textbook

• The simplest definition of an interview is ‘a person-to-person interaction that has a definite and deliberate purpose that is recognized and accepted by both participants.’
• The purpose of interviews is to “exchange information systematically, with a view toward illuminating and solving problems, promoting growth, or planning strategies or actions aimed at improving the quality of life for people”
• Stimulus-response congruence: The extent to which social workers’ responses provide feedback to clients that their messages are accurately received
• Content relevance: The extent to which the content of social workers’ responses is perceived by clients as relevant to their substantive concerns.
• Verbal following involves the use and sometimes blending of discrete skills that enable social workers to maintain psychological contact with clients on a moment-by-moment basis and to convey accurate understanding of their messages.
• Furthering responses indicate social workers are listening attentively and encourage the client to verbalize. There are two types of furthering responses: minimal prompts and accent responses.
• Minimal prompts signal the social worker’s attentiveness and encourage the client to continue verbalizing. They can be either nonverbal or verbal.
• Nonverbal minimal prompts consist of nodding the head, using facial expressions, or employing gestures that convey receptivity, interest, and commitment to understanding.
• Verbal minimal prompts consist of brief messages that convey interest and encourage or request expanded verbalizations along the lines of the client’s previous expressions.
• Accent responses (Hackney & Cormier, 2005) involve repeating, in a questioning tone of voice or with emphasis, a word or a short phrase. Suppose a client says, “I’ve really had it with the way my supervisor at work is treating me.” The social worker might reply, “Had it?” This short response is intended to prompt further elaboration by the client.
• Reflections are used to respond to both content messages and affect. There are several forms of reflection. We will discuss simple, complex, and double sided reflections, as well as reflections with a twist.
• Reflections of content emphasize the cognitive aspects of client messages, such as situations, ideas, objects, or persons (Hackney & Cormier, 2005). Reflecting a content message in response to a client’s thoughts does not mean that you agree with or condone those thoughts.
• Reflections of affect focus attention on the affective part of the communication (Cormier, Nurius, & Osborn, 2009). In reflections of affect, social workers relate with responses that accurately capture clients’ affect and help them reflect on and sort through their feelings.
• Simple reflections, which identify the emotions expressed by the client, are a heritage from nondirective, client-centered counseling. That is, they simply identify the emotion. They do not take a stand or attempt to help the client deal with the emotion. They do not go beyond what the client has said or directly implied
• Complex reflections go beyond what the client has directly stated or implied, adding substantial meaning or emphasis to convey a more complex picture. These reflections may add content that focuses on meanings or feelings that the client did not directly express
• A reframe is another form of adding content. Here, the social worker puts the client’s response in a different light beyond what the client had considered
• Sometimes clients express indecision and conflict between several alternatives. In such circumstances, it is possible to present a double-sided reflection that captures both sides of the dilemma that is fostering ambivalence about acting
• Reflections with a twist are reflections in which the social worker agrees in essence with the dilemma expressed by the client but changes the emphasis, perhaps to indicate that the dilemma is not unsolvable but rather that the client has not at this time solved it
• precontemplation, in which a person has not decided whether an issue exists or whether they wish to address it
• contemplation, in which they are aware of an issue but have not decided whether to take action
• embedded questions that do not take the form of a question but embody a request for information. Examples of embedded questions include “I’m curious about ...,” “I’m wondering if ...,” and “I’m interested in knowing....”
• Responding concretely means using words that describe in explicit terms specific experiences, behaviors, and feelings.
• Here-and-now experiencing that involves emotions toward the social worker (e.g., anger, hurt, disappointment, affectional desires, fears) is known as relational immediacy.
• Concrete responses are also vital in accurately assessing interactional behavior. Such responses pinpoint what actually occurs in interactional sequences—that is, what circumstances preceded the events, what the participants said and did, what specific thoughts and feelings the client experienced, and what consequences followed the event.
• Empathy involves not only being in tune with how a client feels, but also conveying to that client that you understand how he or she feels. It does not necessarily mean you think the client’s feelings are positive or negative, nor does it mean that you are having the same feelings yourself. Empathy is purely acknowledgment that you understand the client’s situation.
• (Failures in Using Empathy) Getting the facts wrong. The [social worker] says, “This is the anniversary of your brother’s suicide… an important day.” The client says, “No, that was last month.”
• (Failures in Using Empathy) Trivializing via excessive universalizing. The [practitioner]… can make the client feel that a uniquely painful situation is being trivialized as just one of a hundred similar instances: “Lots of people feel that way.” “You’re not alone.” “I know lots of women who have lost their husbands.”
• (Failures in Using Empathy) Mistaking personal sharing for empathy. The [social worker]… shares an experience similar to the client’s with the intention of empathizing, but takes the focus away from the client’s story: “I’ve been there myself.” “That happened to me and I know how you must feel.” “When my father died, I…”
• (Failures in Using Empathy) No clinician response. The [social worker]… who is not following closely may miss important moments when an empathic response is sorely needed. The absence of a response at a crucial moment (for example, the [practitioner]… simply says “Hmmm” or leaves a silence) can be experienced as a lack of interest.
• Personality refers to the unique configuration of qualities and attributes that make you an individual.