ASWB Advanced Generalist flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Duration criterion for major depression

Depressed mood or anhedonia plus at least four other symptoms must persist for two weeks or more and cause clinically significant impairment or distress.

Persistent complex bereavement disorder

In adults, disabling yearning or preoccupation with the deceased persists beyond twelve months after the loss, with accompanying emotional and functional impairment.

Differential diagnosis purpose

The process of distinguishing among conditions with overlapping presentations by weighing onset, course, symptom pattern, and exclusion criteria to select the best-fitting diagnosis.

Mental status examination

A structured observation of appearance, behavior, speech, mood, affect, thought process and content, perception, cognition, insight, and judgment used to document current functioning.

Static versus dynamic risk factors

Static factors are historical and unchangeable, such as prior attempts; dynamic factors are current and modifiable, such as ideation, access to means, and substance use.

Screening versus assessment

Screening identifies probable cases needing further evaluation; assessment is a comprehensive process that establishes diagnosis, severity, and treatment implications.

Halo effect in evaluation

A rater's global impression of a client, positive or negative, biases ratings on specific separate dimensions, inflating consistency and distorting the assessment profile.

Cultural bias in instruments

Standardized measures developed on one population may misclassify members of other groups because of language, norms, education, or culturally specific symptom expression.

Functional impairment requirement

Most diagnostic categories require evidence that symptoms cause significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

Stages of change model

Prochaska's sequence of precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance, and relapse, used to match intervention to a client's current readiness.

Motivational interviewing spirit

Partnership, acceptance, compassion, and evocation; the practitioner draws out the client's own reasons for change rather than persuading or confronting.

Cognitive restructuring

A cognitive behavioral technique that identifies distorted automatic thoughts, tests them against evidence, and replaces them with more balanced, accurate appraisals.

Crisis intervention focus

Short-term, structured work prioritizing immediate safety, emotional stabilization, and linkage to ongoing services rather than long-term insight or personality change.

Trauma-informed principles

Safety, trustworthiness, peer support, collaboration, empowerment, voice, and cultural humility; services avoid re-traumatization and maximize client choice.

Circular causality

A family systems assumption that behavior is maintained by reciprocal interaction patterns among members rather than caused linearly by one identified patient.

Triangulation in families

A pattern in which tension between two members is displaced onto or detoured through a third member, stabilizing the system while obscuring the original conflict.

Treatment plan objectives

Statements that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound, derived from the client's prioritized goals and reviewed at documented intervals.

Task-centered model

A brief structured approach in which worker and client agree on explicit problems, limited tasks, and a time frame, with progress reviewed each session.

Relapse in change model

A return to earlier behavior treated as an expected stage in the cycle of change, prompting renewed contemplation and revised planning rather than termination.

Evidence-based practice elements

Decision-making that integrates best available research evidence, client values, preferences, and circumstances, and practitioner expertise and judgment.

Informed consent elements

Disclosure of nature of services, risks, benefits, alternatives, fees, confidentiality limits, and the right to withdraw, given voluntarily by a client with capacity.

Confidentiality exceptions

Disclosure without consent is permitted for imminent danger to self or others, mandated abuse reporting, court order, or client waiver, limited to necessary information.

Multiple relationship evaluation

Assess whether a secondary relationship risks exploitation or impaired professional judgment; sexual relationships with current clients are always prohibited.

Supervisor accountability

The supervisor remains responsible for client welfare and must ensure supervisee competence, disclose supervisee status to clients, and document ongoing supervision.

Client abandonment

Unilateral termination without pretermination counseling, notice, or appropriate referral; it violates ethical standards and may cause harm to the client.

NASW core values

Service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence, which anchor ethical decision-making.

Case versus cause advocacy

Case advocacy pursues outcomes for an individual client; cause advocacy targets policy, program, or systemic change affecting a population or class of clients.

Cultural humility

A lifelong stance of self-reflection, awareness of power and privilege, and institutional accountability rather than assumed mastery of another group's culture.

Mandatory reporting duty

Statutory obligation to report reasonable suspicion of child or vulnerable adult abuse or neglect to designated authorities, regardless of confidentiality or client objection.

Minimum necessary disclosure

The ethical and legal standard of releasing only the information required for a specific purpose to a specific recipient, avoiding broader disclosure.

Ethical decision-making model

A structured sequence: identify the dilemma and stakeholders, consult the code and law, weigh principles, consider alternatives, consult, decide, document, and evaluate.

Community organizing approaches

Methods such as locality development, social planning, and social action, selected according to the target population, conflict level, and desired systemic outcome.