Interviewing Skills
Imagine that a client sits in front of you at the start of an intake session. What kinds of questions will you ask? How will you retrieve the necessary information while also building rapport?
Clients come into the helping process with varied attitudes and personality traits. Additionally, clients come from various socioeconomic backgrounds, genders, religions, cultures, professions, physical abilities, ages, and sexual orientations. Despite the numerous variables that affect interviews, certain factors are common to all effective interviews.
In this Discussion, you explore the process involved in effective interviewing, as well as the unique qualities that you bring to a client interview.
To prepare, watch the Southside Community Services video that depicts different interview scenarios.
Identify two examples of each of the following basic interviewing skills used in the session and describe the differences in the responses of the client: Please use book attached pages as a resource
Closed-ended questions
Open-ended questions
Clarification
Paraphrasing
Book Citation
Cummins, L., K., & Sevel, J., A. (2017). Social work skills for beginning direct practice: Text, workbook, and interactive web based case studies (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
Chapter 5, “Basic Skills for Direct Practice” (pp. 94-114)
Sample Answer
Closed-ended questions
Closed-ended questions are questions that can be answered with a simple yes, no, or one-word response. They are often used to gather specific information, such as a client’s name, address, or date of birth.
Here are two examples of closed-ended questions that could be asked at the start of an intake session:
- What is your name?
- What is your date of birth?
Open-ended questions
Open-ended questions are questions that require a more detailed response from the client. They are often used to gather information about the client’s experiences, thoughts, and feelings.