L’évaluation du contexte familial dans l’examen psychologique de l’enfant

Abstract

Family assessment is an essential component of the psychological evaluation of the child. The aim of this assessment is to determine risk and resiliency factor in the proximal relational environment of the child. Results of researches have indeed shown on the one hand that family-level variables explain a specific part of the variance in child development and psychopathology, and on the other hand that family intervention is efficient to treat several pathological conditions in child and adolescent such as conduct disorders, substance abuse, or eating disorders. In this paper, we present the specific dimensions of family functioning (e.g. cohesion and flexibility) and the different methods and instruments that can be used to assess them, with their respective benefits (e.g. direct observation with the Lausanne Trilogue Play, questionnaires such as the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales). We present then different possible uses of family assessment: for therapeutic indication (to evaluate the relevance of a family intervention in a given situation), or to determine therapeutic goals (to specify which relational dimension may be targeted by the intervention), or as an intervention in itself (like in the joint assessment procedures developed by the family-centred approaches).