Applying Social and Emotional Intelligence to Social Work Practice

Psychological Aspects of Young and Middle Adulthood

Parents, as well as physical and mental health professionals, closely track the psychological development of infants and children. Adult caregivers and professionals may take note of a child’s personality development. They watch for a child’s emotional responses to a variety of situations as well as demonstrations of the child’s ability to think and learn.

Though parents and other adults may focus much attention on the psychological development of infants, children, and adolescents, psychological development does not stop when an individual enters adulthood. Not only do adults develop psychologically, but, as with children, the environment has a significant influence on this development.

This week, you explore a variety of theories that address psychological development in adults. As you learn about these theories and the environment’s influence on psychological development in adults, consider how this knowledge might increase your ability to work with adult clients.

 

Required Readings

Plummer, S. -B., Makris, S., & Brocksen, S. M. (Eds.). (2014). Social work case studies: Foundation year. Baltimore, MD: Laureate International Universities Publishing. [Vital Source e-reader].
“Working With People With Disabilities: The Case of Andres” (pp. 28-31)

 

Working With Clients With Disabilities: The Case of Andres

Andres is a 68-year-old male originally from Honduras. He is married and the father of two grown children: a daughter who is married with one child and a son who is unmarried. Andres lives with his wife in a brownstone in an upper-class urban neighborhood, and they are financially stable. He relies on Medicare for his health insurance. Andres is a retired child psychiatrist who completed medical school in Honduras and committed his career to working with Latino children and families in a major metropolitan area. Andres’ wife is a clinical psychologist who still maintains an active practice. Andres has a good relationship with his children, seeing them at least once a week for dinner, and his granddaughter is the light of his life.

Approximately 6 years ago, Andres was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor and Parkinson’s disease. Prior to his diagnosis, Andres was still on staff at a hospital, jogged daily, and had plans to travel with his wife. In a short time, Andres’ health deteriorated significantly. He now uses a cane and walker to ambulate. His speech is slow and soft. He requires assistance to get dressed and eat at times due to severe tremors and the loss of dexterity in his hands. Andres has fallen on multiple occasions and therefore cannot go out alone. He suffers from depression and anxiety and is currently on medication for these conditions. Andres spends a majority of time at home reading. He has lost contact with many of his friends and almost all of his professional colleagues.

Andres presented for treatment at an outpatient mental health setting. His daughter suggested it because she was concerned about her father’s worsening depression. Andres came into treatment stating his family thought he needed to talk to someone. He complied, but was unsure if treatment was really necessary. Andres agreed to weekly sessions and was escorted to each session by an aide who helped him at home.

While Andres had difficulty stating specific goals in the beginning, the focus of treatment became obvious to both of us early on, and we were able to agree to a treatment plan. Across multiple spheres of his life, Andres was struggling with accepting his illness and the resulting disabilities. In addition, he was extremely socially isolated despite the fact that he lived with his family and they were supportive of his medical needs. Finally, Andres’ role and identity had changed in his family and the world overall.

In a mere 6 years, Andres had lost his independence. He went from being a man who jogged every day to a man who could not carry a glass of water from one room to the next in his own home. Andres was trying valiantly to hold on to his independence. While his wife and his children were willing to provide any assistance he needed, Andres hated the idea of asking for help. As a result, he did things that compromised his balance, and he had several bad falls. In addition, Andres’ wife had assumed responsibility for all of the family’s affairs (i.e., financial, household, etc.), which had been Andres’ job before he got sick. Andres struggled as he saw his wife overwhelmed by all that she now had to take on. At the same time, he did not feel like he had the ability to reclaim any of what had been “taken” from him. Together, Andres and I identified the things he felt he was capable of doing independently and worked on how he could go about reclaiming some of the independence he had lost. We spoke about how he could communicate his needs, both for help and independence, to his family. We explored his resistance to asking for help. On many occasions Andres would say, “I was the one my children came to for help; now they have to help me. I can’t stand that.”

In addition to the struggles Andres faced in his everyday life, he also had to cope with the reality of his illness. Andres was well aware that his illness was degenerative, and with each change in his condition, this became a stronger reality. Andres frequently spoke of “a miracle cure.” He constantly researched new and experimental treatments in hopes that something new would be found. While I never attempted to strip Andres of his hope for a cure, we spent a considerable amount of effort getting Andres to accept his condition and work with what was possible now. For example, Andres had always been resistant to physical therapy (PT), but during our treatment, he began PT to work on maintaining his current balance rather than trying to cure his balance problems. Facing his illness meant facing his own mortality, and Andres knew his fate as much as he wanted to deny it. He often spoke of the things he would never experience, like his granddaughter graduating from high school and traveling through Europe with his wife.

Andres’ treatment lasted a little bit more than a year. He demonstrated significant improvement in his ability to communicate with his wife and children. Andres continued to struggle with asking for help, repeatedly putting himself in compromising situations and having several more falls. After the fact, he was able to evaluate his actions and see how he could have asked for limited assistance, but in the moment it was very difficult for him to take the active step of asking for help. Andres was also able to reconnect with an old friend who he had avoided as a result of his physical disabilities and feelings of inadequacy. We were forced to terminate when I left my position to relocate out of state.

Zastrow, C. H., & Kirst-Ashman, K. K. (2016). Understanding human behavior and the social environment (10th ed.). Boston, MA:  Cengage Learning.
Chapter 11, “Psychological Aspects of Young and Middle Adulthood” (pp. 499-548)

 

Freund, A. M., & Ritter, J. O. (2009). Midlife crisis: A debate. Gerontology, 55(5), 582–591.

Lee, C. S., & Goldstein, S. E. (2016). Loneliness, stress, and social support in young adulthood: Does the source of support matter? Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 45, 568–580.

Orth, U., Trzesniewski, K. H., & Robins, R. W. (2010). Self-esteem development from young adulthood to old age: A cohort-sequential longitudinal study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98(4), 645–658.

van Aken, M. A. G., Denissen, J. J. A., Branje, S. J. T., Dubas, J. S., & Goossens, L. (2006). Midlife concerns and short-term personality change in middle adulthood. European Journal of Personality, 20(6), 497–513.

 

Discussion: Social and Emotional Intelligence

What ideas or phrases come to mind when you hear the term intelligence? Prior to the current emphasis on emotional and social intelligence, individuals tended to associate intelligence with one measurement: intelligence quotient or the IQ. While the IQ focuses on intellectual abilities, emotional intelligence focuses on an individual’s awareness of his or her feelings and the feelings of others, and social intelligence focuses on an individual’s interpersonal skills (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman, 2016, pp. 506-509).

To prepare for this Discussion, read “Working With People With Disabilities: The Case of Andres” on pages 28–31 in Social Work Case Studies: Foundation Year. Consider what you have learned about social and emotional intelligence in this week’s resources as well as what you learn about the person and environment as it relates to young and middle adulthood.

By Day 3

Post a Discussion that includes the following:

• An explanation of how social and emotional intelligence are related to cultural factors
• An explanation about how you, as a social worker, might apply the concepts of emotional and/or social intelligence to the case of Andres
• An explanation of how social workers, in general, might apply social and emotional intelligence to social work practice. (Include a specific example in the explanation.)

By Day 5

Read a selection of your colleagues’ posts.

Respond to at least two colleagues in one of the following ways:

• Critique your colleague’s analysis of the relationship between social and emotional intelligence and cultural factors. Provide support for your critique.
• Critique your colleague’s strategy for applying social and emotional intelligence to the case of Andres. Provide support for your critique.
• Critique your colleague’s suggestion for how to apply an understanding of social and emotional intelligence to social work practice in general. Provide support for your critique.

 

Discussion: Social and Emotional Intelligence

Madeleine Latham RE: Discussion – Week 3COLLAPSE

Social and emotional intelligence are parts of a larger whole that makes up an individual. According to Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman (2016), emotional intelligence is that ability to process and understand emotion. Social intelligence is the ability to develop and maintain relationships, as well as understand ones’ environment (Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman, 2016). Individual’s cultural characteristics are related to their social and emotional intelligence as these are largely learned from their environment and relationships. Individuals who are raised in a household that more openly expresses emotions may have a different social intelligence compared to those raised in a different environment. Furthermore, a person raised in a social environment that for example discusses different social roles, could have a different social perspective on things.

In looking at the case of Andres, there are certain aspects of social and emotional intelligence that relate to his case. Andres is a 68 year-old man who was diagnosed with a brain tumor and Parkinson’s disease. His role in the family was the main support in his family and he describes himself as being the man his kids went to when they needed help problem solving. However, with his current diagnoses, his health has drastically changed to where he is not able to function in day-to-day tasks like he used to. Therefore, a lot of the responsibilities have fallen upon his wife recently. Andres was a successful professional and support to his family (Plummer, Makris, & Brocksen, 2014). Andres has began to struggle emotionally in developing stress and depression as a result of his diagnosis and inability to do the things he used to. It is important as the social worker to process through the emotions with Andres and validate his feelings of frustration. It is important for Andres to feel these things and process them, before he can move on and focus on the things he is still able to do. However, his position as a main support for the family or his background may not have allowed for him to express his emotions as openly. In regards to social intelligence, Andres is very distressed about not being able to support his family at this time and losing some of his responsibilities. This could be a result of his environment in that he was raised to be the supporter of his family and handle the responsibilities in the home. Again, its important to validate these feelings, but stress the importance of delegation and teamwork.

Overall, it is important to apply social and emotional intelligence in the social work field. This can help in better understanding the client and where they are in terms of emotional and social development. This is especially important when developing rapport and listening to clients concerns.

TambraAnn Sanders RE: Discussion – Week 3COLLAPSE

Social and Emotional Intelligences

In social work practice, there are numerous instruments used to establish a clear picture of a client and their situation. Two of these tools include an assessment of both the emotional intelligence and the social intelligence of the individual. Salovey and Mayer, in 1990 (Papalia et al., 2012) created the term emotional intelligence and defined it as the capability to identify and deal with others or empathize. Later, Goleman (1995) elaborated on the term emotional intelligence (EI) to include characteristics of inspiration, social ability, hopefulness, and diligence. Goleman (1995) found individuals who score high on an EI test tend to have a greatly effective work performance. Closely linked to emotional intelligence is social intelligence (SI) or interpersonal intelligence, which is described as aptitude to navigate through multifaceted social relationships and situations (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman, 2016). Individuals with high SI are very comfortable communicating with other people whereas individuals with low SI will have diminished people skills (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman, 2016).

Social and Emotional Intelligences in Relation to Cultural Factors

Adams et al., (2013) refer to culture as the mixture of knowledge, belief, behavior that stems from customary beliefs, social forms and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group. Individuals tend to empathize and socialize as a result of characteristics learned within their culture (Adams et al, 2013). With the understanding of the connection of culture to both social and emotional intelligences, we can better understand Andres. For instance, when Andres declares his immense discomfort in relying on others for help. In Andres culture, parents take care of their children, children do not take care of their parents; which is a large component of Andre’s SI.  Likewise, Andre is a retired child psychologist, most likely with a high EI due to his professional training. Now, Andres has been diagnosed with a rare brain tumor and Parkinson’s disease (Plummer et al., 2014). Andre is undoubtedly aware of these deteriorating conditions; a situation that may affect him tremendously. It is imperative that as a social worker, we consider Andre’s unique culture as it pertains to his SI and EM.

Applying Social and Emotional Intelligence to Social Work Practice

Andre is responding negatively due to the discipline found in his culture. It is hard for him to accept help from others, and it is hard for him to accept his diagnosis.  It is the responsibility of the social worker to assist Andre in learning how to allow his children to help and how to deal with his health issues. One way to steer through Andre’s cultural priorities and guide him to accepting the help he needs, might be to find a common thread. Acknowledgement of the importance of his family would be comforting.  Based on that, we could base family togetherness as a common denominator and devise a strategy that would work for everyone.