This assignment is designed to enhance ability and improve therapeutic techniques for change talk by developing and applying open-ended questions, affirming, reflecting and summarizing(OARS) skills with an individual client in treatment.
Recall from our understanding of Motivational Interviewing approaches, “OARS” is an acronym for
asking open-ended questions,
Affirming
Reflecting, and summarizing by collecting, linking and making transitions.
The OARS skills in this course focus on strategies for responding to change talk from the client. Refer to the Miller and Rollnick (2013)readings from Week 2 (specifically use Chapter 6: Core Interviewing Skills and Chapter 14: Responding to Change Talk as guides).
Select one of the following as your “client in treatment”: a) current client or only if this is not possible b) case vignette (provided to you by your instructor). Please discuss either option with your instructor prior to making your final decision about the client in treatment.
Using your client in treatment as an example, consider how you would apply OARS skills during a session. You have been working with this client for some time and are further along in the therapeutic relationship (i.e., following engagement and rapport-building stages) and have been meeting with the client for a few months.
Please use the following prompts to guide the organization, structure and content of your assignment:
Briefly describe the presenting problem and the unique strengths of the client. (10 points)
Include a description of the client’s intersectionality and the ways in which social and economic justice impact their overall wellbeing. This includes a description of any impact of the macrosystem on the individual’s functioning and their wellbeing (15 points)
Drawing from your descriptions to #1, #2 above, reflect upon potential incongruities between the values, norms and worldview that you do not share with the client. Write about and summarize your reflection and consider how this might influence your ability to communicate empathy and compassion. (15 points)
Develop (1) specific, measurable, action-oriented, realistic, and timely (SMART) goal that is relevant to client situation, time-bound, and realistic to the scenario (refer to the Hepworth et al., 2017 readings from Week 3). (15 points)
Identify (1) intervention with the potential to work through the identified goal and draw from scholarly literature to use supporting evidence that justifies the effectiveness and use of the intervention with the individual in meeting their stated goal(s). (20 points)
Develop at minimum (2) examples of practitioner dialogue for each OARS skill. You will imagine (or if at all possible implement this session) and describe the session with your client in treatment and prepare [and implement] (2) example statements each for a) open-ended questions, b) affirming, c) reflections and d) summaries. Please label your use of each of these strategies in your paperYou can choose to develop (if hypothetical) or describe an actual (if implemented) dialogue that covers any change talk, particularly as it relates to #5 above. (25 points)
Academic Paper Guidelines
Select one of either a current client [preferred] or the provided case vignettes.
The paper should:
be 5-7pages in length (not counting the title page or reference list)
double-spaced
with 1-inch margins on all sides
with 12-point Times New Roman font
Insert page numbers starting with the title page.
Use subheadings (in bold font) to organize your paper. See APA Manual for levels of headings guidelines.
Do not restate the vignette or the questions in your paper, though you can identify the client as a heading, if desired.
Throughout the paper, please provide conceptual and empirical evidence to support your intervention, referencing a minimum of 3 scholarly works (at least 2 of those must be found outside of the 5101 and 5102 syllabus).
The references found outside the syllabus should be bolded on the reference page.
I will attach the chapter 14 reading and the Hepworth et al., 2017 reading in the attachment files, I couldn’t find the chapter 6 reading. Also, I will attach the rubric for this assignment. I will attach an sample OARs Skills paper for you to look over as well.
I will also attach some vignettes scenarios, you may chose one to use or you can come up with your own client to complete this assignment.
