Application: Artifact—Professional Statement on Interviewing
“Basic communication skills are important if the case manager is to establish a dialogue with the client. Effective communication includes demonstrating congruence between what is said verbally and nonverbally, engaging in active listening, and being sensitive to cultural differences. Listening is the key to conducting an effective interview” (Woodside & McClam, 2006, p. 128).
Interviewing is a fundamental skill in the human services field. Professionals make daily choices on the specific interviewing strategies that best meet the needs of a wide diversity of clients. In HUMN 4002, you had the opportunity to select a scenario and conduct live structured (in Week 3) and unstructured (in Week 4) interviews with a “mock” client as well as analyze advantages and disadvantages of each approach.
For this Assignment, think about the purpose of knowing and using different interview styles. Also, explore the kinds of specific behaviors you would engage in while conducting interviews.
To Prepare for this Assignment:
- Review your structured and unstructured interviews and Assignment papers from Weeks 3 and 4 of HUMN 4002. Pay attention to any feedback your Instructor provided. What went well? What would you do differently?
- Review the article, “Use of Structured Interviews by Psychiatrists in Real Clinical Settings: Results of an Open-Question Survey,” and think about the purpose behind structured and unstructured interviews.
- Review the article, “Popular or Unpopular? Therapists’ Use of Structured Interviews and Their Estimation of Patient Acceptance.”
- Review the article, “The Unstructured Clinical Interview.”
- Review the article, “Toward a Cognitive Model of Ethnic/Racial Biases in Clinical Judgment.”
- Based on your previous coursework and the readings this week, think about what you would include in a professional statement on interviewing.
The Assignment:
Submit by Day 7 a 2- page document that includes your professional statement on interviewing in human services and your analysis of your professional statement on interviewing.
- Develop a professional statement on interviewing in human services.
- In your professional statement on interviewing, explain the purpose of structured and unstructured interviews.
- Explain when and why you might use structured and unstructured interviews.
- Analyze your professional statement on interviewing in relation to human services practice.
- Be sure documents are clean and free of any “track-changes” mark-ups.
