Chapter 9

Contracting

I. Reflecting an Issue

A. Demonstrate to clients that you understand their view of an identified topic of concern

B. Does not suggest moral approval or professional agreement to work toward its resolution

C. Do not assume that the issues clients first identify will necessarily remain the focus for work

D. Practice Format: Reflecting an Issue

E. Reflecting an issue is a form of active listening

F. Exercise 9-1: Reflecting an Issue

II. Identifying an Issue

A. You may decide to identify an issue that the client did not mention, or you may take a somewhat different perspective on an issue that the client introduced

B. Sometimes you need to assume primary responsibility for issue identification and goal definition

C. Practice Format: Identifying an Issue

D. Exercise 9-2: Identifying an Issue

III. Clarifying Issues for Work

A. Constitutes the first definitive indication that you and the client have agreed to work together toward resolving certain issues

B. It is a fundamental component of the social work contract

C. Specifying issues for work follows naturally from the processes of exploring and assessing the person-issue-situation

D. Practice Format: Clarifying Issues for Work

E. Box 9-2: Sample Outline of Problems/Issues for Work

F. Figure 9.1: Sample Concept Map of Problems/Issues for Work

G. Exercise 9-3: Clarifying Issues for Work


IV. Establishing Goals

A. The second critical element of the contracting process

B. Goals are the aims toward which the social worker and client direct their cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and situational actions

C. The SMART format

1. S - Specific

2. M - Measurable

3. A - Action-oriented

4. R - Realistic

5. T - Timely

D. Definition of effective goals (Egan, 1982)

1. Stated as accomplishments

2. Stated in clear and specific terms

3. Stated in measurable or verifiable terms

4. Realistic (e.g., have a reasonable chance of success)

5. Adequate, if achieved, to improve the situation

6. Congruent with clients’ value and cultural systems

7. Time-specific (i.e., include a time frame for achievement)

E. Do not become so fanatical in your attempt to define goals in a precise manner that you lose touch with the client’s reality

F. Whether stated in specific or general terms, goals should follow logically from and relate directly to the agreed-on issues for work

G. Figure 9.2: Relationship of Service Goals to Problems/Issues

H. Goals are jointly determined with clients and have their consent

I. Practice Formats: Encouraging Goal Identification

J. Practice Format: Reflecting a Goal

K. Practice Format: Proposing a Goal

L. Table 9.1: Sample Table of Service Goals Associated with Agreed-Upon Problems/Issues

M. Table 9.2: Service Goals (In SMART form)

N. Exercise 9-4: Establishing Goals

V. Developing an Action Plan

A. Once goals have been established you engage the client in the process of developing an action plan to pursue them

B. Lifelong learning and critical thinking abilities become particularly relevant in this process

C. You and your client determine what social work role or roles you will play

D. Logistics of meeting place is established

E. Identify possible obstacles and resources that might influence the outcome of your plan

F. Most social work action plans involve change of some kind

G. Regardless of the focus of change, individuals, dyads, families, groups, organizations, communities, or societies that are not ready for planned change, or are not motivated to take action, rarely do so

H. Exercise 9-5: Developing an Action Plan

VI. Identifying Action Steps

A. Some goals are simply too large to accomplish in a single action

B. In identifying action steps, you and the client use the information gained and the hypotheses generated during the description and assessment phases

C. Types of changes

1. Person-focused

2. Situation-focused

3. Changes in one aspect of the person-issue-situation nearly always result in changes in other aspects as well

D. Types of action steps

1. Client tasks

2. Worker tasks

3. In-session tasks

4. Maintenance tasks

E. Practice Format: Identifying an Action Step

F. Practice Format: Proposing an Action Step

G. Table 9.3: Action-Steps Associated with Agreed-Upon Service Goals

H. Exercise 9-6: Identifying Action Steps

VII. Planning for Evaluation

A. Social worker is responsible for evaluating progress toward issue resolution and goal achievement

B. Goal attainment scaling (GAS) (Kiresuk & Sherman, 1968; Kiresuk, Smith & Cardillo, 1994)

C. Table 9.4: Blank Goal-Attainment Scale Form

D. Counting—keep track of the frequency of a particular phenomenon that is integrally related to the final goal

E. Table 9.5: Frequency Count Form

F. Baseline—used as a benchmark for evaluating the effectiveness of your approach

G. Subjective rating—requires that you, the client, or another person make a relative judgment concerning the extent, duration, frequency, or intensity of a targeted phenomenon

H. Table 9.6: Sample Subjective Rating Form

I. Table 9.7: Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS)

J. Figure 9.3: Frequency Count

K. Rapid Assessment Instruments (RAIs)

L. The Clinical Measurement Package: A Field Manual (Hudson, 1982)

M. Measures for Clinical Practice: A Sourcebook (Corcoran & Fischer, 1987, 2000; Fischer & Corcoran, 1994)

N. Exercise 9-7: Planning for Evaluation

VIII. Summarizing the Contract

A. Involves a concise review of the essential elements of the understanding that you and the client have reached

B. Written contracts are generally preferred, with copies given to all parties

C. Guidelines for completing the service contract

D. Example of a service contract: Lynn B. Chase

E. Table 9.8: Action Planning Table: Mrs. Chase

F. Exercise 9-8: Summarizing the Contract

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