SoCW-6060 & 6443-WK5-Responses

RESPONSE 1

Respond to at least two colleagues by in one of the following ways:

·       Offer and support an opinion about the likely outcome based on the theories your colleague described.

·       Make a suggestion for another way in which each theory your colleague described might inform social work practice when working with Tiffani.

·       Expand on your colleague’s posting with more evidence in support of your colleague’s position.

Colleague 1: Shaquahia

Selected Article

                                           The article that I’ve selected in relation to the topic of women in society it titled, “The Role of Women in Society: from Preindustrial to Modern Times.” The article discussed the role of the women in agriculture and distinguished based upon ethnicity. During the preindustrial period, majority of the agriculture work was done by women, although dominated by men. The article centered the women’s role based upon different cultures and marital status. Once the plough was invented, women’s input dwindled or ceased. In modern times, countries with a tradition of plough use, women are less likely to participate in the labor market, are less likely to own firms, and are less likely to participate in national politics.

Feminist Theory 

                                           The feminist theory I selected is liberal feminism. According to Robbins, S. P., Chatterjee, P., & Canda, E. R. (2012) liberal feminism refers to women being basically the same as men and therefore should have equal rights to men. The focus of the theory is for women’s rights to control their own bodies through sexual education and contraception, in relation to abortion rights. This theory relates to social work practice due to the profession being majority women. Due to being a woman dominated field, it shows that women can be in a leadership position as a man could. This feminist theory hasn’t really influenced my understanding of women’s role in society, but rather confirmed my thought process. Often times we hear how men make more money than men, although they can do the same job and this theory opposes that. 

The Bradley Case

                                           The Bradley case better references radical feminism rather than my choice of liberal. Radical feminism focuses on issues of violence against women, including sexual harassment, rape, battering, and prostitution.  My views of women’s roles inform my next steps with Tiffani due to teaching/assisting her with the liberal theory. The case ended with Tiffani overcoming her urge to see Donald, attaining her GED and planning to attend college. Due to such improvement, I would continue to uplift Tiffani and encourage her to be the best she could be. Continue with college and obtain a degree in the study that interests her. Even finding part-time employment while attending college to keep her occupied. 

Reference

Giuliano, P. (2015). The Role of Women in Society: from Preindustrial to Modern Times. Cesifo Economic Studies, 61(1), 33-52.

Plummer, S.-B., Makris, S., Brocksen S. (Eds.). (2014). Sessions: Case histories. Baltimore, MD: Laureate International Universities Publishing. [Vital Source e-reader]. Part 2, “The Bradley Family”

Robbins, S. P., Chatterjee, P., & Canda, E. R. (2012). Contemporary human behavior theory: A critical perspective for social work (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Allyn & Bacon. Chapter 5, “Feminist Theory” (pp. 107–133)

Collegue 2: Jennifer

The roles for women have evolved over time. The roles have changed from being bare foot and pregnant with no equal rights to complete opposite for women in today’s society. In today’s society women have developed rights and have become empowered. Feminism provides insight about certain aspects such as social, political and economic structures for societies; and stresses that gender should be taken into consideration when analyzing the impacts of oppression, domination, power and powerlessness among society (Turner, & Maschi, 2015). Women were not taken into consideration and had equal rights that women have today. Although, women have gained rights and are more established, there is a stigma among society were women struggle with oppression, domination, power and powerlessness. Research has indicated despite social constraints and changes for women across the nation, historically, culture, specific religion and social controls over the female body have been persistent in Turkey that is a lifelong process (Gursoy, William, Sahinoglu, & Yesemin, 2014).  

Social workers are to take many aspects into consideration such as culture race gender etc. Research has indication that the feminist theory is a mode of analysis that encompasses certain ways of thinking, and acting that is designed to transcend women’s liberation by ending oppression of women throughout society (Robbins, Chatterjee, & Canda, 2012). Social worker practice is intertwines with understand women’s roles in society while striving to end oppression. Feminist social work practices are related with empowering others and are sensitive towards the focus on domination and subordination (Turner, & Maschi, 2015). In addition the Ecofeminism theory seeks to end the subordination. The Ecofeminism theory is linked with the domination of women within the environment where women are viewed are closer to nature since women and nature were viewed as being under the control of men (Robbins, Chatterjee, & Canda, 2012). This theory relates to the social work practice to empowering women to gain self-confidence, self-esteem and becoming content with themselves.  The power of control from men in general can manifest into other issues that women are capable to develop. Gender discriminations that have been continuous has led to restriction towards Turkish women’s lives, decompensation of their health, and punishment is implemented of acting contrary to social expectations (Gursoy, William, Sahinoglu, & Yesemin, 2014). Social workers are able to address these issues and empower others. Empowerment is essential to the feminist theory such as seeking to enhance personal and interpersonal and political power of the oppressed for individuals (Turner, & Maschi, 2015).

As a result, research has influenced my understanding of women’s roles among society is despite that women have developed rights, women have continued to struggle with discrimination among certain cultures, religions and race throughout history. This has influenced me as a social worker to continue to strive to end discrimination and meet the client where they are at. Social workers are focused to socially change issues of poverty, unemployment and other forms of social issues among society (National Association of Social Workers, 2008).  

References

Gursoy, E., William, M. F., Sahinoglu, S., Yesemin, G. Y. (2014). Views of Women’s Sexuality and Violence Against Women in Turkey. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 27(2), 189-198. doi:10.1177/1043659614550485 

National Association of Social Workers.(2008). Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers

Robbins, S. P., Chatterjee, P., & Canda, E. R. (2012). Contemporary human behavior theory: A critical perspective for social work (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Allyn & Bacon.

Turner, S. G., & Maschi, T. M. (2015). Feminist and empowerment theory and social work practice. Journal Of Social Work Practice, 29(2), 151–162.

RESPONSE 2

·       Respondto two of your colleagues’ posts by supporting or challenging one of the potential treatments.

·      Explain your viewpoint and provide current scholarly evidence to support your position.

Colleague 1: Kerzell

I selected the case study involving June. June is a 39-year-old female who has been diagnosed with agoraphobia. She lives alone, and she works from home. One of the biggest challenges of treating this disorder would be getting June into the office to be treated. One of the main characteristics of agoraphobia is the feeling of intense fear of anxiety in response to public transportation, open spaces, enclosed places, being in a line or a crowd, and/or being alone when not at home (APA, 2013). Another challenge would be working with June to expose her to her fears as a way to help her adopt methods to cope with her fear and anxiety. Lastly, it could be a challenge to help her become more social since everything that happens in her life seems to place her in a position to be alone. She must begin to work on her self-esteem and her social skills. 

An anxiolytic medication that would be beneficial to June is buspirone (BuSpar). This medication antagonizes the 5-HT1A receptors, and it provides relief of anxiety without the client experiencing sedation or euphoria. This is a first line medication for persistent anxiety, and does not subject the client to dependence or withdrawal (Lichtblau, 2011). Benzodiazepines may also be used to treat June as well. Two common types are alprazolam (Xanax) and lorazepam (Ativan). These medications affect GABA receptors, and they cause muscle relaxation. One of biggest downsides to this medication is that it can cause amnesia (Lichtblau). 

As a mental health professional, this information is very important. June has a number of things going on that can contribute to her agoraphobia. I would stick with the buspirone in conjunction with counseling, and work towards removing her from the medication completely or sparingly. When prescribing medication, it is important to look the lifestyle of the client, and to carefully examine the effects of the medication on the client. Mental health professional should share any and all concerns with the community about any drug therapy. This is not a cookie cutter profession, and sometimes what works for one client may not work for another. 

Reference

American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders

 (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2012a). Anxiety disorder case study: June: Panic disorder with 

agoraphobia[Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Lichtblau, L. (2011). Psychopharmacology demystified. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar, Cengage 

Colleague 2: Dawn

 Treating Anxiety Disorder

There are many challenges of treating the anxiety disorder as in the case of June. She is 39 years old and has no reasoning behind her panic attacks she feels as they came from nowhere (Laureate Education, 2012). She began these attacks as she was out in public she experienced chest tightness and chest pain as she was having a heart attack and fear of losing control in public (Laureate Education, 2012). June also becomes frighten and terrified when these panic attacks begin. The challenges are to understand why the attacks occur because they can begin at any time also everyone goes through a different experience when it come to their anxiety. It also can be challenging to treat because it mimics symptoms of other illness such as fatigue, headache, dizziness, and nausea (Manag, 2005).

Treating June with anxiolytic medications can be effective in treating her anxiety. The anxiolytic medications help send key chemical signals to the brain (Preston, O’Neal, Talaga, 2017).Three potential anxiolytic medications are Alprazolam (Xanax), clonazepam (Klonopin) and diazepam (Valium) (About Anxiolytics, 2017).

It could become a potential problem for June because of the addiction risk of these kinds of medications. June started taking medication 5 years ago and continuing to take these kinds of medication the longer she takes them she could build a drug tolerance (About Anxiolytics, 2017).

Mental health professional’s approach to potential addiction risk is to take an evidence-based approach to screening a person to make sure they are not addicted to their medication (NIDA, 2016). They also can set up the recovery goals to make sure they are not using the medication more than necessary (Nida, 2016). When a patient first comes to seek treatment and engages in counseling and other behavioral therapies they should first try a less addictive medication before prescribing these other types of medication.

As a mental health professional, an important role is to communicate concerns to other health care professionals by monitoring prescription drugs between the prescription programs (Nida. 2016). These programs help monitor through an electronic database and help monitor drug misuse (Nida. 2016).

References

About Anxiolytics. (2017). Retrieved from  http://www.healthline.com/health/anxiolytics#takeaway6

NIDA. (2016). Misuse of Prescription Drugs. Retrieved from https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/misuse-prescription-drugs on 2017, June 27

Laureate Education (Producer). (2012a). Anxiety disorder case study: June: Panic disorder with agoraphobia[Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Preston, J. D., O’Neal, J. H., & Talaga, M. C. (2017). Handbook of clinical psychopharmacology for therapists (8th ed.). Oakland, CA: New Harbinger. Chapter 9, “Anxiety Disorders” (pp. 107-122) Chapter 18, “Antianxiety Medication” (pp. 217-226)

Manag. A.J.(2005). Anxiety Disorders in the 21st Century: Status, Challenges, Opportunities, and Comorbidity With Depression