Connecting Knowledge with Research in Case Studies
Tolulope Moses
6200 WEEK 8 Assignment
Connecting Knowledge with Research in Case Studies
Introduction
One of the core elements of social work is the comprehensive assessment of a situation in a case which aids in developing effective interventions. In this regard, the understanding and application of knowledge are imperative in making the most profound decisions. In cases involving adolescents, among the most important knowledge is that on human behavior and social environment which is described as understanding how people relate to their environment including social interactions and relationships. According to Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman (2016), it is important to set realistic goals with the client consistent with the needs and requirements while applying obtained knowledge to implement the developed interventions. This paper entails a case study on Eboni Logan, proposed goals, and relating it with a peer-reviewed article.
Eboni Logan Case
The case used in this project is that of Eboni Logan, a 16-year-old biracial African American/Caucasian female who is two months pregnant. Eboni lives with her mother Darlene, and grandmother, May. She has been working at a fast food restaurant for 10 hours per week. Eboni has a boyfriend named Darian with whom they have been engaging in sexual activities without contraceptives. Both Eboni and Darian have no criminal records nor do they manifest alcohol or drug abuse although they take these elements occasionally. While Eboni’s mother works as an administrative assistant at a local manufacturing company, her father is a mechanic who supports Ebony through social and financial wellbeing. Eboni has recently learned she is pregnant, an aspect that introduces a number of problems for her and the social environment.
Case Problems
The case problems involve Eboni’s pregnancy. First, all her social environment including the grandmother and mother are upset with the situation. Her mother in particular hurled insults while calling her a slut. Her father was also upset although he agreed to provide her with a place to stay. The first challenge in this regard entails the broken relationship with her social environment and especially her mother. The second challenge is that Darian, who is the child’s father, states that he is not ready to support the baby and although he has not mentioned it explicitly, he prefers an abortion which Eboni does not want. The issue in this regard is how Eboni will nature her pregnancy and the baby yet she is still an adolescent and at school which might be forced to terminate for the moment. In addition, it may be worrying about how she will live with her father and stepmother considering the situation.
Goals
The goals, in this case, are informed by the above-identified problems and Eboni as the main client in the situation. The first goal would entail re-establishing the relationship with her social environme.
Connecting Knowledge with Research in Case StudiesTolulope Mos.docx
1. Connecting Knowledge with Research in Case Studies
Tolulope Moses
6200 WEEK 8 Assignment
Connecting Knowledge with Research in Case Studies
Introduction
One of the core elements of social work is the comprehensive
assessment of a situation in a case which aids in developing
effective interventions. In this regard, the understanding and
application of knowledge are imperative in making the most
profound decisions. In cases involving adolescents, among the
most important knowledge is that on human behavior and social
environment which is described as understanding how people
relate to their environment including social interactions and
relationships. According to Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman (2016),
it is important to set realistic goals with the client consistent
with the needs and requirements while applying obtained
knowledge to implement the developed interventions. This
paper entails a case study on Eboni Logan, proposed goals, and
relating it with a peer-reviewed article.
Eboni Logan Case
The case used in this project is that of Eboni Logan, a 16-year-
old biracial African American/Caucasian female who is two
months pregnant. Eboni lives with her mother Darlene, and
grandmother, May. She has been working at a fast food
restaurant for 10 hours per week. Eboni has a boyfriend named
Darian with whom they have been engaging in sexual activities
without contraceptives. Both Eboni and Darian have no criminal
2. records nor do they manifest alcohol or drug abuse although
they take these elements occasionally. While Eboni’s mother
works as an administrative assistant at a local manufacturing
company, her father is a mechanic who supports Ebony through
social and financial wellbeing. Eboni has recently learned she is
pregnant, an aspect that introduces a number of problems for
her and the social environment.
Case Problems
The case problems involve Eboni’s pregnancy. First, all her
social environment including the grandmother and mother are
upset with the situation. Her mother in particular hurled insults
while calling her a slut. Her father was also upset although he
agreed to provide her with a place to stay. The first challenge in
this regard entails the broken relationship with her social
environment and especially her mother. The second challenge is
that Darian, who is the child’s father, states that he is not ready
to support the baby and although he has not mentioned it
explicitly, he prefers an abortion which Eboni does not want.
The issue in this regard is how Eboni will nature her pregnancy
and the baby yet she is still an adolescent and at school which
might be forced to terminate for the moment. In addition, it may
be worrying about how she will live with her father and
stepmother considering the situation.
Goals
The goals, in this case, are informed by the above-identified
problems and Eboni as the main client in the situation. The first
goal would entail re-establishing the relationship with her social
environment including her mother and grandmother who are
upset by the pregnancy. This would not only give her peace of
mind but also ensure they support her fully throughout the
pregnancy and until she delivers. The second goal would be to
convince Darian on the importance of not terminating the
pregnancy and establishing ways through which they can
3. support the child after being born. This would ensure both
Eboni and Darian work towards the set intervention strategies
on how to deal with the pregnancy and cope with the situation
especially since they are all adolescents (Melchert, 2015).
Among the strategies include getting support from the parents
and grandparents until Eboni and Darian can support
themselves.
Peer Reviewed Article
The article by Asheer, Berger, Mechstroth, Kisker, & Keating
(2014) draws information from current and ongoing approaches
for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention. This aims at discussing
early implementation experiences of new programs that are
intended to reduce recurrent pregnancy among teenage mothers.
In addition, these programs inform on how to relate with teen
mothers, challenges associated with their participation, and the
overarching service needs which reflect in Eboni’s case.
Notably, the knowledge can be used to assess and engage Eboni
and her social environment. The implications and contribution
to practice from this article involve policymakers, researchers,
and practitioners working in an effort to provide better services
to teenage mothers that are challenging to reach and are at high
risk of challenging health outcomes and living under extreme
conditions. Through understanding these problems as identified
in the article, it would be easy to develop intervention strategies
and goals that relate to Eboni’s case.
Ethnocentrism and Racism
One of the apparent facts in Eboni’s case is that the issues of
culture and race may come to play and affect the case either
positively or negatively. This, however, depends on the
perceptions of the involved individuals. Eboni is biracial, and
while her parents may in the long run cope with the situation,
the relationship with the boyfriend may be challenging as he is
African American (Cristol & Gimbert, 2008). This may
4. especially be the case with the dad who is Caucasian. Besides
the racial aspect, both the African American and Caucasian
cultures may differ in a number of ways which may affect the
relationships between the different stakeholders. As suggested
by Patcher, Szalacha, Bernstein and Garcia Coil (2010),
understanding the different cultures and how they relate to the
situation is essential in developing effective intervention
strategies.
Conclusion
In social work, among the important elements is relating
research with actual practice. This entails the use of theoretical
knowledge regarding a subject and how it relates to a particular
situation. The above case study involves Eboni who is a
pregnant teen. To examine the situation, it is essential to relate
current knowledge with the case such as human behavior and
social environment concepts. With the goals involving re-
establishing the relationship with the parent and working
towards growing the pregnancy and the child, it is essential to
consider the aspects of ethnocentrism and racism as they relate
to the situation.
References
Asheer, S., Berger, A., Meckstroth, A., Kisker, E., & Keating,
B. (2014). Engaging pregnant and parenting teens: Early
challenges and lessons learned from the evaluation of
adolescent pregnancy prevention approaches. Journal of
Adolescent Health, 54(3), S84-S91.
Cristol, D., & Gimbert, B. (2008). Racial perceptions of young
children: A review of literature post-1999. Early Childhood
Education Journal, 36(2), 201–207.
Melchert, T. P. (2015). Treatment planning. In Biopsychosocial
practice: A science-based framework for behavioral health.
5. Washington, District of Columbia: American Psychological
Association.
Patcher, L. M., Szalacha, L. A., Bernstein, B., & Garcia Coil, C.
(2010). Perceptions of racism in children and youth: Properties
as a self-report instrument for research on children’s health and
development. Ethnicity & Health, 15(1), 33–46.
Zastrow, C. H., & Kirst-Ashman, K. K. (2016). Understanding
human behavior and the social environment (10th ed.). Boston,
MA: Cengage Learning. Chapter 5 (pp. 254-294)
2
2
Dick’s Sporting Goods
Manami Maehama
Professor Martin
Horizontal & Vertical Analysis
Balance Sheet
Cash & Short Term Investments
Cash and Short Term investments is the sum of two balance
sheet line items: cash
and equivalents and short term investments in marketable
securities.
3 ways to improve:
1. Lease, Don’t Buy.
2. Offer Discounts on Loans
3. Conduct Customer Credit Checks
6. Assets Horizontal
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
119M (39%) 165M (-39%) 101M (13%) 114M (-39%) 70M (-
6.5%) 69M
Total Accounts Receivable
Total Accounts receivable is the balance of money due to a firm
for goods or
services delivered or used but not yet paid for by customers.
3 ways to improve :
1. Move fast on past-due receivables.
2. Consider offering an early payment discount
3. Consider offering a payment plan
ASSET Horizontal
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
67M (16%) 78M (-17%) 65M (-32%) 44M (34%) 59M (0.25%)
59M
Inventories
Inventory is the term for the goods available for sale and raw
materials used to
produce goods available for sale.
3 ways to improve :
7. 1. Avoid dead stock.
2. Save on storage costs
3. Regular auditing
ASSET Horizontal
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
2B (0%) 2B (0%) 2B (0%) 2B (0%) 2B (0%) 2B
Total Current Assets
Total current assets represent all the assets of a company that
are expected to be conveniently
sold, consumed, utilized or exhausted through the standard
business operations, which can lead to
their conversion to a cash value over the next one year period.
3 ways to improve :
1. Pay off Current Liabilities.
2. Sell-off Unproductive Assets.
3. Improve Current Asset by Rising Shareholders Funds
ASSET Horizontal
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
2B (0%) 2B (0%) 2B (0%) 2B (0%) 2B (0%) 2B
Net Property, Plant & Equipment
Net Property, Plant, and Equipment is the value of all buildings,
8. land, furniture, and
other physical capital that a business has purchased to run its
business.
3 ways to improve :
1. Ins and outs of depreciation
2. Use an accelerated method that takes most most of the
depreciation up front
3. Subtract depreciation over time
ASSET Horizontal
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
1B (100%) 2B (0%) 2B (0%) 2B (100%) 4B (50%) 5B
Intangible Assets
An intangible asset is an asset that is not physical in nature.
3 ways to improve:
1. Identify Your Intangible Asset
2. Standardize Systems and Processes
3. Develop Your Intangibles
ASSET Horizontal
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
310M (24%) 385M (0.5%) 387M (-2%) 380M (-10%) 340M
(3%) 340M
9. Net Goodwill
Goodwill is an intangible asset that is associated with the
purchase of one
company by another.
3 ways to improve:
1. Cash-Flow Statement Basics
2. Investing Cash Flow
3. Financing Cash Flow
ASSET Horizontal
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
200M (23%) 245M (2%) 250M (0%) 250M (-2%) 245M (6%)
245M
Other Assets
Other assets are a grouping of accounts that are listed as a
separate line item in
the assets section of the balance sheet.
3 ways to improve:
1. Find new sources of income
2. Get out of debt
3. Spend less
ASSET Horizontal
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
10. 83M (30%) 108M (11%) 120M (-12%) 106M (26%) 134M
(14%) 152M
Tangible Other Assets
Tangible assets include both fixed assets, such as machinery,
buildings and land, and
current assets, such as inventory.
3 ways to improve:
1. A high net tangible assets value can serve as a cushion
against uncertainty that can
take place in the market and help to support a company’s stock
price.
2. Determining this value helps to find out if the market share
price of a company is
overvalued or undervalued.
3. As tangible current assets can easily be converted into cash,
they provide liquidity to
the business and, thus, reduce risk
ASSET Horizontal
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
83M (30%) 108M (11%) 120M (-12%) 106M (26%) 134M
(14%) 152M
Total Assets
Total assets refers to the total amount of assets owned by a
15. 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
83M (2%) 108M
(3%)
120M
(3%)
106M
(3%)
134M (2%) 3%
Total Assets
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
4B 4B 4B 4B 7B
Tangible Other
Assets
ST Debt & Current Portion LT Debt
The current portion of long-term debt is the amount of principal
that will be due within one year of
the date of the balance sheet. This amount is reported on the
balance sheet as one of the
company's current liabilities.
3 ways to improve:
1. A company can keep its long-term debt from ever being
classified as a current liability by
16. periodically rolling forward the debt into instruments with
longer maturity dates and balloon
payments.
2. Pay debts back on time
3. Stop creating more debt
Liabilities Horizontal
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
589,000
(10%)
646,000
(67%)
5M (0%) 5M (83%) 423M (40%) 592M
Accounts Payable
Money owed by a company to its creditors.
3 ways to improve:
1. Go paperless when possible
2. Look for discounts
3. Standardize your accounts payable workflow process
Liabilities Horizontal
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
678M (12%) 756M (12%) 843M (6%) 890M (12%) 1B (11%)
110M
17. Income Tax Payable
Income tax payable is a type of account in the current liabilities
section of a
company's balance sheet. It is compiled of taxes due to the
government within one
year.
3 ways to improve:
1. Open an interest-bearing bank account
2. Skip some of the credits for which you are eligible
3. Accelerate advanced payments in the current year instead of
delaying
payment until the next tax year.
Liabilities Horizontal
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
68M (26%) 86M (-60%) 34M (15%) 39M (-74%) 10M (-93%)
700,000
Other Current Liabilities
Other Current Liabilities are categories of short-term debt that
are lumped together
on the balance sheet.
3 ways to improve: to reduce
1. Sell unnecessary assets
2. Factor invoices
18. 3. Use investments or cash to pay off loans
Liabilities Horizontal
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
445M (25%) 555M (-2%) 543M (5%) 570M (13%) 641M (10%)
705M
Miscellaneous Current Liabilities
Miscellaneous Current Liabilities is an account for current
liabilities that do not fall
into any of the categories already defined.
3 ways to improve: to reduce
1. Reduce costs
2. Increase income
3. Restructure liabilities
Liabilities Horizontal
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
350M (19%) 418M
(-0.2%)
417M (-3%) 405M (58%) 641M (18%) 756M
Total Current Liabilities
Total Current Liabilities are the claims to the company's assets
that are due within
19. one year or the cycle of operations.
3 ways to improve:
1. Restructure assets
2. Raise more capital
3. Exit the business
Liabilities Horizontal
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
1B (0%) 1B (0%) 1B (100%) 2B (0%) 2B (25%) 2.5B
Long Term Debt
Long Term Debt is any amount of outstanding debt a company
holds that has a
maturity of 12 months or longer.
3 ways to improve: to reduce
1. Increase profitable sales
2. Sell assets and lease them back
3. Bring in an investor
Liabilities Horizontal
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
5M(0%) 5M (1100%) 60M (-8%) 55M
(5355%)
3B (1612%) 51B
20. Deferred Taxes-Debit
Corporate bookkeepers debit an asset account to increase its
value and credit the
account to reduce its worth.
3 ways to improve:
1. Try to stop losses from operations
2. Pay the taxes
3. Use the straight line method
Liabilities Horizontal
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
6M(667%) 46M (-67%) 14M (-7%) 13M (8%) 14M (150%) 35M
Other Liabilities
Other Liabilities are all miscellaneous obligations that a
company lumps together
on financial statements.
3 ways to improve:
1. Sell unnecessary assets
2. Convert necessary assets into liabilities
3. Factor invoices
Liabilities Horizontal
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
21. 175M (11%) 195M (9%) 213M (-5%) 203M(-34%) 134M (-5%)
127M
Total Liabilities
Total liabilities are the aggregate debt and financial obligations
owed by a
business to individuals and organizations at any specific period
of time.
3 ways to improve:
1. Rework your business budget
2. Reduce business expenses
3. Increase customer sales
Liabilities Horizontal
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
2B (0%) 2B (-0%) 2B(0%) 2B(150%) 5B(38%) 7B
ST Debt & Current Portion LT Debt & Accounts Payable
Liabilities Vertical
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
589,000
(0.1%)
646,000
(0.1%)
