Family Assessment Handbook,
4th Edition

Part I: INTRODUCING FAMILY ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION.
1. Family Contexts.
2. A Framework for Understanding Families.
3. The Family System.
4. Core Tasks of Family Assessment.
5. Setting Goals and Selecting Family Interventions.
Part II: EFFECTIVE FAMILY STRENGTHENING INTERVENTIONS: FAMILIES COPING WITH DIFFICULT LIFE STRESSORS. ?????
6. Standardized Measures.
7. Common Practice Approaches to Family Practice.
8. Families, Life Stressors, and Older Adults.
9. Evidence-Based Interventions for Strong Families.
Part III: THE ROLE OF REFLECTIONS AND DISCLOSURE WRITING SKILLS FOR ENGAGING WITH FAMILIES.
10. Reflective Thinking and Reflective Writing.
11. Getting Connected With Your Own Family Systems. 
Part IV: PRACTICING FAMILY ASSESSMENT THROUGH CASE STUDIES.
12. Sharon and Her Family.
13. The Foxx Family: Physical Abuse, Aggression, and Parent/Child Management.
14. The Fernandez Family: Supporting an Older Adult. 
15. The Del Sol Family: Marital Conflict and Parenting Concerns.
16. The McCoy Family: Coping with Role Change after a Mother's Death.
17. The Jacques Family: Assessment and Intervention in Intimate Partner Violence.
18. Brief Case Studies: Brittany and Her Family, Melissa and Her Family, Jeanine and Her Family.
Appendix A: Checklist of Ethical Concerns.
Appendix B: Contract for Goals and Service. Or, Sample Assessment and Plan for Service ?? noted in manuscript of final preface, dated 8-11-14?
Appendix C: Assessment Report. Or, “Sample Assessment Reports” as noted in final preface (manuscript)?
References. 
Index.

• Barbara Thomlison

  Dr. Barbara Thomlison is a professor in the School of Social Work and director of the Institute for Children and Families at Risk at Florida International University. She obtained her Ph.D. in social work from the University of Toronto. Her academic experiences involve various undergraduate and graduate programs, where she teaches advanced clinical practice and family intervention courses. Her research interests include parenting programs, children at risk of maltreatment, family and youth violence, foster care, and early childhood interventions. Dr. Thomlison's extensive publications include articles, chapters, and books in the areas of child maltreatment interventions, parenting for effectiveness, family assessment, risk and resilience, foster care, APA style, forensic assessment, intervention in child sexual abuse, evidence-based internships, and designing evidence-based intervention search strategies. She is actively involved as a board member in local and national child welfare, foster care, and family service organizations. Her lengthy interdisciplinary practice history also includes services to children and families, as well as policy services research.

• Organized into four parts that are interrelated teaching and learning units, this edition also includes new Appendices that present samples of assessment outlines and intervention plan templates as well as a case assessment for a capstone assignment.

• Part Two addresses the assessment process and intervention planning, family systems theory, family life development, and assessing families for change using standardized measures. It includes a summary of other common family systemic and strategic models to help students expand their foundation of theory, concepts, and techniques that may be used or integrated into family practice.

• Part Three now focuses on the need for reflective and critical thinking about family process and dynamics, guiding students to reflect on the contributions of their own family lives to their senses of identity, values, and attitudes. Chapter 10, “Reflective Thinking and Reflective Writing,” includes a discussion of the use of self-disclosure and tips for disclosure writing. Chapter 11, “Getting Connected With Your Own Family Systems,” examines the development of helper self-awareness and the use of social media to share personal knowledge through social interaction.

• This edition presents new discussion of the common factors approach to family therapy, which focuses on essential factors and specific techniques-derived from research and common across various models-that produce positive outcomes.

• New content covers common change principles that illustrate the importance of a planned systematic approach to change, feedback-informed practice, setting goals, motivational interviewing, behavior and cognitive strategies, life stressors, trauma, and military families.

• FAMILY ASSESSMENT HANDBOOK: AN INTRODUCTION AND PRACTICAL GUIDE TO FAMILY ASSESSMENT, Fourth Edition, provides beginning professionals with an effective, applied practice approach to changing social environments with ethnically and culturally diverse families.

• The evidence base for the fourth edition has been updated, and reflects a resilience-based and integrated family systems approach to practice.

• The book emphasizes strength-based approaches, including four common factors found in successful psychotherapy research. These factors-therapeutic alliance, shared sense of common purpose, family as collaborator, and use of evidence-based intervention practices-help clarify family systems concepts for the novice practitioner.

• The author discusses assessment issues in ethnically diverse populations, helping students better understand and conduct culturally competent assessments.

• Case studies focus on particular populations and issues, helping students develop professional, ethical, and evidence-based practice competencies, attitudes, and skills for working with diverse family systems.

• All of the book's cases, activities, and concepts emphasize the complex interplay of multi-systemic family practice.

• The family case studies—taken directly from practice experience of the author and collaborators—guide students through the process of assessment and introduce selected interventions for working with diverse families. Two new case studies have been added.

• FAMILY ASSESSMENT HANDBOOK: AN INTRODUCTION AND PRACTICAL GUIDE TO FAMILY ASSESSMENT, Fourth Edition, provides beginning professionals with an effective, applied practice approach to changing social environments with ethnically and culturally diverse families.

• The evidence base for the fourth edition has been updated, and reflects a resilience-based and integrated family systems approach to practice.

• The book emphasizes strength-based approaches, including four common factors found in successful psychotherapy research. These factors-therapeutic alliance, shared sense of common purpose, family as collaborator, and use of evidence-based intervention practices-help clarify family systems concepts for the novice practitioner.

• Case studies focus on particular populations and issues, helping you develop professional, ethical, and evidence-based practice competencies, attitudes, and skills for working with diverse family systems.

• The author discusses assessment issues in ethnically diverse populations, helping you better understand and conduct culturally competent assessments.

Cengage provides a range of supplements that are updated in coordination with the main title selection. For more information about these supplements, contact your Learning Consultant.

Online Instructor’s Manual for Thomlison’s Family Assessment Handbook: An Introductory Practice Guide to Family Assessment, 4th
9781305502802