Case study paper and presentation guidelines

CAST 402 01/20/09

Briefly describes the characteristics of the family you are studying. Include the following:

1. Identifying Data (only use initials of your family members instead of their names).

Type of Family Form (single, married w/o children, married & children)

Cultural (ethnic) Background

Religious Identification

2. Environmental Data

Characteristics of Home

Family’s Social Support Network

3. Family Structure and function

Power Structure – Describe how you believe decisions are made in the family.

Role Structure – Describe the various roles that family members have established.

Family Affective Function – Describe family’s closeness, mutual nurturance, separateness, etc.

4. Family Stress and Coping

Familial Stressors and Coping Strategies – What are some minor and major stressors that this family as dealt with and what coping strategies have they utilized?

Identify positive coping strategies used?

5. Safety and risk assessment questions

  1. What form of abuse is present in this family?
  2. How does the abuse effect the child or children and their families?
  3. How do these abuse guide intervention?
  4. How does the abuse impact protection of the child or other children in the home?
  5. Does the abuse impact family preservation? Explain
  6. What cultural factors must be considered in the determination of what constitutes abuse in this family?
  7. How do these factors impact perception or ability to work with this family?

6. Family case analysis

  1. What is the presenting problem? How are the family members involved in the situation defining the problem
  2. In exploring the situation, how does the information that you learn from other family members inform your perceptions?
  3. How would you define the working problem based on the current information?
  4. What strategies do you think would be useful in engaging with the individuals involved?
  1. Family Assessment
  1. How would you define the working problem direct your assessment?
  2. What assumptions about human and social behavior are you making and how would you follow up with these?
  3. Are there other problems or issues you think might emerge as you delve deeper into this case? What are they and how might the affect the situation?
  4. What information are you lacking about the situation and its context that you feel you need to know to gain an in-depth understanding?

Identifiy the strengths, limitations, and barriers present in this family. Based on the strengths, where would you start to work with this family?Identify the strengths of this family.Coping, Past experience with crisis/stress, Mental Health, Parenting, Housing/environmental, Family relationships, Child characteristics, Social support systems, Commuication skills, Caregiver life skills, Physical health, Employment/income management and Community resource utilization

  1. What issues of motivation and or resistance do you think you are likely to encounter? How do you think you might handle them?
  2. Give a clear and concise summary of your assessment and state how it affects the definging of general goals.
  3. Identify and briefly state at least two theoretical frameworks or approaches that would guide your intervention in working with this family
  4. Prepare a genogram and an ecomap for the family.
  5. Sketch a family genogram
  6. Write up a family ecogram with arrows indicating Tenuous stressful or strong relationships.
  1. Planning for the Family
  1. State your general goals in working with this family
  2. State specific objectives related to each goal and identify specific changes in the situation that might lead to accomplishing the above goals.
  3. What actions should be taken by the worker, the clients, or others to operationalize your objectives?
  4. How are you going to set up your evaluation to track accomplishments or progression goals and objectives?
  1. Family Treatment Plan/contract

Design a treatment plan for this family:

The ______family treatment contract plan

Client______

  1. Brief description of the problem?
  2. Primary goals and objective (List at least 3 goals and objectives).
  3. We, the undersigned agree o the following tasks
  4. Evaluation of progress (how will your plan be evaluated?)
  5. Signature lines for you and the client.
  1. APA guidelines
  2. Presentation