The Social Work Interview

by Alfred Kadushin

The only textbook to outline the skills social workers need to conduct effective client interviews, this volume synthesizes recent research on interviewing and demonstrates its value in unique settings and with a variety of clients and issues. Connecting evidence-based approaches to the quality of practitioner-client relationships and the achievement of different objectives at each phase of the interview, the text shows students how to apply their learning systematically and develop specialized techniques for culturally competent interviewing and challenging client situations.

For this fifth edition, the authors have updated the text's research throughout and have adopted a more coherent chapter organization for teaching. The volume also includes new sections on breaking bad news and interviewing with aged, racial/ethnic, and sexual minority populations. Revised vignettes reflect the challenges practitioners now face in the field and represent the interests of diverse students and scholars.

Genres: Social Work, Textbooks

432 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1983

Reviews

[Lindsay Allyson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am really torn on this one.

In some ways it's a really good book - especially for those who have never had any professional interviewing experience. For someone who wanted to know the subtle nuances of reflecting content and meaning and feelings when interviewing someone. It would have been a fantastic book for one of my undergraduate classes. (And, of course, the fact that it was chosen for a graduate course should not bear on the author at all.)

But then there's an entire section dedicated to detailing how messages are transmitted and received between people who are talking. And it's so spelled out as to be painful. Same for the difference between a conversation and an interview. I felt those parts could have been a lot shorter.

I think it was too long, but not all of the information presented was a waste of space or time.

[Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt as though much of this book was comprised of tips on how to be emotionally intelligent in interviews, which was not especially useful to me but I am sure many others would find the information fresh and useful.

I enjoyed the frequent excerpts showing sample conversations between an interviewer and interviewee, as well. They are far more realistic (and thus, applicable) than the corny conversations that you most often see in textbooks.