because of Brian. He was called
into the school principal’s office for getting into a fight with his course mate. Fortunately,
the class teacher had arrived in time to stop the fight. No one was hurt. The school had
also raised the need that Brian has been caught falling asleep several times during the
lesson and has not been submitting his homework on time.

After having a brief discussion over the phone with Ivan, you gather more information
about the family.

Ivan used to be the closest to Brian as he is the most sensitive of the three children.
Though Brian did not do as well academically as his other 2 siblings, he was always the
most cheerful and helpful child at home. He was very caring towards all family members.
Mr Ivan shared that he started drifting away from Brian with his long work hours. He
shared that it was important that he had enough finances to support his 3 children. Stacey
used to work as a cashier but had to quit due to her medical condition. Though Mr Ivan
used to have some savings, most of it went into paying for Stacey’s medical bills. She
had to go through surgery due to her Thyroid condition. She is still undergoing regular
follow-ups at Sengkang General Hospital.

According to Ivan, Brian had become very quiet and withdrawn after he found out that
his father had lost his job. It was also during that time that Stacey had to go through the
surgery. The whole family was overwhelmed with all these sudden changes. It was during
that time that Brian had first suggested that he quit school and find a job to supplement
the family’s income. Brian’s parents were totally against this idea.

You also learn that the family is close to their next-door neighbours, Ms Sharifa and Mrs
Ravi. They often help run errands and even cook for Mr Ivan’s family. Mr Ivan and his
wife’s extended family members are in Malaysia. They are very close-knit but have been
unable to support one another due to the travel restrictions.

You decide to call for a family session to speak with all members.

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Answer all the following questions based on the case study above.

Question 1 (24 marks)

You have been assigned this case. Demonstrate and analyse FOUR (4) needs of the
family that requires your immediate attention and follow up. Identify and explain how
would you use any ONE (1) principle of Saleebey’s Strengths Perspective during your
intervention stage with the family.
(24 marks)

Question 2 (20 marks)

Examine FOUR (4) systems (formal or informal) that you can tap on in your intervention
with the family. Discuss how these systems will be able to better support the family.

(20 marks)

Question 3 (40 marks)

Based on the case study, you intend to meet up with the whole family for your first
session. Appraise any TWO (2) benefits of meeting with the whole family. Describe any
FOUR (4) engagement skills you intend to use during the family session. Illustrate how
each of these skills could aid in building a good client-social worker relationship.

(40 marks)

Question 4 (16 marks)

Outline any FOUR (4) social work roles that you would take on when speaking to Mr
Ivan and his family members. Describe your roles with relevant examples from the case
study.
(16 marks)

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