COMPONENTS OF PSYCHOSOCIAL COUNSELING INTERVIEWS

Hood and Johnson (1991) reported that:

assessment is an integral part of counseling...[and] provides information that can be used in each step of the problem-solving model" (p. 11).

In counseling situations, assessment, in its various forms (standardized instruments, neurobiophysical tests, interviews, etc.) is used to clarify concerns and needs of clients, and to assist them in coming to better understand themselves and so re-solve their conflicts and difficulties. One form of assessment is the psychosocial counseling interview which consists of the use of interview strategies (structured or unstructured) to collect psychoemotional, social, and other data that is pertinent to the client's problem or disorder (Wells, 1985); thus, in general, psychosocial counseling interviews are a multiassessment approach. The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief, general overview of the use of the psychosocial counseling interview for various psychological disorders experienced by children, adults and families, emphasizing the topics that need to be covered in these interviews.

Psychosocial Counseling Interviews For Children

Karr and Johnson (1987) have pointed out that, in general, children and adolescents receiving psychosocial counseling are often suffering from a variety of psychoemotional and social stressors in their lives. The effective psychosocial interview,

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or mores, marital status, friendships (number and quality), working relationships with colleagues, the proximity of the client's residence to the place where the counseling sessions take place, and the proximately of the client's relatives to where she lives. All of these factors, according to Lukas (1993) will have a role in the overall assessment the counselor makes of the client's mental health status. It should also be pointed out here that if the client has some definite concrete problem that is causing her stress in her life, information that is specifically relevant to this problem must also be obtained. For example, Allers, Tait and Katrin (1988) have discussed the client with AIDS noting that there are five major psychosocial issues that must be assessed when dealing with these clients. These are information relevant to the client overcoming her initial fear of ADIS, how relationships have been redefined; how lifestyles have been changed; the extent to which the client has re-evaluated life's meaning; and how the client has adjusted to the physical and social limitations associated with the condition. Thus, when collecting psychosocial data on adults, one must not only consider assessment pertinent to psychoemoti

Category: Psychology - C