Archive for February 2013

Family Therapy and the ASWB Exam

11:10 PM 0
There's lots to know about family therapy in order to do it well. It order to test about family therapy, you need to know lots less.  Here are some helpful family therapy summaries on the web:


Getting familiar with the Mental Status Exam

Getting familiar with the Mental Status Exam

11:07 PM 0
If you've done intakes in a social work setting, great--it's as if you've been studying for the exam while you worked. Lots of ASWB exam items cover the very questions that social workers face at first contact with clients. Where best to refer?  How best to treat?   And, of course, what's going on with this person?  That is, what emerges when you do a Mental Status Exam?

A working knowledge of the Mental Status Exam, and the terms it contains, gives you a leg up come exam day.  Here are a few links that'll walk you through the basics:

You too can manage your ASWB exam anxiety

7:26 AM 0
Worried about taking a 170-question, 4-hour exam?  Of course you are.  At least a little.  Here are some resources for managing test anxiety via the Social Work Test Prep study tips page:
Still anxious?  Here are a couple of thick anxiety workbooks--good for clients, good for you:
TL; DR: Breathe!

Maybe the ASWB exam is easier than you think

11:29 PM 0
A provocative post--How to Prepare for the LCSW Exam--points to a different, potentially anxiety-reducing approach to the test:  Skip the questions! 
[T]wo sample questions provided in ASWB’s Candidate Handbook...brought to mind some research by Albright and Thyer (2010). Albright and Thyer gave the Clinical practice test (from the $30 Study Guide) to 59 first-year MSW students. More precisely, they gave the answers only, without the questions. In other words, the MSW students were looking at something like this:
(A) Work with the foster parents on a behavior modification plan
(B) Suggest that the child’s teacher refer him for special education placement
(C) Refer the child for assessment for fetal alcohol syndrome
(D) Work with the child’s biological mother toward reunification
and that’s all. There was no question; just the four possible answers to choose from. These 59 MSW students had to guess what the question was about, or just forget that and try to imagine which answer would be most favored by ASWB. Logically, these MSW students should have been right about 25% of the time: they would guess one out of four at random, making them wrong, on average, for three out of every four questions they answered. Ah, but that’s not what happened. According to Albright and Thyer, these 59 MSW students averaged a score of 52%. Not bad, considering that ASWB said that states tend to require correct answers on between 94 and 107 (i.e., between 63% and 71%) of the 150 scored questions on the exam. Mere guessing, without anything other than the wording of the possible answer, could apparently be almost enough to put a person over the line.

"How I Passed the ASWB Exam"

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ASWB Exam Audio: The Social Work Podcast

11:37 PM 0
If you've found your way here, you've likely already discovered Jonathan Singer's long-running podcast, The Social Work Podcast.  But have you put the site to use in your ASWB exam prep?  If not, there's lots awaiting you. 

A handful of episodes cover, theory-by-theory, the very material that you need to know for the exam.  This is especially true of some earlier episodes.  More recent posts feature interviews with social workers focused on various topics that may be out of the scope of the exam, but listening to them is a good way to soak up what it means to be a social worker.  The exam is testing for that.  So have at 'em!

Exam DSM: Schizophrenia

Exam DSM: Schizophrenia

11:41 PM 0
To save you some poking around following the Schizoaffective Disorder post, here's the criteria for Schizophrenia, also via Behavenet:

Diagnostic criteria for Schizophrenia:

A. Characteristic symptoms: Two (or more) of the following, each present for a significant portion of time during a 1-month period (or less if successfully treated):

(1) delusions

(2) hallucinations

(3) disorganized speech (e.g., frequent derailment or incoherence)

(4) grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior

(5) negative symptoms, i.e., affective flattening, alogia, or avolition

Note: Only one Criterion A symptom is required if delusions are bizarre or hallucinations consist of a voice keeping up a running commentary on the person's behavior or thoughts, or two or more voices conversing with each other.

B. Social/occupational dysfunction: For a significant portion of the time since the onset of the disturbance, one or more major areas of functioning such as work, interpersonal relations, or self-care are markedly below the level achieved prior to the onset (or when the onset is in childhood or adolescence, failure to achieve expected level of interpersonal, academic, or occupational achievement).

C. Duration: Continuous signs of the disturbance persist for at least 6 months. This 6-month period must include at least 1 month of symptoms (or less if successfully treated) that meet Criterion A (i.e., active-phase symptoms) and may include periods of prodromal or residual symptoms. During these prodromal or residual periods, the signs of the disturbance may be manifested by only negative symptoms or two or more symptoms listed in Criterion A present in an attenuated form (e.g., odd beliefs, unusual perceptual experiences).

D. Schizoaffective and Mood Disorder exclusion: Schizoaffective Disorder and Mood Disorder With Psychotic Features have been ruled out because either (1) no Major Depressive, Manic, or Mixed Episodes have occurred concurrently with the active-phase symptoms; or (2) if mood episodes have occurred during active-phase symptoms, their total duration has been brief relative to the duration of the active and residual periods.

E. Substance/general medical condition exclusion: The disturbance is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication) or a general medical condition.

F. Relationship to a Pervasive Developmental Disorder: If there is a history of Autistic Disorder or another Pervasive Developmental Disorder, the additional diagnosis of Schizophrenia is made only if prominent delusions or hallucinations are also present for at least a month (or less if successfully treated).
Exam DSM: Schizoaffective Disorder

Exam DSM: Schizoaffective Disorder

11:26 PM 0
The DSM is too thick and too detailed for you to memorize everything in it.  Happily, the ASWB exam tends to focus on the disorders that you might be expected to encounter in front-line social work:  Things like Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, Major Depressive Disorder, Panic Disorder, Personality Disorders...and, highlighted here via Behavenet, Schizoaffective Disorder.  Can be tricky.  Learn it!

Diagnostic criteria for 295.70 Schizoaffective Disorder:


A. An uninterrupted period of illness during which, at some time, there is either a Major Depressive Episode, a Manic Episode, or a Mixed Episode concurrent with symptoms that meet Criterion A for Schizophrenia.

B. During the same period of illness, there have been delusions or hallucinations for at least 2 weeks in the absence of prominent moodsymptoms. 
 
C. Symptoms that meet criteria for a mood episode are present for a substantial portion of the total duration of the active and residual periods of the illness. 
 
D. The disturbance is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication) or a general medical condition. 

What's the most important part of the Code of Ethics to learn for the ASWB exam?

1:49 AM 0
Is there a most important part of the NASW Code of Ethics to know for the ASWB exam?  Probably not.  It's all there for a reason and any part of it may show up on the licensing exam.

But if you were in a huge rush and could only review parts of the Code, some highlights:

1.03 Informed Consent
(a) Social workers should provide services to clients only in the context of a professional relationship based, when appropriate, on valid informed consent. Social workers should use clear and understandable language to inform clients of the purpose of the services, risks related to the services, limits to services because of the requirements of a third-party payer, relevant costs, reasonable alternatives, clients' right to refuse or withdraw consent, and the time frame covered by the consent. Social workers should provide clients with an opportunity to ask questions.
(b) In instances when clients are not literate or have difficulty understanding the primary language used in the practice setting, social workers should take steps to ensure clients' comprehension. This may include providing clients with a detailed verbal explanation or arranging for a qualified interpreter or translator whenever possible.

It goes on from there...

1.07 Privacy and Confidentiality
(a) Social workers should respect clients' right to privacy. Social workers should not solicit private information from clients unless it is essential to providing service or conducting social work evaluation or research. Once private information is shared, standards of confidentiality apply.
(b) Social workers may disclose confidential information when appropriate with a valid consent from a client, or a person legally authorized to consent on behalf of a client.

Plenty more where that came from...

2.04 Disputes Involving Colleagues
(a) Social workers should not take advantage of a dispute between a colleague and employer to obtain a position or otherwise advance the social workers own interests.
(b) Social workers should not exploit clients in disputes with colleagues or engage clients in any inappropriate discussion of conflicts between social workers and their colleagues.

But really, learn the whole thing. It's not all that much information and yes, you will be tested on it!

 

Wait, which version of the DSM am I supposed to study?

9:27 PM 0
ASWB's answer on aswb.org--depends if you're taking the exam before or after January, July 2015. DSM-5 will start showing up then. Till then, the big, grey DSM-IV-TR is still the one to study. 
UPDATE: Social Work Test Prep's been keeping tabs. As of April, the DSM-5 will start showing up on the ASWB exam in July, 2015. (Californians will see DSM-5 questions sooner--BBS exams will debut them in December, 2014.)
 
 
Staring Down the ASWB Exam

Staring Down the ASWB Exam

8:32 PM 0
You've beaten more difficult obstacles, no doubt about it. The ASWB exam can be an especially unwelcome one. You've already earned your degree, you've gotten your hours...now this?

Yes, now this.

It's tough, but it's not impossible.  Every licensed social worker out there has gotten through it and so can you.  This blog's aim is to help.

Suggested start, the most basic of basics:  Go to ASWB.org and see what they've got to say.  It's their exam, so they know a thing or two about it.  Linked there, the candidate handbook, content areas ("KSAs"), an interesting question writer application packet (offering insight to ASWB's process).  Lots more. 

You will be licensed.  It's just a matter of time.
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