A mother meets with a social worker
because she is worried about her 16-year-old son's substance abuse.
She reports catching him smoking marijuana several times. He says
pot is "not a big deal" and is not interested in seeking help. What
is the BEST suggestion the social worker can make to ensure the
mother does not enable her son?
A. The social worker should advise the mother to kick
her son out of the house immediately until he has quit using
drugs.
B. The social worker should advise the mother to stop
giving her son an allowance, since he might use the money to buy
drugs.
C. The social worker should advise the mother to stop
spending time with her son as punishment for his drug use.
D. The social worker should advise the mother to take
her son to see a substance abuse counselor whether he wants to or
not.
What's your answer?
Sometimes the social work exam is testing for common sense. You
don't need an MSW to answer this question correctly. You're being
asked about enabling. Find the answer the involves enabling.
Rule out A because the woman's son is a minor. The threat of
less time with mom is not likely to be all that powerful to a
sixteen-year-old, so scratch C. Counseling may be helpful, but what
are the chances the teen would agree to participate? That
eliminates D. And you're left with the best of the offered answers:
B, stop paying out cash that's likely being used to purchase the
pot.
An approach to teen MJ use that included more exploration about
the son's functioning, family dynamics, etc., might have been nice
to see here, but it's not one of your choices. And that wouldn't
address enabling. On the ASWB exam, you're stuck with the questions
and the answers that you're given. Take the best one, pat yourself
on the back for a job well done, and move on.
Happy studying and good luck on the exam.
