©JUSTTRACY EXAM SOLUTIONS
12/11/2024 9:05AM
ASWB Social Work Exam Questions
And Reviewed Answers
Systems Theory - answers✔✔Views human behavior through larger contexts, such as
members of families, communities, and broader society.
When one thing changes within a system, the whole system is affected
Systems tend toward equilibrium and can have closed or open boundaries
Social workers need to understand interactions between the micro, meso, and macro levels
Ecomaps and genograms can help to understand system dynamics
Understanding "person-in-environment" is essential to identifying barriers or opportunities
for chnage
Closed System - answers✔✔uses up its energy and dies
Differentiation - answers✔✔becoming specialized in structure and function
the more a client can be an individual while in emotional contact with the family. Allows a
client to think through a situation without being drawn to act by either internal or external
emotional pressures
Entropy - answers✔✔closed, disorganized, stagnant; using up available energy
Equifinality - answers✔✔arriving at the same end from different beginnings
, ©JUSTTRACY EXAM SOLUTIONS
12/11/2024 9:05AM
Homeostasis - answers✔✔steady state
Input - answers✔✔obtaining resources from the environment that are necessary to attain the
goals of the system
Negative entropy - answers✔✔exchange of energy and resources between systems that
promote growth and transformation
Open system - answers✔✔a system with cross-boundary exchange
Output - answers✔✔a product of the system that exports to the environment
Subsystem - answers✔✔a major component of a system made up of two or more
interdependent components that interact in order to attain their own purpose(s) and the
purpose(s) of the system in which they are embedded
Suprasystem - answers✔✔an entity that is served by a number of component systems
organized in interacting relationships
Throughput - answers✔✔energy that is integrated into the system so it can be used by the
system to accomplish its goals
Family Theories - answers✔✔a family systems approach argues that in order to understand a
family system, a social worker must look at the family as a whole, rather than focusing on its
members
it is useful in understanding and managing individual problems by determining the extent to
which such problems are related to family issues
Equifianlity - answers✔✔the ability of the family system to accomplish the same goals
through different routes
, ©JUSTTRACY EXAM SOLUTIONS
12/11/2024 9:05AM
Interdependence - answers✔✔individual family members and the subsystems comprised by
the family system are mutually influenced by and are mutually dependent upon one another.
What happens to one family member, or what one family member does, influences other
family members
Genograms - answers✔✔diagrams of family relationships beyond a family tree allowing a
social worker and client to visualize hereditary patterns and psychological factors
Family Therapy Approaches - answers✔✔establish a contract with the family, examine
alliances within the family, identify where power resides, determine the relationship of each
family member to the problem, see how the family relates to the outside world, assess
influence of family history on current family interactions, ascertain communication patterns,
identify family rules that regulate patterns of interaction, determine meaning of presenting
symptom in maintaining family homeostasis, examine flexibility of structure and accessibility
of alternative action patterns, find out about sources of external stress and support
Strategic Family Therapy - answers✔✔the social worker initiated what happens during
therapy, designs a specific approach for each person's presenting problem, and takes
responsibility for directly influencing people
Built on the communication theory
is active, brief, directive, and task-centered
more interested in creating change in behavior than change in understanding
based on the assumption that families are flexible enough to modify solutions that do not
work and adjust or develop
assumption that all problems have multiple origins
, ©JUSTTRACY EXAM SOLUTIONS
12/11/2024 9:05AM
therapy focuses on problem resolution by altering the feedback cycle or loop that maintains
the symptomatic behavior
social worker's task is to formulate the problem in solvable, behavioral terms and to design an
intervention plan to change the dysfunctional family pattern
Pretend techcnique - answers✔✔encourage family members to "pretend" and encourage
voluntary control of behavior
First-order changes - answers✔✔superficial behavioral changes within a system that do not
change the structure of the system
Second-order changes - answers✔✔changes to the systematic interaction pattern so the
system is reorganized and functions more effectively
Family homeostasis - answers✔✔families tend to preserve familiar organization and
communication patterns; resistant to change
Relabeling - answers✔✔Changing the label attached to a person or problem from negative to
positive so the situation can be perceived different; it is hoped that new responses will evolve
Paradoxical directive or instruction - answers✔✔prescribe the symptomatic behavior so a
client realizes he or she can control it; uses the strength of the resistance to change in order to
move the client toward goals
Structural Family Therapy - answers✔✔this approach stresses the importance of family
organization for the functioning of the group and the well-being of its members
a social worker "joins" the family in an effort to restructure it
defined as the invisible set of functional demands organizing interaction among family
members
12/11/2024 9:05AM
ASWB Social Work Exam Questions
And Reviewed Answers
Systems Theory - answers✔✔Views human behavior through larger contexts, such as
members of families, communities, and broader society.
When one thing changes within a system, the whole system is affected
Systems tend toward equilibrium and can have closed or open boundaries
Social workers need to understand interactions between the micro, meso, and macro levels
Ecomaps and genograms can help to understand system dynamics
Understanding "person-in-environment" is essential to identifying barriers or opportunities
for chnage
Closed System - answers✔✔uses up its energy and dies
Differentiation - answers✔✔becoming specialized in structure and function
the more a client can be an individual while in emotional contact with the family. Allows a
client to think through a situation without being drawn to act by either internal or external
emotional pressures
Entropy - answers✔✔closed, disorganized, stagnant; using up available energy
Equifinality - answers✔✔arriving at the same end from different beginnings
, ©JUSTTRACY EXAM SOLUTIONS
12/11/2024 9:05AM
Homeostasis - answers✔✔steady state
Input - answers✔✔obtaining resources from the environment that are necessary to attain the
goals of the system
Negative entropy - answers✔✔exchange of energy and resources between systems that
promote growth and transformation
Open system - answers✔✔a system with cross-boundary exchange
Output - answers✔✔a product of the system that exports to the environment
Subsystem - answers✔✔a major component of a system made up of two or more
interdependent components that interact in order to attain their own purpose(s) and the
purpose(s) of the system in which they are embedded
Suprasystem - answers✔✔an entity that is served by a number of component systems
organized in interacting relationships
Throughput - answers✔✔energy that is integrated into the system so it can be used by the
system to accomplish its goals
Family Theories - answers✔✔a family systems approach argues that in order to understand a
family system, a social worker must look at the family as a whole, rather than focusing on its
members
it is useful in understanding and managing individual problems by determining the extent to
which such problems are related to family issues
Equifianlity - answers✔✔the ability of the family system to accomplish the same goals
through different routes
, ©JUSTTRACY EXAM SOLUTIONS
12/11/2024 9:05AM
Interdependence - answers✔✔individual family members and the subsystems comprised by
the family system are mutually influenced by and are mutually dependent upon one another.
What happens to one family member, or what one family member does, influences other
family members
Genograms - answers✔✔diagrams of family relationships beyond a family tree allowing a
social worker and client to visualize hereditary patterns and psychological factors
Family Therapy Approaches - answers✔✔establish a contract with the family, examine
alliances within the family, identify where power resides, determine the relationship of each
family member to the problem, see how the family relates to the outside world, assess
influence of family history on current family interactions, ascertain communication patterns,
identify family rules that regulate patterns of interaction, determine meaning of presenting
symptom in maintaining family homeostasis, examine flexibility of structure and accessibility
of alternative action patterns, find out about sources of external stress and support
Strategic Family Therapy - answers✔✔the social worker initiated what happens during
therapy, designs a specific approach for each person's presenting problem, and takes
responsibility for directly influencing people
Built on the communication theory
is active, brief, directive, and task-centered
more interested in creating change in behavior than change in understanding
based on the assumption that families are flexible enough to modify solutions that do not
work and adjust or develop
assumption that all problems have multiple origins
, ©JUSTTRACY EXAM SOLUTIONS
12/11/2024 9:05AM
therapy focuses on problem resolution by altering the feedback cycle or loop that maintains
the symptomatic behavior
social worker's task is to formulate the problem in solvable, behavioral terms and to design an
intervention plan to change the dysfunctional family pattern
Pretend techcnique - answers✔✔encourage family members to "pretend" and encourage
voluntary control of behavior
First-order changes - answers✔✔superficial behavioral changes within a system that do not
change the structure of the system
Second-order changes - answers✔✔changes to the systematic interaction pattern so the
system is reorganized and functions more effectively
Family homeostasis - answers✔✔families tend to preserve familiar organization and
communication patterns; resistant to change
Relabeling - answers✔✔Changing the label attached to a person or problem from negative to
positive so the situation can be perceived different; it is hoped that new responses will evolve
Paradoxical directive or instruction - answers✔✔prescribe the symptomatic behavior so a
client realizes he or she can control it; uses the strength of the resistance to change in order to
move the client toward goals
Structural Family Therapy - answers✔✔this approach stresses the importance of family
organization for the functioning of the group and the well-being of its members
a social worker "joins" the family in an effort to restructure it
defined as the invisible set of functional demands organizing interaction among family
members
