Human Behavior – Development in Midlife Lachman’s (Lachman’s, 2004)
The purpose of the author is to summarize the findings relating to salient issues and themes of midlife such as physical and psychological changes brought by aging, and the balance between work ad family responsibilities. This objective arises from addressing the need to explore midlife developments considering the large demographic shifts in the population. In order to accomplish this, the author reviewed previous studies and summarized the findings from the reviewed research. Furthermore, the concept was highlighted in the article using conceptual frameworks encompassing the study of multiple patterns of changes in midlife. Conclusively, the author was able to identify patterns affecting the changes midlife such as cognitive functioning, social relationships, emotions, personality, physical health, and work. This finding was justified by demonstrating the patterns of gains and losses observed in multiple domains. Primarily, the author assumed that midlife issues were caused by the demographic shift in the population. However, this assumption was contradicted by findings in which multiple domains were identified as the key factors that influence midlife functioning. It appears that the author’s assertion came from the biopsychosocial viewpoint. In this regard, the author’s argument implicates further illumination of the diverse aspects of midlife.
Social Workers and Psychotherapist-Patient Privilege (Morgan and Polowy, 2005)
The purpose of the author in the article is to revisit the case involving the recognition and professional relevance of social workers in providing psychotherapy. This was addressed by highlighting the case of Jaffee v. Redmond involving the protection of psychotherapist-patient privilege. The author presents evidence and data from the court case including the Court decision on Jaffee v. Redmond. In order to demonstrate the concept of psychotherapy-patient privilege in the case study, the author employed the concept of common law to weight the value of the evidence presented in the case. At the end of the article, the author was able to justify its conclusion that the psychotherapy-patient privilege is a recognized common-law applicable for social workers and as a part of the Federal Rule of Evidence. This assumption accords with author’s primary assumption asserting that mental health records, communication, and clinical notes provided by social workers are worthy of the law’s protection. It appears that the author’s viewpoint is coming from the notion that the jobs of social workers are not worthy as evidence in the Federal Court. In addition, the author’s reasoning encompasses an implication towards the recognition of social worker’s role and work accomplishments as substantial evidence in the Court of law.
Minors and the Right to Consent to Healthcare (Boonstra and Nash, 2000)
Social Workers and HIPPAA Security Standards (Morgan and Polowy, 2005)
The purpose of the article is to determine the level of HIPPAA standards compliance that social workers are obliged to follow. The main question that the authors are aiming to address is what HIPPAA security standards that social workers need to adhere to in order ensure confidentiality of the patient’s health information. In exploring the subject of health information security, the most important source of information is the policy guidelines of HIPPAA Security Standards. By employing the qualitative concept of systematic review of literature, the authors was able to draw out the essential details pertaining to the provisions of HIPPAA standards that social workers need to adhere. It was concluded in the article that the implemented HIPPAA Security Standards sets out the requirements for electronic health records that social workers need to comply with. In addition, the social work practices that involve handling health information should accord with the information technology standards outlined in the HIPPAA Security Standards. The findings in presented in the article contradicts with the preliminary assumptions asserted by the authors that the privacy rule of the HIPPAA security standards apply only to electronic form of patient health information. This is also the viewpoint of the authors regarding the rules of health information privacy stating that the rules do not apply to print form of the information, which social workers in some cases are able to access. The implication of the stated viewpoint of the authors is the further investigation and in-depth assessment of the HIPPAA Security Standards, which was found to have its rules applied on all sorts of patient health information regardless of format.
Social Workers and the Duty to Warn (Morgan and Polowy, 2005)
In this article, the apparent purpose of the authors is to determine whether the role of the social workers is governed by the duty to warn or the duty to protect. The main issue addressed in the article is whether the social workers’ interest in their clients is primarily outweighed by the responsibility to protect the third parties from harm. In order to answer given question, the authors reviewed the relevant the legal context behind the concept of the social workers’ duty based on Court cases such as the Jaffee v. Redmond. The key concept applied in the study is more of a case study in which the context of social workers’ duty was examined from Court documents. Based on the assessment of the findings from the reviewed cases in the article, it was found that the majority of the States in the US have implemented policies for psychotherapists to warn potential victims or protect third parties from actions that would potentially inflict harm. This conclusion was justified by stating the relevant State policies describing the role of social workers. In addition, the authors at the beginning of the article also asserted the same assumption, which also conveys the main viewpoint of the authors regarding the issue of social workers’ responsibility. The implication of the author’s reasoning towards the field of social work is to enable a more diverse understanding of the responsibilities of the profession that is not limited to the duty to warn, but also to protect.
Addiction: Why can’t they stop? (HBO, 2007)
The HBO series is comprised of several documents about addiction in which several of them I was able to watch. Looking at the subject matter being highlighted in the documentary series, it is apparent that drug addiction is more of a social dilemma than a criminal offense. One of the characteristics of the documentary that seems common in the series is that the end result of addiction is always perceivable on the implication towards the drug dependent’s family and social being. In one of the episodes, the mother of a teenage girl is desperately looking for help to save her daughter from addiction, which despite of all the efforts of prevention, the daughter still continues to engage in illegal drug addiction. One of the common aspects observed among the teenage drug dependents is the fact that the use of drugs came about as a result of the influence of friends and the social environment.
It appears that social status is never an indicator of who abuses illegal drugs more often because in some of the episodes, the most well off are often more engaged in the habit. On a positive note, the documentary series did not rely solely on the subject of illegal drugs to cover the stories about addiction because it also dedicated several episodes to discuss the other forms of addiction such as alcoholism and abuse of over the counter medicines. Furthermore, the discussion goes beyond the onset of addiction as it also explores the context of addiction from the concept of moral climate, economic, and political aspects of the topic of addiction. In one of the episodes, the subject of addiction was explored on the context of healthcare access, which encompasses the economic and political issues concerning the availability of healthcare provision for rehabilitation and the cost of being rehabilitated.
References
Boonstra, H., & Nash, E. (2000). Minors and the right to consent to healthcare. The Guttmacher Report On Public Policy.
HBO,. (2007). HBO: Addiction: The Films. Hbo.com. Retrieved 12 April 2016, from http://www.hbo.com/addiction/thefilm/
Lachman, M. (2004). Development in midlife. Annu. Rev. Psychol, 55, 305–331.
Morgan, S., & Polowy, C. (2005). Social workers and HIPAA security standards. National Association Of Social Workers.
Morgan, S., & Polowy, C. (2005). Social workers and psychotherapist-patient privilege. Human Behavior.
Morgan, S., & Polowy, C. (2005). Social workers and the duty to warn. National Association Of Social Workers.
