**depending on who you are interviewing, you may not feel comfortable asking about their sexual functioning or their financial resources.

Biopsychosocialspiritual Assessment
In social work practice, understanding older adults holistically will help you determine the issues that may or may not need to be addressed. This assignment will have two parts, an interview of an older adult (65 years or older) and a written biopsychosocial spiritual assessment using information gathered from the interview.
Guidelines for the Interview
In many ways, you must approach this assignment as a true practitioner. Your practice skills will be useful to maintain rapport. Use open-ended questions to explore and help reveal the interviewee’s thoughts and feelings if necessary. However, your goal is NOT to practice by doing therapeutic work. Your goal is to explore the experience with your interviewee until you believe you have fully understood the various aspects of his/her aging process and current challenges. It is not essential whether you already know this person or not. The length of the interview will likely vary considerably according to individual circumstances but plan for at least 45 minutes. I suggest you audiotape the interview to assist with the written part of the assignment. However, make sure the person you are interviewing is aware and consents to being audiotaped. In the interview, you need to focus on the following areas:
Demographic Information
Name (for this please only report first name last initial)
Address (for this please only report city/ state)
Marital status
Date of birth
Family members (ex., siblings, cousins, children, grandchildren)
Education
Employment history and status
Physical Health
Physical limitations (ex., difficulty walking, tremors, slurred speech)
Sensory limitations (ex., hearing aids, glasses, dentures)
Self-Rating of health
Competence in Activities of Daily Living
Activities of daily living
Instrumental activities of daily living
Psychological Health
Personality (ex., how do they view themselves, others and the world)
Intelligence
Memory **(assessed by observation and interviewees personal assessment)
Emotional Well-being
Depression, Anxiety, etc. **(assessed by observation and interviewees personal assessment)
Social Functioning
Lifestyle
Social Support
Spiritual Assessment
Religious or spiritual preference and how it plays a role in their life
Sexual Functioning
Financial Resources
**Depending on who you are interviewing, you may not feel comfortable asking about their sexual functioning or their financial resources. Since this is a class assignment, it is not 100% necessary that you have this information. It may be helpful to think about how you might word these questions if you were actually collecting this information from a client.
Environmental Issues (a lot of this will be based on observations)
What kind of environment does this person reside in?
How long has this person lived here?
Why did this person choose to live in this place?
The nature of the neighborhood (urban, rural, suburban, small town, etc.; age-friendliness, accessibility, amenities, etc.)
The characteristics of the person’s home (small run-down house, large apartment, mobile home, nursing home, etc.)
The individual’s living arrangements (alone, with family, with a live-in-companion, etc.)
Any other features of the person’s living situation that you consider relevant?
Written Report: Complete a written assessment of approximately three pages and at least two scholarly scientific articles from a credible professional source, such as a juried journal or scholarly text (no websites). Please submit as an electronic document with 12 pt. font, Times Roman, which should be double-spaced, have 1-inch margins, consistent with the current version of APA formatting.