Assessment is as essential to family therapy as it is to individual therapy. Although families often present with one person identified as the “problem,” the assessment process will help you better understand family roles and determine whether the identified problem client is in fact the root of the family’s issues. As you examine the Hernandez Family: Sessions 1-6 videos in this week’s Learning Resources, consider how you might assess and treat the client family. 

The Assignment

Address in a comprehensive client assessment of the Hernandez family the following:

• Demographic information
• Presenting problem
• History or present illness
• Past psychiatric history
• Medical history
• Substance use history
• Developmental history
• Family psychiatric history
• Psychosocial history
• History of abuse and/or trauma
• Review of systems
• Physical assessment
• Mental status exam
• Differential diagnosis
• Case formulation
• Treatment plan

 Note: For guidance on writing a comprehensive client assessment, refer to pages 137–142 of Wheeler (2014) in this week’s Learning Resources. 

 Note: Any item you are unable to address from the video should be marked “needs to be added to” as you would in an actual comprehensive client assessment 

900 Words

A 42-year-old man comes to clinic with chief complaint of pain, redness, and swelling of his right calf. He states that he had been working in his yard using a string trimmer when the trimmer slipped and cut his leg. He cleaned the wound with water from the garden hose and covered the wound with a large Band-Aid. Several days later, he developed fever to 100.6˚ F and chills and noticed that his leg was swollen and red. He comes to the emergency department for definitive care.

· Explain why you think the patient presented the symptoms described.

· Identify the genes that may be associated with the development of the disease.

· Explain the process of immunosuppression and the effect it has on body systems.