Biopsychosocial report, genogram and case study guide
Four deliverables built from one interviewee — a biopsychosocial form and summary report, a three-generation genogram, a case study paper carrying the diagnosis, and a PowerPoint that ties them together. The marks are in whether they agree with each other, so plan the case once and write it four ways.
Editorial process
Last reviewed · August 5, 2026
Four deliverables, one client: what is actually being graded?
This reads as four assignments and is graded as one case. The brief states that the case study paper's body must be the diagnosis you gave the interviewee that is consistent with the findings in the biopsychosocial — which makes cross-document consistency the assessed quality, not an incidental virtue. A genogram showing a pattern the report never mentions, or a diagnosis the biopsychosocial data does not support, fails on coherence even when each document is competent alone. Notice also what the brief repeats: Do not include a link appears three times, and appendix material is excluded from the page count every time it is mentioned. An instructor who says something three times has been handed links three times. Upload the completed form, the genogram and the consent forms as files, and treat the repetition as the marker telling you where submissions have gone wrong before.
The page arithmetic is the trap that costs most, because it misreads in the student's favour. The biopsychosocial summary report is 10 pages. The case study paper is described as 10 pages, and the brief then adds that discussion of diagnosis, differential diagnosis and tentative treatment recommendations will become the remaining 10 pages that complete your paper, with the narrative being the biopsychosocial already submitted. Read closely, that is a 20-page total: ten pages of narrative you have written, plus ten new pages of diagnostic reasoning. Anyone reading it as a single 10-page paper submits half the work. The interviewee is also a child or adolescent, which changes the applicable standards — a developmental assessment is not an adult assessment scaled down, because informants disagree, presentation shifts with age, and the differential is crowded where the same behaviour carries different meanings at different stages.
Likely learning objectives
Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.
- 01Conduct a structured biopsychosocial interview and record it against the ten sections the brief specifies, rather than in free narrative.
- 02Translate raw interview data into a diagnostic impression that a reader can trace back to specific findings.
- 03Construct a three-generation genogram that carries clinical meaning, not just family structure.
- 04Argue a differential diagnosis for a child or adolescent presentation, where developmental stage changes what a symptom signifies.
- 05Likely assessed on whether tentative treatment recommendations follow from the formulation rather than from the diagnostic label alone.
Read the full question
Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.
Course-wide instructions that accompany this question
Important information for writing discussion questions and participation Hi Class, Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts. Contact me if you have any questions. Important information on Writing a Discussion Question Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references) There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article. Include in-text citations in your response Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information Follow APA-7th edition Points will be deducted if the above is not followed Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week. Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references) Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count. Follow APA 7th edition Points will be deducted if the above is not followed Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points. Here are some helpful links Student paper example Citing Sources The Writing Center is a great resource Welcome to class Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to. I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you. Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted. If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations. Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements. Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week. I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!
Turn the brief into deliverables
- 01Biopsychosocial form containing all ten named sections: presenting problem, history of problem, developmental/medical history, family history, educational/social history, special considerations, mental status and client's strengths, clinical findings, diagnostic impressions, and tentative treatment recommendations.
- 02Biopsychosocial summary report of 10 pages, written from the form, with the completed form uploaded into an appendix.
- 03Genogram covering three generations of relevant information, drawn or software-generated, scanned into the appendix of the narrative paper — explicitly excluded from the 10-page count.
- 04Case study paper on a specific child and adolescent diagnosis: 10 typewritten double-spaced pages covering the diagnosis given, differential diagnosis, and tentative treatment recommendations, in APA style.
- 05PowerPoint presentation of 10 slides plus an appendix, with the introduction slide excluded from the 10-slide body and the consent form(s) uploaded into the appendix.
- 06Every appendix item uploaded as a file. The brief states three separate times that links are not acceptable.
How should the 20 pages split between narrative and diagnosis?
Fix the case before writing anything
Decide the presenting problem, the working diagnosis, and the two or three differentials you will argue against, then check the biopsychosocial data actually supports them.
Biopsychosocial summary report (10 pages)
Turn the completed form into narrative, following the form's own ten sections so nothing the marker expects goes missing.
Genogram, three generations
Map the family across three generations and mark the relational and health patterns that bear on this presentation.
Diagnosis and its justification
State the diagnosis given to the interviewee and tie each criterion to specific findings from the assessment.
Differential diagnosis
Name the plausible alternatives and say what evidence separates them, including what would change your mind.
Tentative treatment recommendations
Recommend a plan that follows from the formulation, and mark it as tentative in the way the brief does.
PowerPoint (10 slides + appendix)
Summarise all prior assignments into one narrative arc, with the intro slide outside the 10-slide body and consent forms uploaded into the appendix.
Which standards govern a child and adolescent assessment?
Recommended databases
- PubMed / PMC
- PsycINFO
- APA PsycNet
- Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
Search sequence
- 1.Start with the AACAP practice parameter for psychiatric assessment of children and adolescents to fix the areas of inquiry your write-up should cover.
- 2.Look up the current diagnostic criteria for your chosen diagnosis and for each differential, and note where the criteria overlap in this age group.
- 3.Search PsycINFO for differential diagnosis in your specific presentation plus 'child' or 'adolescent' — the developmental qualifier is what surfaces the useful papers.
- 4.Confirm the informed-consent standard that applies to assessment before you describe your consent forms in the appendix.
- 5.For the genogram, check the standard notation conventions rather than inventing symbols, so a reader can interpret it without a legend.
Where the assessment and genogram conventions are written down
These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.
Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.
- 01
Practice Parameters for the Psychiatric Assessment of Children and Adolescents
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP) · 1997
The specific areas of inquiry an assessment of a child or adolescent is expected to cover, and the parent-versus-child interview distinction — use it to check your biopsychosocial form is not missing a domain. It sets out assessment process, not diagnostic criteria; take those from the current diagnostic manual.
- 02
A revitalized biopsychosocial model: core theory, research paradigms, and clinical implications
Psychological Medicine (Cambridge University Press) · 2023
Bolton's argument for what the biopsychosocial model actually commits you to — examining regulatory mechanisms across biological, psychological and social domains rather than listing findings under three headings. Useful for justifying why your formulation integrates the domains instead of reporting them separately.
- 03
Genograms: Assessment and Intervention, 2nd Edition (book review)
The Canadian Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Review · 2003
Jerome's review of the McGoldrick text, for the clinical case that a genogram surfaces multigenerational patterns and shifts focus away from individual scapegoating — which is the argument your genogram section needs. It is a review, not the source text, so cite the book itself for notation conventions.
Review before submission
Common mistakes
- Writing the four deliverables independently, so the genogram shows a pattern the report never mentions and the diagnosis is not the one the biopsychosocial data supports — the single thing the brief explicitly requires.
- Reading the case study paper as 10 pages total. The brief adds diagnosis, differential and treatment as 'the remaining 10 pages', with the biopsychosocial narrative as the first 10.
- Padding the page count with the genogram, the form, or the consent documents. Every one of them is named as appendix material and excluded.
- Linking to the form, genogram or consent documents instead of uploading them. The brief refuses links three separate times.
- Drawing a family tree instead of a genogram — three generations of names and dates, with no relational or health information marked, carries no clinical meaning.
- Treating the differential as a list of rejected labels rather than an argument, when the developmental overlap in child and adolescent presentations is exactly what makes the differential hard.
- Recommending treatment from the diagnosis rather than from the formulation, so the plan would be identical for any client carrying that label.
Submission checklist
- The biopsychosocial form contains all ten sections named in the brief, in the brief's own terms.
- The summary report runs to 10 pages, excluding the appendix.
- The diagnosis in the case study paper is traceable to specific findings in the biopsychosocial, and you can point to them.
- The genogram covers three generations and marks relationships or health patterns, not just structure.
- Differential diagnoses are argued with the evidence that separates them, not listed.
- Diagnosis, differential and treatment recommendations together add the second 10 pages.
- The PowerPoint body is 10 slides, with the introduction slide outside that count and consent forms in the appendix.
- The form, the genogram and the consent forms are uploaded as files, with no links anywhere.
- APA style throughout the case study paper, including the reference list.
Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read our academic-integrity policy.
Written by
Aaron Bishop
MA, Education
assignment interpretation and research-methods coaching across disciplines
Aaron leads the EssayCrackers editorial desk. He works on how assignment briefs are read — what a rubric is actually asking for, and where students most often answer a different question than the one set.
Reviewed by
Dr. Nathan Cole
PhD, Rhetoric & Composition
Argumentation and thesis development
Nathan teaches first-year composition and directs a university writing center. He reviews EssayCrackers guides for argumentative soundness and citation accuracy.