The Purpose of Assessment Tools
A variety of assessment tools exists that help case management professionals gather the most accurate data about their clients. One such tool is A Pocket Guide for Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention for Youth. The purpose of this tool is to help gather information about the alcohol use of school students and provide intervention resources. This tool includes a two-step flow-chart for screening school students of different age groups for alcohol use. It recommends specific activities for different risk groups. This tool is a good choice for a professional as it is an all-in-one solution for both screening and interventions.
Another useful tool is Guideline for Alcohol and Substance Use Screening, Brief Intervention, Referral to Treatment. It is a two-page guide that provides questions for a brief alcohol and substance use screening. Also, it includes the exact advice for the health care professional to follow depending on the screening results. The intervention statements included in this tool vary according to the client’s reaction. This guide is compact but very informative and can be used even with clients who are not willing to work on a change, which makes it an excellent resource for a case management professional.
Case Study
The client is an eighteen-years-old male, a high-school student, unemployed, and living with his parents. The client was referred by his parents who report that the client has substance use problems. The client’s parents are worried that the client might face legal charges. The client believes that drugs help him concentrate and uses substances to reduce anxiety.
Guideline for Alcohol and Substance Use Screening, Brief Intervention, Referral to Treatment was used to gather information, and the client falls into the Harmful Use category. The other tool was not applicable because the client has both drug and alcohol use problems. The client reports using different substances to control restlessness and anxiety, which are typical symptoms of ADHD (Wolraich, 2006, p. 87). The goal of the treatment is to eliminate ADHD symptoms and stabilize the substance abuse disorder.
Developing Goals
The client reports symptoms associated with Acute Stress Disorder (ASD), including anxiety, insomnia, and having difficulty concentrating (Kivi, 2015). The client reports recurring thoughts about her son, who is in the military, and fears that he is under threat of serious injury. The client is under stress at work and worried about her daughter’s poor academic performance. The client uses alcohol to calm herself down and believes that she would not be able to fall asleep without it.
The client reports having stomach cramping and pain, which is likely a result of stomach inflammation due to repeated or excessive drinking (Stomach Pain after Drinking Alcohol, 2016, para. 6). The client is likely to suffer from Substance Use Disorder (SUD), and ASD is likely a primary contributor to her alcohol reliance. The treatment should cater to the client’s immediate needs. Short-term goals of the treatment are:
- providing pain relief medication for stomach aches;
- prescribing soporific drugs to improve sleeping behaviors;
- educating the client about alcohol abuse and providing counseling to help the client cope with her current situation.
Mid-term goals are to provide psychotherapy and prescribing medication to reduce the symptoms of ASD and as a result, stabilize SUD. Values that caused the client to seek help, such as the well-being and academic performance of her daughter, can be used to motivate her to overcome ASD and SUD (Summers, 2009, p. 9).
The major barrier to recovery is the fact that the client cannot control what happens to her son. However, in the long-term, the client’s adaptive coping mechanisms can and should be increased. Other long-term goals include managing gastrointestinal problems and coordinating care including working with clinicians. The agencies that provide the necessary services in my area are Samaritan Counseling Center Inc and Alcohol Treatment Centers Montgomery.
References
Kivi, R. (2015). Acute Stress Disorder. Web.
Stomach Pain after Drinking Alcohol. (2016). Web.
Summers, N. (2009). Fundamentals of Case Management Practice, Skills for the Human Services, Fourth edition. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Wolraich, M. (2006). Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Infants & Young Children, 19(2), 86-93. Web.