Psychiatric Facility Client Intake Form Analysis

Critique of an Inpatient Psychiatric Facility Client Intake Form Upon initial review of the blank Client Self-Assessment Form, the client is asked to fill out his/her name and, if the client is unable to fill the form out himself/herself or the client is under the age of 14, the person completing the form on behalf of the client is asked to identify himself/herself. For the purposes of this paper, the client himself/herself will be referred to as the person who is filling out the Client Self-Assessment Form. The first two questions that the client is asked to answer two open-ended questions. Question one asks that the client describe in detail the reasons that he/she is seeking services while the second question asks the client how long he/she
First, the form is to be completed by clients who are age 14 and up. A 14-year old’s vocabulary is often not up to par with that of an adult. In addition, there are many adult clients who are at a lower level of functioning and/or are uneducated with a very limited vocabulary. While some of the words in the checklists are basic words, this writer does feel that a handful of the words could be replaced with simpler terms to benefit the clients as the client may misunderstand the word or be too embarrassed to ask for assistance, which can cause even more problems with his/her self-esteem. In addition, since children 14 and over can fill out the Client Self-Assessment Form themselves, the use of more basic words would be beneficial for them and also eliminate the idea of possibly making a form just for
This writer feels that the checklist for current issues could be more concise and it would be simpler for the client if the options were separated into two columns, one column for negative symptoms and the other for positive symptoms. The writer feels that the checklist involving characteristics of mother and father should be more broad, especially since more and more people not raised by the typical nuclear family. Lastly, childhood and educational checklists should flow together as