The Biopsychosocial Spiritual (BPSS) Assessment offers a historical context for what the client presents with and assesses the client's history, strengths, and resources.
The BPSS should answer the question: "How do these four areas contribute to the client's current functioning?"
The BPSS should ask questions to address each of the following aspects in detail:
Biology: basic needs - the client's access to food, shelter, etc
Psychosocial: history, personality, self-concept, medication, diagnosis and treatment history
Social: support system (friends, family, social environment)
-may use genogram here
-use both open and close-ended questions
-knowledge of life stages and development are essential
Spiritual: sense of self, sense of meaning and purpose in life, religion and its context in client's life
ROPES method of identifying strengths: Resources, Options, Possibilities, Exceptions, and Solutions
-when working with kids, ask assessment questions of both kids and their parents. also, be sure to know and express the intended role of the parent in therapy or treatment
-BPSS creates a context and could be used to create a diagnosis, but is much more thorough than a diagnosis