Asking questions is part of social work practice while discussing with the client about a problem. Open-ended questions will enable me to prompt the client to intricate more on the problem as a social worker. The open question should allow the client to open up more about the issue. For instance, I can ask a parent, “Tell me about your relationship with your son,” by asking that the client is free to open up about the problem with ease. When preluding a case, I can use closed questions to get the identifying information I need from the client. For instance, I can ask a student, “Where do you live?” and the response will be a single direct answer. Moreover, I learned that open and closed questions should be designed so that they don’t confuse or make the other person uncomfortable. Finally, questions can change the subject or imply there is only one answer to a question. In pursuit of a client’s problem, I may need to bring up complex issues that involve the client’s well-being. Confrontation can be used to compel the client to open up on issues they are avoiding or denying. For instance, when engaging a teen with substance abuse, I may emphasize the long and short-term effects on the client’s well-being. The effectiveness of confrontation is not determined but should be non-judgmental. Confrontation can lead to high dropout rates, client noncompliance, and poor outcomes (Summers, 2015). Alternatively, exchanging views is another method of bringing up sensitive issues with more demonstration of support to the other support. Allowing a collaborative exchange on the problem allows the client to give me their point of view, and I respond with my point of view that I think the client should consider vital in social work. I can use I-Messages to initiate an exchange of views to reference my viewpoint.
Reference
Summers, N. (2015). Fundamentals of case management practice: Skills for the human services. (5th ed.). Cengage Learning.