Assessment (family)

Family Assessment Paper

Your Name Goes Here

Online MSW Track, University of Central Florida

SOW 6612: Clinical Practice with Families

Instructor Name

Month Day, 202X

Family Assessment Paper

This section is a summary paragraph of the family assessment paper. This paragraph will be brief: no more than 3-4 sentences that provides an overview of what the instructor can expect to read. Note that APA guidance includes an introduction before arriving to the heart of the paper; hence, it is advised that you keep this introduction. If you feel you need more space in your paper, come back to this introduction and re-work it so it is brief. Take that approach instead of deleting the introduction completely, as this measure will likely result in lost points.

Definition of Family System

A key component to any assessment is first defining who the client-system is. In this case, the client system is the family – specifically - your family! Therefore, what you want to do in this section of your paper is to define your family. As you begin the process of reflecting on who your family is and who makes up the components of your family, it may be helpful to begin with a genogram. A genogram is a great place to start because, as your reading indicates, this visual depiction of the family is a helpful way to present family structure and relationships, and this can be presented graphically over multiple generations as necessary.

There are several resources listed in Week #2 to help you with this genogram mapping process. One of the first resources would be your readings for the week. Chapter 8 in your Collins, Jordan, and Colman text, and Chapter 3 in your Van Hook text, provide some background on the components involved in a qualitiative family assessment and genograms. Inclusive in this process is genogram development and the symbols used.

Creating a genogram is very personal. Although it is a presentation of the family, it is important to note that this presentation is from the perspective of one or possibly a few more members of the family, but not the entire family; hence, others within the family may have different perseptions - and that is okay! It is just important to remember that genograms (and ecomaps) are a personal process. Nevertheless, there is basic content included in all gengorams for their practical utility – so you want to include this informaiton in your own genogram. That information includes: identified idividuals within the family, ages and/or dates of birth of family members, and relationships (i.e. marriage, divorce, etc.).

It is important to pause here and note something of importance. In the texts you have, and in society in general, there are some assumptions made about families. These assumptions are that: 1) Family is biological, 2) Intimate bonds are heterosexual and paired with only two partners, and 3) Gender is binary. By this point in the program, we know these things not to be true, but because some of the information we are exposed to tends to reinforce the above as fact, we must be dilligent to consistently remind ourselves as ethical practionners that the aformentioned three items are facts only to those in which these items are true for them. This is not the consensus or make up of every family (how beautiful is diversity! ). In this regard, I have included links to additional resources and readings this week that you may find helpful as you develop your genogram and ecomap.

Please note that you may use ANY symbols you choose to represent the individuals and relationships in your family. The symbols provided in your readings and added resources may be helpful to you to use or to adapt as you see fit. In addition to the symbols you use to express your family, be certain to include a key (see example listed under “Other Common Symbol”s on page 255 of the Collins et al. text) to aid with my interpretation of your genogram.

In addition to your gengoram, you also want to create an ecomap. As Chapters 8 and 3 indicate in Collins et al., and Van Hook, respectively, an ecomap provides an additional visual diminsion of the family system. Specifically, an ecomap considers the ecological perspective of systems theory and brings in the external dynamics that impact the family and indvidual. As with a genogram, individuals of the family are represented with various lines and symbols connecting them and demonstrating who they are in the family. In addition, support and other systems are depicted and their relationship demonstrated visually as well. For instance, faith/religion may be a significant component within a family system and for some in the family it is seen as positive and others negative, so a “stressed” relationship may be depicted between religion/faith/church and the family. The same can be true for work, school, other family members, health care, etc. Both chapters provide examples for a bit more guidance. As with the genogram, be certain to include a “key” to your ecomap to allow for interpretation.

To include your genogram and ecomap in your paper, please label your genogram as “Appendix A” and your ecomap as “Appendix B”. When completing your genogram and ecomap, you may elect to use a computer or hand draw your image. If you hand draw, it is advised that you take a photo of the image, save the image to your computer, and then “insert” the image into appropriate appendix of your paper. Be certain the image is clear and large enough for readability.

Now, once you complete your genogram and ecomap, you will likely have a MUCH easier time describing your overall family system. This is not a one word answer, but more of an overall summation of how you see your family. For instance, after completing your ecomap and genogram, you may find that your family is “made up of complex and diverse subsytems that include military relationships, divorce, single parents, adoptive parents and children, middle to low income earners, and a host of other factors that make [my] family beautiful, unique, and stressful.” Something such as this may be how you actually start the writing content of this section of your paper. You may expand a bit more with some examples, and then direct the reader (that would be me, your instructor) to “please see Appendix A and Appendix B for the genogram and ecomaps, respectively”. Hence, as you see, you will likely do a great deal of work on the paper before you even begin to WRITE the paper! That’s probably how you know you are off to a great start . With that in mind, providing a overall description of your family system and then directing me to Appendix A and B may actually result in no more than 2-3 paragraphs in this section of your paper. This paragraph number is not required, but just serves to give you an idea of what the writing may actually entail in this section.

Family Resilience

Now that you have identified who and what makes up and impacts your family system, it is time to reflect on how your family operates. By this I am referring to your family’s belief systems, organizational patterns, and communications processes as they apply to you and your family.

We would agree that everyone has their individual belief systems or values. An individual may share those values with others in their family-system/circle, or their beliefs may be completely different than others. Usually, there is a combination of both. When working with the family system, however, it is important to think of the family as the client and therefore, understand and recognize the general beliefs/values that guide the family system as a whole. What might those be for your family? Chapter 2 of the Collins et al. text and Chapter 1 of Van Hook’s text provides some insights about belief systems that can govern the family system. The PowerPoint for Week #2 also provides some insights. In this section, you want to discuss what some of your family belief systems are (at least one) and how do you see the belief system(s) impact your family.

Next, take some time to think about the organizational patterns within your family system. As Van Hook Chapter 1 indicates, organizational patterns reflect interpersonal arrangements and how those arrangements can help or hinder family resiliency. The chapter goes further to identify aspects of organizational patterns such as cohesion and leadership. Take a moment to review these two key concepts listed under organizational structure and identify where your family falls in relation to this. It is important to note that author uses “normal” in the beginning of the section, however, we (social work) only use that term when referencing statistical means (“the norm”) and not to qualify (describe) systems (micro, mezzo, macro). We recognize that the “norm” for every system is unique and what matters most is what is healthy for that system as they define it and as it does not hurt others or themselves. In this regard, when identifying where your family falls as it relates to how the author presents cohesion and leadership, include your description of what “works” for you in these areas, what does not, and how that aligns with the author’s presentation. For instance, an example might be

“The author notes that the ability of family members to assume new roles when a crisis impacts a person within the family is important (Van Hook, 2014). I can agree that of some of the families I have encountered, the ability of the father to step in as a financial provider, for instance, was important to the health of that family. In my own family, however, I find that we work so well as a team that everyone assumes all roles and it would be rather odd and ineffective if we did not…”

Finally, in this section of your paper, reflect on your family’s communication style. A good study of Chapters 3 and 8 in the Collins et al. text will give you some ideas regarding various modes of communication within families and how these communication styles impact families. Take some time to think on what the author presents and then discuss your own family system’s communication processes and how that impacts your family’s functioning – keeping in mind that all families communicate differently based upon multiple factors, such as culture, language, ability, region of the globe etc. The goal here is to use the author’s presentation of information as a guide to identifying how your own family communicates and your perception of the overall effectiveness. Locating scholarly articles that may support your family context of communication (i.e. culture, relationship style, etc.) may be helpful to affirm/clarify your position and experiences.

Diversity, Stressors, Risks, and Protective Factors

As you may have already identified in your ecomap, there are several factors that are internal and external to the family system that can create stressors. In essence, stressors are a fact of life. We all will have a stress at one point in time or another. However, there are some stressors that can put family systems a bit more “at risk” of unhealthy functioning/operation (e.g., substance abuse) than other stressors (e.g., voluntary relocation). Chapter 4 of Collins et al. reviews family development and life cycle. As you will see, there are many places within the phases of family development that could present significant stress on the family system. There are also some factors of just “being” (e.g. gender, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity) that manifest as stress on the family system for a variety of reasons. Take some time to review Chapter 4 of Collins et al. and identify any current stressors for your family system.

Next, based on those stressors, align risk with them. For instance, Chapter 5 of Collins et al. highlights how some aspects of cultural stress can manifest as an aspect of risk for a family. Consider a family system comprised primarily of recent migrants from Mexico to the United States in 2016 and 2017. Due to increased discussion regarding immigration laws, this family may not only experience an increase in overall feelings of stress, but they may be at greater risk for job loss, inability to access quality health care services, and overt expressions of discrimination. If members of the family are also undocumented, there may be increased risk for impaired psychological health such as increased anxiety, and also greater risk of poverty not only due to job loss, but funds needed to attempt to maintain family members in the U.S. Note that as indicated in Collins et al. Chapter 5, risk cannot be assessed fully in isolation, but should consider the multiple components impacted by risk (i.e. individual, interpersonal, and environmental, social, economic, political, etc.).

Knowing that no system can thrive on risk alone, we must in tandem explore protective factors that help to mitigate both stress and risk. Van Hook, Chapter 1, page 18, provides a chart of family risk and protective factors to demonstrate how “risk and protective factors interact to determine how well a family will respond to a threatening event” (Collins et al., 2013, p. 167). In other words, how resilient a family can be in the face of adversity. Hence, thinking of the stressors and risk factors indicated above, now consider those factors (or strengths/skills) your family has that helps you to survive and/or thrive in the face of stress or adversity. Using the example of immigration from above, a person may identify strong family cohesion, a sense of humor, and role models of strength that have been able to aid the family through the current, difficult times. As you indicate your protective factors, you may also consider reviewing scholarly sources that, again, affirm these factors, or strengths, you have identified in your family system.

Finally, note that in this section, identification of at least one diversity component that has an impact on your family’s resilience, stressors, and protective mechanisms should be discussed (i.e. race, ethnicity, economic status, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability status, faith/spirituality/religion). For instance, in the example provided of the family, discussion of their Mexican and migrant identities would have fulfilled this requirement.

Reflection on Family Assessment

In the introduction to this assignment in Webcourses, I indicate that you should “Give yourself time” and “Give yourself space”. Part of this was for the amount of time necessary to complete a quality product, but the other reason was for the range of experiences and feelings that may come with completing this assignment. As you conclude your paper, spend some time in this space reflecting on the process. How was it for you (e.g., time commitment, ease/difficult, etc.)? What feelings came up for you and why (e.g., excitement, anger, resentment, frustration, joy, etc.)? Did you learn anything new about yourself or your family system that was surprising to you? Based on your own experience of reflecting on family, how might this impact how you work with clients who are asked to engage in similar tasks? Anything else you’d like to share – feel free!

References

In-text citations and reference list should be formatted according to APA style. Refer to the Webcourses assignment page for more details regarding how many and which references you must use. Remember that strict attention will be paid to your use of APA writing style. Please remember to use your APA manual, Purdue OWL, and other resources to help with reference and citation formatting as needed.