Question 1: How would your communication and interview techniques for building a health history differ with each patient? Compared to the elderly? Other ethnicities?
In social work interviewing scenarios, the interview techniques can differ depending on the age or ethnicity of the respondent. Adolescents are more sensitive when asked about personal issues; thus, a high level of privacy during the interview is required. At the beginning of the interview, the interviewer should specifically focus on establishing a rapport. Elderly people, on the other hand, might not fret about too much revealing their personal information, although they also require to be assured of confidentiality. Last, people from different ethnic backgrounds can have different reactions when being interviewed by social workers, mostly due to their belief system ( Wu & Orlando, 2015 ). For example, interviewing a staunch Muslim on matters such as sexuality will require a different tactic compared to a white person.
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Question 2: How might you target your questions for building a health history based on the patient’s social determinants of health?
Social factors of health will influence the questions advanced to the client. The HEADSSS approach will be a crucial tool to design targeted questions ( Klein, Goldenring & Adelman, 2014 ). For instance, the education category of the tool will guide me to craft a specific question on the client's education history and the education-related factors that may inform their health risks.
Question 3: What risk assessment instruments would be appropriate to use with each patient, or what questions would you ask each patient to assess his or her health risks?
The choice of risk assessment tool will be influenced primarily by the age of the client. For the Hispanic adolescent, the HEADSSS tool will be used ( Klein et al., 2014 ). In the case of the elderly or adult from another ethnic background, a health risk assessment instrument will be used supported by an open headed questionnaire
Question 4: Identify any potential health-related risks based upon the patient’s age, gender, ethnicity, or environmental setting that should be taken into consideration.
The health hazards associated with the young Hispanic patient are drug abuse and infectious diseases. For the elderly person, injury and social exclusion are common risk factors of ill health ( Lushniak, 2015 ). For African Americans, drug abuse and infectious diseases are among the common health risk factors.
Question 5: Select one of the Risk Assessment Guide to Physical Examination Text, or Another Tool with which you are Familiar, Related to Your Selected Patient.
The selected risk evaluation tool is HEADSSS, which helps social workers to discuss delicate and sensitive concerns with teenagers. The tool provides a logical approach to interview adolescents as it requires one to begin asking less threatening questions progressing to more personal areas. HEADSSS stands for Home, Education/Employment, Eating Activities, Drugs, Sexuality/Depression, and Safety. With this approach, the interview can be less rigid and helps the respondent to be relaxed ( Klein et al., 2014 ).
Question 6: HEADSSS Questions
Home
Where do you live? How long have you lived there? Who do you live with at home? At home, do you have a separate bedroom, or you share one with others?
How many siblings are there in your family? Are your siblings healthy?
Are there any new people staying with you?
Do your parents have any medical conditions? What are their occupations?
What rules do you have at home?
How do you relate to your parents and other immediate family members? What things cause arguments at home? What happens when there is a disagreement at home?
What would you want to change at home? ( Klein et al., 2014 ).
Education
Where do you go to school? What grade are you at? What are your favorite activities in school? What about after school?
What are your subjects? What about your worst subjects?
How did you perform in the last test? What is an improvement or a drop?
What is the relationship with your teachers like?
Have you missed school this year?
What are your aspirations after school?
Eating and Exercise
What is it that you like or not like about your body?
What changes have you noticed with your body recently? Have you gained weight, or it has decreased?
What exercises do you do every day? What motivates you to exercise?
How can you describe your eating habits? What do you consider to be a healthy diet?
Activities
What activities do you relish the most?
How long do you spend watching TV? Which TV program is your at is your most loved?
Do you go to the same school as your friends?
What is your hang-out group like? Is made up of more girls than boys or vice versa?
How often do you attend parties?
Tell me about your hobbies?
What religion do you belong to? ( Klein et al., 2014 )
Drugs and Substances
During parties, do you and your friends engaging in smoking or alcohol? How often?
Is there anyone in your family who drinks, smoke, or use any other drug? If so, do you approve of the behavior?
Do your friends drive when drunk? Have you been involved in a car accident? Was it related to drinking or other drugs? ( Klein et al., 2014 )
Sexuality
Have you been intimately associated with another person? When and what was the experience? How long did you stay in that relationship?
Have you received sex advances from your female friends? What about males?
Have you had sex in the past? Tell me what you think about sexual activities?
How many sex partners do you have? Do you use contraception, and how often?
Would you speak out if someone sexually abused you? How would you react to a sexual abuse scenario? ( Klein et al., 2014 )
Suicide/ Depression
Are you having problems sleeping?
Is there any recent instance that you have been stressed?
Would you say that you have lost interest in things that you once enjoyed?
Have you ever thought of killing yourself or even planned to commit suicide?
Do you enjoy solitude more than being around your family and friends? ( Klein et al., 2014 )
Safety
Tell me whether you have been injured in the past?
Have you ever met a person that you befriended online?
Have you been driven by a person who was drunk or was texting while driving?
What about getting engaged in physical fights in school or in the streets?
Summary of the Interview
The HEADSSS technique will inform the structure and flow of the interview. Since the client is in the adolescent stage, one will need to assure them of confidentiality and privacy. It will be critical to establish rapport with the client by making sure that the interview environment is comfortable. In this case, a direct talk strategy will be a fundamental approach. Questions will be asked following the HEADDSSS approach with probing instances in between ( Klein et al., 2014 ). A friendly approach will be instrumental in getting appropriate and comprehensive responses from the client. However, the communication strategy will be subtly aggressive to maintain the rapport while at the same gearing to have all the questions answered. The HEADSSS tool is appropriate for this case since it provides a systematic method of interviewing adolescents. The questions progress from least sensitive to more sensitive questions
References
Klein, D., Goldenring, J., & Adelman, W. (2014) HEEADSSS 3.0 The psychosocial interview for adolescents updated for a new century fueled by media [Ebook] (1st ed.). Canada: Trapeze. Retrieved from www.trapeze.org.au/sites/default/files/2014_01_Klein_Goldenring_HEEADSSS3.0_Contemporary%20Pediatrics.pdf
Lushniak, B. D. (2015). Family health history: using the past to improve future health. Public Health Reports , 130 (1), 3-5.
Wu, R. R., & Orlando, L. A. (2015). Implementation of health risk assessments with family health history: barriers and benefits. Postgraduate medical journal , 91 (1079), 508-513.
