Whether the problem is brought up in an initial interview or further along in the case, practitioners attempt to determine how clients perceive their difficulties, to elicit relevant information about them, and to formulate problems in a way that clients find understandable and acceptable. There are basically three routes by which problems become identified. The most common is through client initiation. Clients express complaints which are then explored. A second route is interactive. Problems emerge through a dialog between the practitioner and client in which neither is a clear initiator. For example, Mrs. Cross, referred because of the academic problems of her eleven year old daughter, Sheila, mentions in passing a recent argument she had with her husband about Sheila. In response to the practitioner's inquiry about the argument, Mrs. Cross mentions other quarrels about their daughter. The ensuing dialogue reveals a problem in the marital relationship that Mrs. Cross agrees needs attention -- now her acknowledged problem.
In the third route to problem identification the practitioner is clearly the initiator. In work with voluntary (help-seeking) clients the social worker may initiate exploration of areas that appear to be unacknowledged sources of difficulty for the clients or problems that the client has acknowledged but has not asked for help with. In pursuing the inquiry, the practitioner may probe for possible areas of concern. In the first interview with Mrs. Walters, who has sought help for depression, the social worker comments "I have noticed you've said a couple of times how hard it is to care for your mother. There are services that might be of help to you. Is this something you would like to talk about?" In these situations the practitioner's purpose is to elicit and clarify possible concerns that the client is in fact experiencing. With non-voluntary clients the practitioner may be more assertive in initiating problem identification. As Rooney (l988) has pointed out, clients may be involuntary in two senses: "social involuntary" clients do not seek help but are brought to the attention of social workers by schools, physicians, family members, or others in the client's social network. The client is seen for problems attributed by others. A very large segment of the clientele of social workers falls into this group -- recalcitrant children and youth, substance abusing spouses, elderly referred for protective care, are among the examples. "Legal involuntaries" are clients whose service is "court-ordered". These clients, who include abusing and neglectful parents, battering spouses and problem drinkers, are under court mandates to participate in counseling as a condition of probation, in lieu of sentences or fines, as a prerequisite to the return of their children, and so forth. In addition, the court decree may specify particular conditions (mandated problems) that must be corrected.
Both types of involuntary clients are under pressure from an external source, (e.g. school, family member, court) to change or face consequences, (e.g. suspension, divorce, loss of parental rights). Whatever problems they may have in their life, such clients usually have little to ask of a social worker, except to leave them alone. Obviously, problem identification must proceed on a different premise than with the client who actively seeks help for a problem. The practitioner needs to take up at the onset the reason for the contact, explaining why he or she has become part of the client's life and making clear what mandated problems, if any, they need to be concerned about.
As Rooney (l988) argues, the client's resonse to this unwelcome intrusion can be fruitfully understood through reactance theory (J. Brehm 1972; S. Brehm l976; S. Brehm and J. Brehm l98l), a social psychological theory that is concerned with people's responses to the loss of valued freedoms. In addition to providing empirically grounded formulations, reactance theory avoids the "client-blaming" connotations that have become attached to the concept of resistance.
Making use of reactance theory, practitioners should elicit from non-voluntary clients their views of the imposed or mandated problem and respond empathically to the client's expressions of these views (Rooney l988; S. Brehm l976). The client's right of choice, even in court-ordered contacts, should be emphasized. That is, clients can choose to accept the consequences of not accepting help for the imposed or mandated problem. Although these consequences may be grave (loss of parental rights or a jail term) clients should be free to consider and discuss them. Such an orientation is both ethical, since it maximizes client choice, and practical, since clients are more likely to be cooperative if given the freedom to express their views and make their own decisions. It articulates well the position of the task-centered approach.
In many cases clients will be eventually willing to acknowledge a mandated problem or one related to it. If not, the problem may be defined as the unwanted presence of the practitioner or others in the client's life. To solve this "problem," the client may be willing to do what is required to resolve the mandated problem.
Task-Centered WebPages 1998, Matthias J. Naleppa