Using family circles to increase competency and confidence in social work

The family circle instrument is a self-constructed diagram that has been used by family physicians for more than 40 years to gather and assess information about patients’ family connections and relationships. Even though healthcare professionals have found the family circle instrument to be effective and easy to administer, the literature is silent on social workers’ use of this instrument to engage and assess individuals and families. This article describes the effectiveness of the family circle interviewing method in increasing the confidence and skill of graduate social work students in assessing families. The author also presents the results of an evaluative study that examined graduate social work students’ use of the family circle instrument. Graduate social work students received instruction on how to administer the family circle interview as a method of engaging and assessing families from a family systems perspective. Thus, a primary focus of this article is upon how using the family circle interview can promote competency and confidence among students to engage and assess families. A majority of the students that completed family circle instruction felt the instrument helped them understand families from a systems perspective and increased their confidence in their ability to assess families.