Understanding Jason’s Struggle With Gender Identity And Ethnic Cultural Influences: A Social Work Perspective

Background and Immediate Concerns

Discuss about the Case Study On Social Work With Individuals.

Jason, a 16-year-old student belonging to Chinese Malaysian ethnicity was found unconscious at his school in Australia. His year teacher Mr. Martin found him unconscious with a bottle of anti-depressant beside him. Jason’s recent demeanours compelled Mr. Martin to suspect that he might have attempted suicide. The reason for this assumption is Jason’s recent behaviours where he distanced himself from all students except Troy, who was being bullied as a ‘fag’ by other boys.

Jason coming from an ethnic background that holds strong social values like respecting elders and showing humaneness finds it difficult to adjust with other students.  He is made aware of the responsibility to carry forward his family’s lineage by marrying and having children. Moreover, at 16, it is difficult for Jason to comprehend the complexities of gender identity. To Jason, it is hard to understand the reasons for other boys bullying Troy as a ‘fag’ (a derogatory term used to address gay people) or asking him to use girls’ toilet. With increased pressure to perform at school and be a good son at home added with the complexity of his closeness with Troy, Jason found it difficult to bear. After his teacher recovered him, Jason feared that his parents might come to know about his closeness with Troy and this may incur severe repercussions.

The social work triangle assessment triangle is an effective framework that could help find the immediate and long-term issues concerning Jason’s case. The triangle framework consists of three major factors that safegueard and promotes child’s welfare (Horeczko et al., 2013). The framework assesses child’s developmental needs including his identity, education, emotional and behavioural development amongst others. The second element is parenting capacity involving stability, emotional warmth and such. Third in the triangle is are family and environmental factors that include family history and functioning, community resources and family’s social integration amongst others. Through the first element that is child’s developmental needs it is possible to analyse the immediate issues concerning Jason, which are his struggle with gender and identity. In addition, his emotional behavioural development is an issue that needs immediate attention. In regards to the long-term concerns, the family and environmental factors like community resources and family’s social integration might provide deeper insight. As per this factor, it would be difficult to make his parents understand Jason’s situation because they belong to an ethnicity that holds family values so strongly. It might hinder Jason’s overall development in the end.

Assessment Using Social Work Triangle and Erikson’s Theory

Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development provides a strong ground through which Jason’s case could be understood. According to Erikson, individuals pass through eight stages of psychosocial development from infancy until old age. He demarcated the stages according to the age group of individuals (Collier et al., 2013). The crises faced by individuals from infancy till old age include trust versus mistrust,  autonomy versus shame and doubt, initiative against guilt, industry against inferiority, identity versus role confusion. The later stages involve psychosocial crises as intimacy versus isolation, generativity versus stagnation and ego integrity versus despair. As per Erikson, individuals belonging to the age group of 13 to 21 years, experience the psychosocial crisis of identity versus role confusion. The adolescent stage is characterized by the expectations of young people to develop their gender identity. At this stage, the adolescents feel at crisis because of the expectations brought upon them by their parents and people around (Steensma et al., 2013).

This theory helps in understanding Jason’s case in a clearer light because he too seems to struggle between gender identity and parents’ expectations. Jason has great interest in art and he hopes to make a career out of it. However, his parents want him to run the family business of restaurant after he completes his study. Further, Jason spends most of his time with Troy. He fails to understand the reasons for Troy being bullied and his closeness with him. Owing to all these situations combining, Jason succumbed to pressure and took the extreme step.

Jason is a minor who hails from a community that attaches great value to ethnic traditions despite living in a foreign land. The incident of Jason attempting suicide raised many questions regarding his mental health. The case is very sensitive as it involves the client’s struggle with his identity as a Chinese Malaysian born and his gender role as a boy. While analyzing the long-term implications of this case, it is very crucial to provide interventions that address the present predicament (Harington & Beddoe, 2014).  The Response to Intervention (RTI) strategy is widely known as an effective method to help students with behavioral and academic needs (Dougherty Stahl, 2016). It is a multi-tier approach that helps identify and support such students through emotional and social interventions. In this stage, tertiary support is given to students who are in immediate need of intervention. In Jason’s case, particularly in the present stage, the RTI’s tier three shall be apt.

Interventions Based on Response to Intervention (RTI)

First, Jason’s parents must be dealt with in a way that allows them to know about the issues their son is facing. Jason has expressed anxiousness and reluctance about his parents being asked to attend as he has lied to them about the incident.  It could be helpful to create a behavior plan for Jason in order to identify the pattern of his recent behaviors (Gil, 2013).

Second, Jason is emotionally the most vulnerable at this stage and hence, he should not be pressurized for anything. A strong association has to be built with his family so that they could be made aware about his psychological struggle.

Third, Jason should be encouraged to talk about his interests and his plans in the future. In this way, his thoughts can be diverted from negative to positive.

Fourth, it should be made clear to him that his close association with Troy is not against humanity or even his family values.

A social worker has certain core professional values that define the work he carries out for the benefit of individuals and the society (Larkin, Felitti & Anda, 2014). The core values held by social workers in their professional life includes service to humanity, social justice, integrity and dignity, importance of human relationships and competence (Oxhandler & Pargament, 2014).

Jason, a year 10 Chinese Malaysian background student who suffered from heavy depression owing to certain circumstances in his personal life, has to be treated according to his needs. In this case, the values of dignity, social justice and service to humanity have to be considered. Jason does not belong to the popular community of Australia; he belongs to a community that has almost the opposite values and beliefs that are followed in the country. Thus, it is important as a social worker to respect this fact. Here, the value of human dignity in social work comes into effect. It requires that the social worker must put aside his bias against any particular community while helping an individual. Further, the value of service to humanity demands that the interests of the clients should be put ahead of one’s own. Jason must be given enough time to share his experience and it must be given much importance.

Apart from professional morals and beliefs, personal values also bear an effect on cases such as Jason’s case. Personal values of a social worker involve his adherence to the ideologies of his community that might prove offensive to the ideologies of the client (Probst & Berenson, 2014). It thus might become problematic to deal with the case because it might be difficult to interact with the client and his family.

Ethical Principles and Dilemmas in Social Work Practice

The work ethics of social workers are defined by their six core professional values and beliefs. Therefore, the ethical principles that the social workers have to abide by include primary objective to assist people in distress and address social problems, challenge injustice, respect the dignity of the client, recognize the central significance of human relationships, behave in reliable manner and practice within areas of competence (“Code of Ethics: English”, 2018).

In case of Jason, the principle of respecting the inherent dignity and recognizing the central importance of human relationships can help in guiding the social worker. As already mentioned, Jason hails from a community that is not the majority in the country. This factor must not come in between the work of the social worker who is responsible in providing support to Jason. Further, as a social worker, it becomes crucial to develop a close relationship with the client in order to understand his condition better. This principle commands that the social worker adhere to the professional requirements without compromising with the work ethic of forming a genuine bond with the client (Freeney & Fellenz, 2013). Another aspect of this ethical principle is that it will help the social worker understand the relationship Jason has with his family and his friend, Troy. Once this relationship is understood, the social worker can proceed without having any prejudice against the client.

Ethical dilemmas occur when two or more social work values and beliefs coincide with each other (Naswma.org, 2018). Self-determination, confidentiality, receiving gifts, moral beliefs, obligations to minors and dual relationships are the values that give rise to ethical dilemmas that social workers often encounter while dealing with different people. To provide an instance, the value of self-determination might conflict with the value of confidentiality in cases of suicidal attempts (Banks, 2016).

Jason’s case presents similar ethical dilemmas where the social workers has to either inform his parents everything Jason is going through or keep the matter confidential since Jason does not want them to learn about it. In addition, the moral beliefs might also cause the social worker to face an ethical dilemma. Jason hails from a background that upholds and follows the Confucian ethics and filial piety. The social worker comes from a different background that holds beliefs that are different to those followed by Jason and his family. Ethical dilemma arises when the social worker has to either uphold his own belief or respect the beliefs of his client. In Jason’s case, another ethical dilemma confronts the social worker and that is his obligations to minor. This dilemma is similar to confidentiality however; here the social worker has a legal responsibility too. The fact that Jason is a minor puts the social worker in the dilemma whether to follow legal obligations to report the issue or carry out action as legally mandated.

References:

Banks, S. (2016). Everyday ethics in professional life: social work as ethics work. Ethics and Social Welfare, 10(1), 35-52.

Code of Ethics: English. (2018). Socialworkers.org. Retrieved 23 April 2018, from https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English

Collier, K. L., Van Beusekom, G., Bos, H. M., & Sandfort, T. G. (2013). Sexual orientation and gender identity/expression related peer victimization in adolescence: A systematic review of associated psychosocial and health outcomes. Journal of sex research, 50(3-4), 299-317.

Dougherty Stahl, K. A. (2016). Response to Intervention. The Reading Teacher, 69(6), 659-663.

Freeney, Y., & Fellenz, M. R. (2013). Work engagement, job design and the role of the social context at work: Exploring antecedents from a relational perspective. Human Relations, 66(11), 1427-1445.           

Gil, D. G. (2013). Confronting injustice and oppression: Concepts and strategies for social workers. Columbia University Press.

Harington, P. R., & Beddoe, L. (2014). Civic practice: A new professional paradigm for social work. Journal of Social Work, 14(2), 147-164.

Horeczko, T., Enriquez, B., McGrath, N. E., Gausche-Hill, M., & Lewis, R. J. (2013). The Pediatric Assessment Triangle: accuracy of its application by nurses in the triage of children. Journal of Emergency Nursing, 39(2), 182-189.

Larkin, H., Felitti, V. J., & Anda, R. F. (2014). Social work and adverse childhood experiences research: Implications for practice and health policy. Social work in public health, 29(1), 1-16.

Naswma.org. (2018). Resolving Ethical Dilemmas – National Association of Social Workers. Naswma.org. Retrieved 23 April 2018, from https://www.naswma.org/?114

Oxhandler, H. K., & Pargament, K. I. (2014). Social work practitioners’ integration of clients’ religion and spirituality in practice: A literature review. Social work, 59(3), 271-279.

Probst, B., & Berenson, L. (2014). The double arrow: How qualitative social work researchers use reflexivity. Qualitative Social Work, 13(6), 813-827.            

Steensma, T. D., Kreukels, B. P., de Vries, A. L., & Cohen-Kettenis, P. T. (2013). Gender identity development in adolescence. Hormones and behavior, 64(2), 288-297.