The Family Interview and Assessment

GUIDELINES for the Genogram/EcoMap Writing Assignment (GEWA):
Each student is expected to interview an individual/couple/family and compose a family case study. The GEWA should be a minimum of five pages, a maximum of six pages, excluding the title, abstract and reference pages and the genogram and ecomap. The genogram and ecomap should be the six page. Five recent peer-reviewed articles must be referenced starting 2015 to the present. I need accessible articles I can print to hand to the professor. Please write in APA format and reference page (s)number.

The GEWA must follow the following guidelines: Family Interview and Assessment, Clinical Hypothesis, Therapeutic Approach, Summary, Genogram, Ecomap and References.

The Family Interview and Assessment (20%) includes a family interview. If you are unable to meet with a family you may meet with an individual. Follow these guidelines to conduct the interview: Gather all relevant demographic information related to the immediate family: gender, age, ethnicity, education, occupation, socioeconomic position, and, if relevant, migration history. Include pertinent history regarding medical, developmental, psychiatric, and substance use (history and current use) history. Identify significant events and relationships: births, deaths, marriages, divorces, moves, and accidents. Identify the “problem” and the “identified patient” (IP). Recount the history of the “problem.” Be specific. When did the problem begin? Identify corresponding events. How does the “problem” impact the relationships between family members and the overall functioning of the family? As you learn about the “problem,” be sure to identify family members’ perceptions of the problem and what created it and sustains it. Identify why the individual or family is seeking help now and what each member hopes to get from the family therapy experience. Identify strengths and resources that may help this family find relief from the “problem.” Identify interactional patterns between people.

Compose a Clinical Hypothesis (5%). Assess the functioning of this family. The assessment should include the following points: identify ways in which the family relationships are or could be related to the presenting problem in both adaptive and maladaptive ways. Form one tentative clinical hypothesis about what you feel may be the cause of the “problem” within the family. Describe and state your hypothesis clearly.

Determine your Therapeutic Approach (25%). Consider the following family therapy models discussed in class: psychodynamic, systems, structural, strategic, experiential, or solution-focused. Choose one of the models to use as an approach to treatment with the above stated individual or family. Begin by writing a summary statement about the model (include the basic assumptions/concepts of the model). Provide a rationale for choosing this model. Identify the goals of therapy, describe one intervention and specify it to this family. Provide an expected outcome.

Choose one of the models below

Therapeutic Approaches for Genogram/EcoMap Writing Assignment:
Approach: Theorist: Relevant Concepts: Interventions: Goal(s):

Psychodynamic Alfred Adler MODEL
1. Lifestyle Assessment:
a.Parenting Style
b.Family Constellation / Birth Order
c.Early Recollections
d.Basic Mistakes
e.Organ Inferiority
f. “The Question”: Function of the Symptom
2. Establish an Egalitarian Relationship
3. Assess Lifestyle & Private Logic
4. Encourage Insight & Self-Understanding
5. Educate & Reorient Insight
6. Initial crisis symptoms are addressed ;
Symptoms r/t the presenting problems are reduced; Social interest and functioning in life tasks most closely r/t the problem and on other key areas of functioning are increased.

Systems/Transgenerational Murray Bowen MODEL
1. Interlocking Concepts:
a.Differentiation of Self
b.Triangles
c.Nuclear Family Emotional System
d. Family Projection Process
e. Emotional Cutoff
f. Multigenerational Transmission Process
g. Sibling Position
h. Societal Regression
2.Genogram
3.Process Questions
4.Detriangulation
5.“Going Home Again” Exercises
6.Displacement Stories
7.Coaching
8. Management of anxiety & relief from symptoms; & Increase in each client’s level of differentiation in order to improve
adaptiveness.

Structural Salvador Minuchin MODEL
1.Elements of a Structural Family Therapy Assessment:
a.Role of Symptom in the Family
b. Subsystems
c.Cross-Generational Coalitions
d. Boundaries
e. Hierarchy
f. Complementarity
g. Family Development
h. Strengths
2.Enactments
3.Systemic Reframing
4.Boundary Making
5.Challenging Family’s Worldview
6.Therapeutic Intensity
7. Crisis Induction
8.Unbalancing
9.Compliments & Shaping Competence
10.Expanding Family Truths
11.Clear boundaries between all subsystems;
Effective parental hierarchy; and a Family structure that promotes development and growth of individual and family.

Strategic Jay Haley MODEL
1. Formal Stages to the Strategic Approach:
a. Social
b. Problem
c. Interaction
d. Goal-Setting
e. Task-Setting
3.Straightforward Directives
4.Indirect (Paradoxical) Directives
5.A strategy is designed which will help the family eliminate the presenting problem.

Experiential Virginia Satir MODEL
1. COMMUNICATION STYLES:
a. Congruent
b. Placator
c. Blamer
d. Super-reasonable
e. Irrelevant
2.Therapist’s “Use of Self” & “Active Presence”
3.Ingredients of an Interaction
4.Facilitating Emotional Expression
5.Softening Family Rules
6.Communication Enhancement
7.Touch
8. “Sculpting”
9. Through Contact, Chaos, & Integration, the communication styles of the individual & the family will be examined with warmth & empathy to assist in family reconstruction.

Solution-focused de Shazer, Berg, & O’Hanlon MODEL
1. A five-stage protocol:
a. Co-Constructing a Problem & Goal
b. Identifying & Amplifying Exceptions
c. Assigning Tasks
d. Evaluating Effectiveness
e. Reevaluating Problems & Goals
2.Miracle Question
3.Exception-Finding Questions
4.Scaling Questions
5. Effective resolution of problems through cognitive problem-solving and the use of personal strengths and resources.

Construct a Genogram (20%). A minimum of a 3 generational genogram must be constructed in order to depict the contents of the interview as outlined above. To construct the genogram use standardized genogram symbols and format. Provide a key for all symbols used. Handwritten genograms must be legible.

Design an EcoMap (10%). Identify the social systems relevant to the IP and describe the relationship the IP has with these social systems. Provide a key for all symbols used. Handwritten ecomaps must be legible.

This must be a Scholarly Presentation (15%). The GEWA must be typed and conform to format as outlined in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition.

Power point slides is requirements:
1- The presentation should cover: Brief Overview of the Family Interview and Assessment (“Identified Patient” / “Presenting Problem”)
2- (Genogram & Ecomap Discussion)
3-Clinical Hypothesis
4-Brief Summary of the Therapeutic Approach
5-ONE intervention SPECIFIC to the family