Case Study: Paula has just been involuntarily hospitalized and placed on the psychiatric unit, for a minimum of
72 hours, for observation. Paula was deemed a suicidal risk after an assessment was completed by the social
worker. The social worker observed that Paula appeared to be rapidly decompensating, potentially placing
herself and her pregnancy at risk.
Paula just recently announced to the social worker that she is pregnant. She has been unsure whether she
wanted to continue the pregnancy or terminate. Paula also told the social worker she is fearful of the father of
the baby, and she is convinced he will try to hurt her. He has started to harass, stalk, and threaten her at all
hours of the day. Paula began to exhibit increased paranoia and reported she started smoking again to calm
her nerves. She also stated she stopped taking her psychiatric medications and has been skipping some of her
HIV medications.
The following is an interdisciplinary team meeting being held in a conference room at the hospital. Several
members of Paula’s team (HIV doctor, psychiatrist, social worker, and OB nurse) have gathered to discuss the
precipitating factors to this hospitalization. The intent is to craft a plan of action to address Paula’s
noncompliance with her medications, increased paranoia, and the pregnancy.
Directions: and identify a target behavior or issue that needs to be ameliorated, decreased, or increased. In a
report, complete the following:
Choose either a treatment group or task group as your intervention for Paula Cortez.
Identify the model of treatment group (i.e., support, education, teams, or treatment conferences).
Using the typologies described in the Toseland & Rivas (2017) piece, describe the characteristics of your
group. For instance, if you choose a treatment group that is a support group, what would be the purpose,
leadership, focus, bond, composition, and communication?
Include the advantages and disadvantages of using this type of group as an intervention
