A comparison of individual and family approaches to initial assessment

The study aimed to examine the influence of initial mode of assessment on attendance, and later assessment and treatment. 100 children newly referred to a child mental health service were randomly assigned to (i) initial family assessment; child and family seen together, or (ii) individual assessment, child and parents seen in parallel. Those invited were more likely to attend following "individual" appointment letters because parents did not always bring all the children in response to "family" appointment letters. Failure to attend the second appointment occurred twice as often if there was a change in who was asked to attend. Psychometric assessment was more often requested following an initial family interview. Long term mode of therapy appeared to be partly but not wholly influenced by initial assessment method. Results suggest that sustained co-operation with long term therapy is more likely to occur when clinicians vary the family members they are working with according to the needs of the case.