Open AccessTHE USE AND VALUE OF A CHILD ASSESSMENT TOOL (CAT) IN SOCIAL WORK CHILD ASSESSMENTS
Author(s) -
Andiswa Mlotshwa,
Maud Mthembu
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
social work
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.303
H-Index - 15
eISSN - 2312-7198
pISSN - 0037-8054
DOI - 10.15270/57-4-968
Subject(s) - perception , social work , psychology , qualitative property , qualitative research , work (physics) , data collection , multimethodology , child protection , applied psychology , medical education , medicine , pedagogy , nursing , computer science , engineering , sociology , political science , mechanical engineering , social science , machine learning , neuroscience , law
The integration of child-friendly tools during child counselling facilitates effective communication and child participation. However, the use of child-friendly tools in generalist child counselling remains sparse. This paper presents social work students’ perceptions of using a child assessment tool (CAT). While the study adopted a mixed-method approach, this paper reports the findings drawn from the study's qualitative findings. Data collection included individual semi-structured interviews with purposively sampled fourth-level student social workers. The results indicated that using the CAT created a child-friendly environment that facilitated effective child communication and participation during assessments. Using the CAT addresses barriers to child participation during child assessment.