Case Study

Assignment 1 Instructions
You will be provided a case scenario. You will also be offered the opportunity to choose which theoretical approach (covered in class that week) to apply to the case scenario.
Make sure to fully respond to each question and to use the rubric to guide your writing (the rubric is used to determine your grade). Your assignments should be written in accordance with APA 6th edition guidelines and contain two professional sources (your text-book may count as one of your resources). Length requirement for this assignment, you will likely write a minimum of five pages to fully address all of the prompts. See the assignment template to help you organize your writing.
1) Presenting Concern/s:
a. Which of this week’s theoretical approaches you will use to conceptualize the case and why.
b. What do you see as the client’s presenting concerns/basic conflicts?
c. Based upon the concerns you identified, discuss which you would address first and why based upon the theoretical approach.
2) Three Central Concepts of the Approach/Theory:
a. Identify three central concepts of the approach (other than any you previously used to answer the above question) and describe the central concepts.
b. Explain how the central concepts are relevant to working with the client or understanding the case.
c. Clarification Notes: This week you are learning about Background Approaches. The term Background Approaches is umbrella term to describe a family of approaches that share certain characteristics (for example: focusing on the background of a client). Under this umbrella term you can select any one of the approaches covered this week for your assignment (e.g., individual psychology, classic psychoanalysis) to use to complete the assignment. When we refer to key concepts of the approaches, we are referring to the concepts that are central to the approach. For example, in classic psychoanalysis, Freud’s concepts of the structural model (id, ego, and superego) is an example of a central concept. Let’s say you selected individual psychology as your approach, Adler’s concept of lifestyle is another example of a central concept.
3) Strengths and Limitations:
a. Analyze two strengths of the approach for working with the client.
b. Analyze two weakness of the approach for working with the client.
4) Reflection:
a. Provide at least one example of how you could apply any strategy, technique, or concept of this theoretical approach to an area of your life to learn something about yourself personally. Also, explain what you learned.
b. What challenges did you encounter when attempting to apply an aspect of this theoretical approach to your life? Provide at least one example.
c. Did you notice any cultural limitations/obstacles to applying this approach to your life? Describe the cultural limitation or explain how the approach is culturally responsive.

Case Scenario
The Case of Jen:

Jen is a 19-year-old sophomore in college. She was raised by both her parents up to the age of 12 when her father cheated on her mother and then left them to get marry his mistress. Jen began to blame herself for her father leaving, and felt that she was not a good enough daughter. The father moved out, but still regularly saw Jen each week, talked to her on the phone, and attended her athletic and school activities. However, when Jen turned 14, her father had two twin boys with his new spouse. Soon after Jen’s father moved to a new state with his “new” family. Jen was deeply hurt and felt that her father chose his “new” family over her. Jen and her father have since stopped talking.

Currently, as a sophomore in college, Jen has begun exploring relationships with men. However, she found that she had difficulty trusting the men, and is convinced that they will somehow let her down if she gives them the chance. Although Jen seems clear about not wanting to risk trusting men, she realizes that this notion is self-defeating and would like to challenge her views. Though she wants to change the way in which she perceives and feels about men, somehow she seems to have an investment in her belief about their basic untrustworthiness. She is not very willing to look at her part in keeping this assumption about men alive. Rather, she would prefer to pin the blame on her father. It was he, who taught her this lesson, and now it is difficult for her to change, or so she reports.

Assignment Rubric

Criteria Well Developed
(A to High A) Developed
(B to Low A) Emerging
(C to Low B) Undeveloped
(Less than a C)
Presenting Concern/s: 15 pts
a. Identify which of this week’s theoretical approaches you will use to conceptualize the case and why.
b. What do you see as the client’s presenting concerns/basic conflicts?
c. Based upon the concerns you identified, discuss which you would address first and why based upon the theoretical approach. 15 points
A theoretical approach was clearly identified. Evidence of using the approach to conceptualize the presenting concern/s was clearly presented. Evidence of using the approach to indicate how concerns should be prioritized was clear. 13-14 points
A theoretical approach was identified. Evidence of using the approach to conceptualize the presenting concern/s was mostly clear. Evidence of using the approach to indicate how concerns should be prioritized was mostly clear and sufficiently explained. 11-12 points
A theoretical approach was identified. Evidence of using the approach to conceptualize the presenting concern/s was unclear in some areas. Evidence of using the approach to indicate how concerns should be prioritized was unclear in some areas or lacked explanation. 0-10 points
Three areas of this section or less were addressed (a. b. c.). Descriptions contained insufficient depth and/or were incomplete.

Three Central Concept: 30 pts
a. Identify one central concept of the approach (other than any you previously use to answer the above question) and describe the central concept.
b. Explain how the central concept is relevant to working with the client or understanding the case. 29-30 points
Central concepts were thoroughly described. The explanation of how the concepts were relevant to working with the client or understanding the case was thorough and clear. 25-28 points
Central concepts were adequately described. The explanation of how the concepts were relevant to working with the client or understanding the case was sufficient. 22-24 points
Central concepts were partially described. The explanation of how the concepts were relevant to working with the client or understanding the case was unclear in some areas. 0-21 points
Two areas of this section or less were addressed (a. b.). Descriptions contained insufficient depth and/or were incomplete.
Strengths and Limitations: 15
a. Analyze two strengths of the approach for working with the client.
b. Analyze two weakness of the approach for working with the client. 15 points
Strengths and limitations were thoroughly described. The explanation of how the strengths and limitations were relevant to working with the client or understanding the case was thorough and clear. 13-14 points
Strengths and limitations were adequately described. The explanation of how the strengths and limitations were relevant to working with the client or understanding the case was sufficient 11-12 points
Strengths and limitations were partially described. The explanation of how the strengths and limitations were relevant to working with the client or understanding the case was unclear in some areas 0-10 points
Two areas of this section or less were addressed (a. b.). Descriptions contained insufficient depth and/or were incomplete.
Reflection: 15 points
a. Provide at least one example of how you could apply any strategy, technique, or concept of this theoretical approach to an area of your life to learn something about yourself personally. What did you learn?
b. What challenges did you encounter when attempting to apply an aspect of this theoretical approach to your life? Provide at least one example.
c. Did you notice any cultural limitations/obstacles to applying this approach to your life? Describe the cultural limitation or explain how the approach is culturally responsive.
15 points
One example of how to apply a strategy, technique, or concept was thoroughly described, and well connect to a description of what was learned. One example of a challenge was thoroughly described. One cultural limitation of the approach was thoroughly discussed in reference to application to the student’s life OR strong rationale was provided for how the approach was culturally responsive when applied to an area of the student’s life. 13-14 points
One example of how to apply a strategy, technique, or concept was sufficiently described, and connected to a description of what was learned. One example of a challenge was sufficiently described. One cultural limitation of the approach was sufficiently described in reference to application to the student’s life OR a sufficient rationale was provided for how the approach was culturally responsive when applied to an area of the student’s life. 11-12 points
One example of how to apply a strategy, technique, or concept was partially described, and somewhat connected to a description of what was learned. One example of a challenge was sufficiently described. One cultural limitation of the approach was partially described in reference to application to the student’s life OR a partially rationale was provided for how the approach was culturally responsive when applied to an area of the student’s life. 0-10 points
Three areas of this section or less were addressed (a. b. c.). Descriptions contained insufficient depth and/or were incomplete.

Writing Mechanics and APA Format: 15 points 15 points
No more than three grammatical, spelling, punctuation, and/or APA errors. Clarity of paper was not influenced by the errors. 13-14 points
More than three grammatical, spelling, punctuation, or APA errors. Clarity of paper was not strongly influenced by the errors. 11-12 points
More than three grammatical, spelling, punctuation, or APA errors that had a negative influence on the clarity of the paper. 0-10 points
More than three grammatical, spelling, punctuation, or APA errors that had a strong negative influence on the clarity of the paper.
Sources: 10 points 10 points
2 professional sources or more are used throughout the paper as appropriate to thoroughly support ideas, and are documented in the references list. 9 points
1-2 professional sources are used to adequately support ideas and are documented in the reference list. 7 points
1 professional source is used to partially support ideas and is documented in the reference list. 0-6 points
1 source or less was used. Ideas were insufficiently supported.
Total: 100 points