Narrative Assessment
Narrative Assessment
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Let’s pretend you have a female client whose husband wants a divorce. You’ve walked her through the process of completing the genogram with her. When you’ve completed your narrative assessment, start with the details of how your client describes her family.
In this example, the client defined her family growing up as what she called traditional. Her parents are still married. And she has two brothers. Her mom’s parents died before she was born, so she only met her grandfather and grandmother on her dad’s side. She describes her extended family as large. Her parental grandfather passed away 30 years ago. And her grandmother was married and divorced two times since he passed away.
In the body of the narrative assessment, focus on specific aspects of the genogram. For example, although she describes her extended family as large, she is only close to her grandmother. Her grandmother lives near her immediate family and is currently divorced. Her paternal grandfather passed away when she was young, but she was close to her grandmother’s second husband, too. She’s not sure why they divorced.
She’s glad her grandmother did not stay with her third husband because he was abusive towards her, but wishes her grandmother was not living alone.
Conclude your narrative assessment with any major connections you found while creating your genogram. For example, our client has an idea of what she believes a traditional family is, and wants to be like her parents. Her husband wants a divorce, but she doesn’t want a divorce because she thinks they can work it out and be like her parents, which she kept referring to as a traditional family.
She does not want to be like her grandmother and be lonely. She is concerned she’ll be unable to find another husband. She describes the relationship as not perfect. But she is OK with staying with her husband because at least she knows him well. She knows her husband won’t be like her grandmother’s last husband. He has never shown any type of aggression.
She’s scared that if she was to remarry she might end up in an abusive relationship. She feels like it takes a while to trust someone and to really know them. Her grandmother didn’t think her third husband would be abusive either. But after a short period of time, the third husband showed aggression after they were married. She doesn’t like to be alone.
© 2016 Laureate Education, Inc. 1
Narrative Assessment
Plus, she doesn’t want to receive financial assistance like her grandmother does, and knows her own income isn’t enough to live on. However, with her husband’s income and her own, they don’t have to worry about money.
Narrative Assessment Additional Content Attribution
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MUSIC: SC_Light&Bright06_T32 Music created and owned by Studio Cutz.
© 2016 Laureate Education, Inc. 2
Narrative Assessment
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© 2016 Laureate Education, Inc. 3
