| Course | MSW 524 Understanding Trauma |
|---|---|
| Week | 6 |
| Paper type | Intake screening script |
| Length | About 670 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Chamberlain University |
| Program | Master of Social Work (MSW) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MSW 524 Week 6
Intake Screening Script for an Eviction Prevention Program: The Sentences Before the First Question, Items Written Out Word for Word With a Reason Under Each, an Order Chosen for Safety and a Plan for Every Yes
Student Name
Chamberlain University
MSW 524: Understanding Trauma
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Intake Screening Script for an Eviction Prevention Program: The Sentences Before the First Question, Items Written Out Word for Word With a Reason Under Each, an Order Chosen for Safety and a Plan for Every Yes
Before the First Question
"Before we go on, I want to tell you about the next few questions. We ask everyone these, because stress from the past can make a housing crisis harder, and we may be able to connect you with help. Your answers stay in your file here. They are not shared with your landlord or the court. You can skip any question, and skipping will not change the help you get with your housing."
Items, in Order
1. "How are you sleeping these days?" Reason: an easy, everyday opener that also tells us about current strain.
2. "Is there anything about this situation, the notice or the court, that is especially hard for you?" Reason: lets the tenant name a reaction in their own words before any question about the past.
3. "Some people have been through very frightening or upsetting experiences, such as violence, a serious accident, losing a home or something else. Has anything like that happened to you?" Yes / no / prefer not to say. Reason: a gentle gateway that names losing a home, which matters in this program.
If yes, five yes or no questions follow, written in plain words from the five areas covered by the Primary Care PTSD Screen (Prins et al., 2016) and approved by the agency's clinician.
4. "In the last month, has it come back in bad dreams, or come into your mind when you did not want it to?" Reason: intrusion.
5. "In the last month, have you worked hard to keep it out of your mind, or stayed away from places or things that bring it back?" Reason: avoidance, which is the pattern that leads tenants to stop opening mail.
6. "In the last month, have you felt on alert all the time, or jumpy at small noises?" Reason: arousal.
7. "In the last month, have you felt cut off from people or from things you used to care about?" Reason: numbing.
8. "In the last month, have you blamed yourself, or someone else, for it in a way you cannot put down?" Reason: blame.
9. "Would you like to talk with someone about any of this?" Reason: the decision belongs to the tenant, not to a score.
Plan the Yes
Three or more yes answers to items 4 through 8 lead to an offer, not a referral: "Many people who answer this way find it helps to talk with someone. We have a counselor we work with. Would you like me to set that up?" The published screen was tested with veterans in primary care, where a cut point of three favored sensitivity (Prins et al., 2016). Our wording and our tenants differ, so the count only prompts an offer and is never reported as a result.
Order Is a Safety Decision
The script starts with sleep and present stress and only then asks about the past, so a tenant can stop before reaching anything painful. It never asks what happened.
Where the Script Hands Over
If a tenant becomes very distressed or mentions wanting to die, the worker stops the script and follows the agency's safety protocol with the on-call clinician. The script is not used again that day.
Closing Words
"Thank you. Now let's get back to your housing." The work returns to the tenant's reason for coming, which is consistent with a trauma-informed approach centered on safety and choice (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2014).
References
Prins, A., Bovin, M. J., Smolenski, D. J., Marx, B. P., Kimerling, R., Jenkins-Guarnieri, M. A., Kaloupek, D. G., Schnurr, P. P., Kaiser, A. P., Leyva, Y. E., & Tiet, Q. Q. (2016). The Primary Care PTSD Screen for DSM-5 (PC-PTSD-5): Development and evaluation within a veteran primary care sample. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 31(10), 1206-1211. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-016-3703-5
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2014). SAMHSA's concept of trauma and guidance for a trauma-informed approach (HHS Publication No. SMA 14-4884). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
MSW 524 Week 6 instructions, in plain terms
The screening script should look like something a worker could read off a clipboard. Begin with what is said before any question: what the questions are for, who sees the answers and that any item can be passed. Write each item in full, in words a stressed person can answer, closed where a yes or no is what gets used. Put a short reason under every item that explains what it is for rather than restating it. Order the items deliberately, since order is a safety decision. Plan what happens after a yes. Say where the script stops and hands over, such as to a safety protocol. If you build on an existing instrument, say how and acknowledge how your population differs.
Inside the MSW 524 Week 6 example
The opening statement explains why everyone is asked, that answers stay in the file and away from the landlord and court and that skipping changes nothing. Items begin with sleep and present stress, then a gateway question naming frightening experiences including losing a home. Five yes or no items follow in plain words, drawn from the areas covered by Prins et al. (2016), each with a reason such as intrusion or avoidance. A final item asks whether the tenant would like to talk with someone. Three or more yes answers lead to an offer, with a note that the published cut point came from veterans. A safety section stops the script when distress is high, and closing words return the conversation to housing, in line with federal trauma-informed guidance.
Reading the MSW 524 Week 6 grading rubric
A script is graded on its first sentence before any question. Openers that go straight to the worst thing that ever happened, with no purpose or permission to skip, lose the most. Next is the rationale that restates its item. Faculty credit items written out in full, a reason that explains each item's use, an order that protects the respondent and a plan for every yes. A clear handover to a safety protocol is expected. If an instrument is adapted, the paper should say so and note differences in population. Faculty also check that the script never asks for details of what happened. Any source cited needs a matching APA entry.
MSW 524 Week 6 help from the desk
The script that loses most opens with a question about the worst experience of someone's life. Another frequent problem is a list of topics, such as ask about abuse, with no actual wording. Some scripts give reasons that repeat the item, which tells a reviewer nothing. Others treat a score as a diagnosis or forget what to do when the answer is yes. If your setting is different, perhaps a food pantry or a school enrollment office, the same parts apply: purpose and permission first, items in full with reasons, a safe order, a plan for yes and a handover. A script drafted for your setting would be tried on a colleague first, to hear whether each item sounds natural.
Get a MSW-524 Week 6 example written to your instructions
Send the assignment, the rubric, the setting your section names and any instrument it requires, because a script for a school and a script for an emergency department share almost no wording. A custom MSW-524 Week 6 screening script is written to those and returned inside 24-48h, with the first one free of charge.
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MSW 524 Week 6 questions, answered
How many items should the script carry?
Fewer than most drafts do, unless the assignment sets a number. Screening is meant to be brief enough that it actually gets done at intake, and a forty-item document argues against its own purpose. Where a section names a published instrument, take its item count as the anchor and spend your length on the rationales instead.
Can I build the script around an instrument that already exists?
Usually yes, and sections often require exactly that. Cite the instrument, keep its items in their published wording, and put your own work into the framing lines, the order, the branching and the rationales. Rewriting a validated item in your own words is the one move that reliably costs marks, because the wording is the part that was tested.
Should the script say what I would not ask?
A short paragraph naming an item you considered and left out, with the reason attached, is a strong addition wherever the rubric allows commentary. It shows a decision instead of a checklist. Keep it to two or three lines and place it after the items, so the script itself still reads as something usable at a desk.
Where can I find a free MSW 524 Week 6 sample paper?
The full MSW 524 Week 6 intake screening script for an eviction prevention program can be read here, with a reason under every item and margin notes.
What happens after a yes in the MSW 524 Week 6 sample?
Three or more yes answers lead to an offer to set up a talk with a counselor, which the tenant may accept or decline, rather than an automatic referral.