How to Write a Psychosocial Narrative

The term psychosocial refers to the relationship between social conditions and the mental health of an individual or group, or the interactions of psychology on society. A psychosocial assessment narrative is an important tool to gauge the relationship of these interactions and is normally conducted by a professional in the field of psychology, health care or social work. An assessment narrative is a series of questions, along with aptitude testing, which serves as an assessment of the individual's social status, mental health and ability to interact within the community. Through an assessment interview, the psychosocial narrative may be constructed from the compiled data.

Instructions

• 1

  Determine which type of interview you would like to conduct, structured or unstructured. An unstructured interview provides open-ended questions allowing the interviewee to elaborate answers, as opposed to satisfying questions with concise answers. This method has the interviewee doing the majority of the talking, with the interviewer obtaining general information from the long tangential answers. Structured interviews have a set of questions, and may implement any number of psychological tests, as well. The questions asked in a structured interview normally require more precise answers.

• 2

  Use a standardized test as part of your assessment. Determine which test best suits your needs for your particular psychosocial narrative. The standard psychological test to evaluate an individual is the Structured Clinical Interview (SCID), utilizing the extensive classification system of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM) to get an assessment of any mental deviance that may be present. Some other psychological tests that may be implemented are the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) or the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC).

• 3

  Illustrate to the interviewee the line of questioning's purpose, the reason for the questioning, the importance of answering truthfully to the best of the interviewee's abilities and the amount of time that the interview should take. Being upfront with this information will allow the interviewee to mentally prepare for the test, with the intention of being open to the interview process.

• 4

  Gather the individual's status information. Items such as name, age, height, weight, ethnicity, level of education and living situation should be collected. If you are compiling data on multiple individuals, it is important that you collect the same data from each one.

• 5

  Observe the interviewee's behavior during the interview. Body language must be taken into account, as well as the aptitude for answering the line of questioning. Make notations of observed calm or nervousness, eye contact avoidance, any reactions or non-reactions and sitting posture.

• 6

  Direct your focus on the interviewee's psychological state with your line of questioning. Determining key topics, such as level of happiness, love life, living situation, personal fulfillment and work life, will give you a fair assessment of her mental state.

• 7

  Focus your questioning on societal integration. Determine the interviewee's social interactions, success or lack thereof in his chosen profession and perceived capabilities of achieving any set goals and aspirations. Also note if there are no goals or aspirations.

• 8

  Conduct the testing portion of the interview. When conducting a test developed by someone else or a standardized test such as the WAIS or WISC, ensure that you adhere to the specifications provided for conducting the test properly. If you have developed your own test, conduct the test the same way with each interview.

• 9

  Compile the results from each individual and write an assessment of your findings. The assessment may be as little as one page or as long as 20 pages, depending on the derived information. This is known as the narrative of your psychosocial assessment.