Writing Homework Help

A.        Independently locate a SOCIAL WORK article which presents an actual example of using a SSD to evaluate social work practice. You can pick ANY intervention and ANY problem.   Write out the complete APA style reference to your paper (include linkable DOI if available), and prepare written answers to the questions noted below.  A SOCIAL WORK article is either one appearing in a SOCIAL WORK journal (not counseling, psychology, medicine, etc.) OR which is authored/co-authored by one or more professional social workers.  A SOCIAL WORKER is someone with a social work degree (e.g., BSW, MSW, Ph.D. in social work).  No credit will be given for reporting on a non-social work article.  Locate an article NOT previously mentioned in our textbook or other work.  The article you locate should clearly involve making use of a SSD, and present the data in the form of the line graph, and data from individual clients.  Do not report a study involving large numbers of people, or that makes use of a survey methodology, needs assessment, client satisfaction, pre-, quasi- or true experimental design, or solely qualitative analysis.

Answer the following questions about your article.

1.         What was the issue/problem being addressed?

2.         Who were the clients?

3.         How as the problem/issue assessed?  Was this approach reliable? Valid?

4.         What was the intervention?  Were there any fidelity checks?

5.         What was the type of SSD used to evaluate outcomes?

6.         What were the apparent results and how persuaded were you of the authors’ conclusions?

7.         What was a limitation/weakness of this study?  A strength? 

8.         How could this study have been improved?

B.        Pick a clinical problem or issue of interest to you, and design an experimental (e.g., ABA, ABAB, MBL) SSD evaluation of an intervention of interest to you, in determining the effects of the treatment with a single client, group, family or couple.  Use the following headings in preparing your response:

Clinical Situation

           (Describe the issue or problem the client(s) are bringing to you)

Outcome Measure(s)

(Describe how you will assess and measure the clients’ issue, repeatedly over time.  Defend your choice of outcome measure, by describing its practicality, reliability and validity, how you will obtain the requested information, direct measures of behavior, rapid assessment instrument, reports of others, client self-report, physiological measures, etc.).  

Intervention(s)

(Describe your intervention here.  Ideally you will locate and apply an intervention which has credible research support.  Provide supportive citations from the empirical literature to justify your choice of interventions)

Single System Research Design

(Describe your chosen single system design.  I want you to use an experimental design, which means it must include withdrawal phases and/or multiple baselines which are staggered.  Use withdrawal phases if you have an intervention which effects are NOT likely to produce enduring change, and a multiple baseline design for treatments whose effects are anticipated to be more durable).  Include at least 5 data points per phase.  

Ethics  

           (Describe why you believe that the approach you have planned is ethically appropriate)

Graph  

           (Prepare a computer-generated graph of your design, containing hypothetical data             depicting a strong effect of treatment, e.g., it really looks like the treatment was effective.