1. Assessment II: Attending to the Wider Context
Chapter 9
Assessment II:
Attending to the Wider Context
By: Noah M.P. Spector and Shaofan Bu

2. Considering context
Without contextual details, one’s actions may seem bizarre and senseless
When we uncover the context for actions we get a fuller picture.
Including context allows us to see peoples’ responses as meaningful, and may suggest different avenues for going forward

3. Countering traditions of individualism
Psychological theories often explain people’s actions as expressions of their personality.
Consequently, we attempt to understand people by solely describing them with traits, types and categories.
Traits, types and categories typically exclude consideration of broader contexts.

4. Relational self People are relational beings.
To gain a rich picture of the “self”, it’s important to look beyond “individuals” to observe them, as we do other living things, in the ecologies they inhabit.
Pg. 220 DP

5. Cultural constraints and support
Thinking of clients’ challenges as constraints to preferred possibilities rather than causes of the their current experience keeps us curious about clients` agency
Attending to both cultural constraints and supports
Allows us to attend to the client in a wider context.
Diminishes the chance of writing off their struggle as a consequence of personal deficit.

6. Constraints/Challenges vs. Causes
What is different about these two ways of listening and conceptualizing the client’s situation?
Ask students to reflect on the difference between thinking of constraints/ challenges versus thinking of causes.

7. Cultural constraints and support
Resha’s Constraints and Supports
Cultural Constraints
Poverty
Violence
Sexism
Domestic responsibilities
Tight labor market
Cultural Supports
Sister and extended family
Loving children
Neighborhood friends
General and Arabic community services
p.262 DP

8. The Ecology of Experience: scoping the immediate and wider terrains
Bronfenbrenner’s (1977, 1979) socio-ecological model
Viewing the person as nested in multiple contexts
What happens in one context has ripple effects in other contexts.

9. The ecology of experience
Would you say that “moodiness” shows up at work as well?
What would I see if I watched you with your friends?
How does this play out in the classroom?
It sounds like things are pretty turbulent at work… does that turbulence come home with you?
Does that pattern look the same with your friends as it does with your siblings?
How would you describe the version of you that people see in the workplace?
Seems like the neighbourhood’s going through a lot of changes… are there ways that’s reflected in your home life?

10. Multiple contexts, multiple selves
Who we are is a function of where we are.
Self is a fluid construct, and the experience of self is changed and influenced by context.
In our assessments, we can try to extend our questioning to explore additional contexts and generate questions as to how these contexts interact.

11. Assessing across contexts
Actions Thoughts
Feelings Relationships
Sensations Images etc.
The problem/
challenge in
the past
The problem/
challenge in the future  
The problem/
challenge now
At home At school
At work On vacation
With family With friends
With partner When alone

12. Painting pictures: In praise of specificity
Client’s descriptions of their experiences can be vague at times.
Invite the client to paint a picture of the experience
If I were a fly on the wall while this is happening…..
Scaling questions can help evoke concrete descriptions

13. Degrees of specificity
1. Me and my partner are not getting along.
2. My wife and I shout at each other virtually every night.
3. My marriage is in trouble. When I come home from work, I’m grumpy and not very talkative. She tries to engage me and gets upset when I open the newspaper. Once she raises her voice, I get defensive and it turns into a shouting match, ending with both of us withdrawing to separate rooms.

14. Scaling questions: Putting numbers to experience
Sometimes problems/challenges are too abstract
Fuzzy problem description…fuzzy responses
Scaling makes a problem concrete, which makes it possible to track progress (or lack of progress!)

15. Putting the problem on a scale Suppose the problem is “distraction”…
“Let’s says number 10 is when Distraction has been at its worst for you… And let’s say “0” is where Distraction is completely gone….. What number would you put to Distraction today?

16. Using genograms to locate experience in social contexts
Social relationships contribute significantly to people‘s experiences. Genograms can be used to explore these.
They are also useful visual maps of clients’ relationships.

18. Engaging clients in critical reflection on diagnostic labels
Labels can be useful for purposes of advocacy, treatment planning and communication.
However, when labels are assigned by professionals, clients may understand the label as an essence of who they are
This may lead to thin descriptions.

19. Thin versus Thick Description
Clifford Geertz, Cultural Anthropologist
Thin description
Outsider’s view...omits context of actions, purposes and intentions…
Thick description
Insider’s view...inside the context, helps us understand people as act-ors performing values…it makes action meaning-ful

20. “Dignifying” clients: Thick description and insider knowledge
Invite the client to reflect on their diagnostic labels, in an attempt to refocus on client's uniqueness.
E.g. What impact has the label had on you? How well does the diagnosis fit your own experience?
Thick descriptions invoking the client`s knowledge about themselves can locate a label as part of a broader context.

21. Cultural considerations in assessment
How we make sense of the client's account is always a function of cultural context.
Be curious about cultural variations and explore client’s local knowledge to get a sensible account of their experiences.
Consider the client’s level of acculturation
Help clients consider discrepancies between dominant norms and their local cultural norms.

22. Considerations in assessing trauma
Take cues from clients and progress at their pace. Place client’s welfare in the center.
Cataloguing what is working in client's life is a useful precursor when exploring sensitive areas.
Solicit client’s preferences (e.g.. Explore past trauma versus work on here and now)
If revisiting traumatic events, focus on how clients have responded and position them as active agents.