Experiences of schizophrenia are not homogeneous; there is wide variety in onset, course of illness, and combinations of symptoms. Social workers need to be able to understand the different manifestations and pathways of the illness to plan interventions. Social work services play a key role in stabilizing crises, supporting family coping, and influencing overall quality of life and outcomes of individuals with schizophrenia. In this Assignment, you practice applying this necessary individualization.

To prepare: In the Learning Resources, focus on the associated features, development, and course of the illnesses in the schizophrenia spectrum. Also focus on descriptions of the disorder and the way it develops for different individuals.

Choose two articles from the list in the Learning Resources that apply to treatment support and interventions for the schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders chapter in the DSM 5. Choose either Saks or McGough to focus on for this assignment.

Submit a 3- to 4-page paper, supported by at least 4 scholarly resources (See below) (not including DSM-5), in which you address the following:

• Describe Saks’s or McGough’s experiences with schizophrenia. Identify onset, associated features (specifically referencing the positive and negative symptoms), development, and course.
• Explain how you would use the Clinician Rated Dimensions of Psychosis Symptom Severity measure and the WHODAS to help confirm your diagnosis.
• Explain how you would plan treatment and individualize it for Saks or McGough. Support your response with references to scholarly resources. In your explanation, consider the following questions:
  • What are the long-term challenges for someone living with the illness?
  • What social, family, vocational, and medical supports are needed for long-term stabilization?
• Briefly explain how race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, religion, or other identity characteristics may influence an individual’s experience with schizophrenia.

Resources to use: see attachments as well

Please respond to each student in 300 words or more. Total of at least 600 words.

For the responses:

• Review the suggestions provided by your peer and provide useful input on the potential effectiveness.
• Discuss other strategies that align with operational conditioning that could also sculpt the behavior in your peer’s choice of scenario. Would classical conditioning be effective? Does observational learning play a role in this behavior?
• If you did not post originally on this content, share you own behavioral modification plan.

Student 1: Ashley Drummond

 

Joe wants his son to earn good grades

“Learning is defined as relatively permanent changes in behavior that result from experience but are not caused by fatigue, maturation, drugs, injury, or disease.” (Lefrancois, Guy. 2020,2016, 2011).  Learning is something that can be changed, Joe wanting his son to earn good grades is something that can be done. Joe may need to get more involved and help his son reach a goal of better grade. This could include studying together, making sure his does his assignments, communicate with both his son and the teacher to make sure he is understanding the material, and offer him any of support or resources he may need. All children these days are obsessed with electrics. A cell phone can be used to make him work harder. Chores are good for children to have. They teach responsibility and how to clean up after themselves as well as how to maintain a home. More chores or a more difficult chore can be added as punishment Joe can offer positive reinforcer.

• If you bring up your grades, I will allow you to have your phone on weeknights.

Joe can off negative reinforcer as well.

• If you do not bring up grades, I will add cleaning the kitchen to your chore list.

Negative punisher

• Since you didn’t bring up your grades, your phone will be taken away all together.

Three factors that could impact the success of Joe’s learning are intellectual factor, emotional and social factors, and environmental factors. Intellectual factor “refers to the individual mental level. Success in school is generally closely related to level of the intellect” (Mondal, P. n.d.). If Joe’s son has a low intellectual factor, it is going to make it more difficult to learn and understand the material and get a high grade.

Emotional and social factor play huge roles in education. Emotions can run high and cause children to pull back from education when they are struggling with the material, teacher, or even peers. Emotions will run high, and negative causing children to associate education with feelings like disgust, shames, hate, and pain. “Some pupils are in a continuing state of unhappiness because of their fear of being victims of the disapproval of their teachers and classmates. This is an unwholesome attitude and affects the learning process to a considerable degree. This is often­times the result of bad training” (Mondal, P. n.d.).

Environmental factors included physical factors needed for learning. A major factor that affects learning efficiency is where it takes place. This includes the classrooms, textbooks, equip­ment, supplies, and other any other materials. Proper learning and engagement from children can’t happen without the proper resources and support. “In the school and at the home, the conditions for learning must be favorable and adequate if teaching is to produce the desired results. It cannot be denied that the type and quality of instructional materials and equipment play an important part in the instructional efficiency of the school” (Mondal, P. n.d.).

According to Lefrancois, operant conditioning is “learning that involves an increase in the probability of a response as a function of reinforcement” (2020, 2016, 2011). This includes behaviors such as walking, watching television, and listening to music, classical conditioning doesn’t have an explanation for these behaviors. “Skinner calls them operants because they are operations that are performed on the environment rather than in response to it” (Lefrancois, Guy. 2020,2016, 2011).

Student 2: Trisha Atkinson

 

Scenario: Moore wants his dog to stop jumping up on visitors.

There are two types of conditioning in learning, classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning is defined as “the process by which an initially neutral stimulus acquires the ability to elicit a predictable response (LeFrancois, 2020).” Operant conditioning is defined as “operations that are performed on the environment rather than in response to it (LeFrancois, 2020).”
Moore wants his dog to stop jumping up on visitors. In order to do that, a plan will need to be placed. A combination of classical conditioning and operant conditioning will be used. Beginning with a continuous schedule, then switching to an intermittent schedule. Using the correct amount of reinforcement and punishment will lead to matching law. Matching law is “when placed in a choice situation, an organism’s behavior tends to be guided by the probability of reinforcement (LeFrancois, 2020).”

Classical conditioning and operant conditioning can be effective for training the dog. Several factors are related directly to the ease with which a classically conditioned response can be acquired. One is the distinctiveness of the CS. Not surprisingly, a stimulus that is easily discriminated from other stimulation will more easily become associated with a response. That’s why a bell, a buzzer, or a single shouted command is a good stimulus for conditioning a dog. A sentence, however meaningful it might be, is not likely to be nearly as effective (LeFrancois, 2020). An effective way of training the dog to stop jumping up on visitors, Moore can acquire a whistle. Each time the dog jumps up on a visitor, Moore blows the whistle and removes the dog from the visitor. This is an example of positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement. Positive being adding the whistle, negative being removing the visitor. To be added to this, punishment for jumping up on a visitor can occur. Moore will blow the whistle, remove the dog from the visitor and places the dog in a kennel, associated with time out. This will begin the learning process. Each time a visitor comes in and the dog does not jump up on the visitor, the dog receives a treat. Another form of positive reinforcement. In time, the dog will learn that the whistle means no and that jumping on a visitor is not an acceptable behavior. Staying down off a visitor is the desirable behavior being sought. Each time this happens, the dog will associate not jumping with a treat, therefore leading to the desirable behavior. This is shaping. “Reinforcement increases the probability of a behavior (LeFrancois, 2020).”
Three factors that might impact the success of this plan are as follows: One, the dog may associate the visitor with a treat each time, instead of the desirable behavior. Two, visitors not coming frequently because without the stimulus the behavior can not be learned appropriately. Three, other outside influences such as, the visitor tapping the chest and saying up, or others in the home not conceding with the imposed plan. Ethical considerations with operant conditioning in this case are that the punishment for jumping up on a visitor require the dog to be in a kennel, basically for a time out. This may not seem ethical because, it could cause the dog emotional stress each time the dog is in a kennel, even if the reason is not for punishment.