Managing the Impact of Schizophrenia Diagnosis

A diagnosis of schizophrenia most often comes in early adulthood. Often what are called “first breaks” come while an individual is in college. This lifelong and life-changing diagnosis for a 20- or 21-year-old often comes as a shock and causes much dismay for the client and his or her family members.

For this Discussion, consider how you would work with the client and his or her family members to acclimate to this diagnosis. Then consider how you would prepare them for the changed expectations they will now have for their loved one. Finally, using your skills from previous coursework, describe the developmental expectations that have changed since the diagnosis. Consider also the grief and loss the family will experience. Be sure to use a strengths perspective to address potential concerns.

· Post a description of how you, as a social worker, might work with a client and the client’s family in acclimating to the client’s recent diagnosis of schizophrenia. 

· Then explain how you might help the client’s family manage the grief and loss related to the changes in developmental expectations since the client’s diagnosis. 

· Finally, explain how you might help the client and the client’s family prepare for the changed expectations they now have for the client. 

· Be sure to use the strengths perspective to address their concerns.

References (use 3 or more)

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.

· “Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders” (pp. 87–122)

Beecher, B. (2009). The medical model, mental health practitioners, and individuals with schizophrenia and their families. Journal of Social Work Practice, 23(1), 9–20.

Bradshaw, W., Armour, M. P., & Roseborough, D. (2007). Finding a place in the world: The experience of recovery from severe mental illness. Qualitative Social Work, 6(1), 27–47.

Perkins, D. V., Raines, J. A., Tschopp, M. K., & Warner, T. D. (2009) Gainful employment reduces stigma toward people recovering from schizophrenia. Community Mental Health Journal, 45(3), 158–162.

Prince, J. D. (2005). Family involvement and satisfaction with community mental health care of individuals with schizophrenia. Community Mental Health Journal, 41(4), 419–429.

Somers, V. (2007). Schizophrenia: The impact of parental illness on children. The British Journal of Social Work, 37(8), 1319–1334.

Discussion2:
Policy Process and Public Opinion

Managing public opinion and understanding the balance between its influence and your advocacy goals is a delicate matter. It is a task fraught with uncertainty because, as a policy advocate, you must navigate through the territory of politicians, bureaucrats, and lobbyists whose primary goals are to appease and please their constituents.

In this Discussion, you select a social problem that is of interest to you and identify how public opinion influences the process and political approaches involved in addressing that social problem.

· Post a description of the importance of public opinion in addressing the social problem you have selected. 

· How does public opinion influence political approaches to the problem? 

· Explain. 

· What policy advocacy approaches and skills can you use to address the problem with political leaders? 

· What are the social justice implications of your approach?

References (use 3 or more)

Jansson, B. S. (2018). Becoming an effective policy advocate: From policy practice to social justice. (8th ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning Series.

· Chapter 4, “Understanding the Ecology of Policy in Government, Electoral, Community, and Agency Settings” (pp. 100–140)

Rome, S. H., & Hoechstetter, S. (2010). Social work and civic engagement: The political participation of professional social workers. Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, 37(3), 107–129.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

• Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
• Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
• One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
• I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

• Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
• In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
• Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
• Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

• Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
• Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
• I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

• I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
• As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
• It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

 

LopesWrite Policy

• For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
• Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
• Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
• Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

• The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
• Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
• If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
• I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
• As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

• Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: 
  • Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
  • Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.

Managing the Impact of Schizophrenia Diagnosis