NUR 617 Week 3: Therapeutic Modalities for Advanced Practice Nursing
The initial clinical assessment plays a crucial role in building rapport and beginning the development of a therapeutic relationship. One of the ways of ensuring an accurate diagnosis and developing an effective treatment plan is by using the DSM-5, including the DSM-5 Cultural formulation interview, a tool designed to enhance cultural sensitivity in clinical assessments and improve diagnostic accuracy by considering the cultural context of the patient, This discussion presents a peer-reviewed article related to the strategies for completing a complete assessment of a new behavioral health client by emphasizing the use of the DSM-5 cultural formulation interview (CFI) as a structured interview framework used when completing the initial assessment.
The selected peer-reviewed article is “I need to get back to a normal life”: using the core DSM-5 Cultural Formulation Interview to explore existential themes shared by adolescents in specialized mental healthcare in Norway, published in Frontiers in Psychology and authored by Svamo et al. (2025). The qualitative study examines how the core DSM-5 Cultural Formulation Interview functions as a clinical tool for eliciting adolescents’ lived experiences within specialized mental health care. The authors identified recurring existential themes that extend beyond symptom expression, including disruptions to identity, loss of normalcy, and concerns about future functioning. Adolescents frequently described their distress in relational and existential terms, such as feeling disconnected from peers or struggling to reclaim a sense of everyday life, rather than solely through diagnostic language.
The study findings suggest that the CFI facilitates a broader understanding of mental health concerns by allowing psychiatric patients to articulate meaning, values, and personal interpretations of distress. In addition, the authors argue that this narrative-based approach provides clinically relevant information that might otherwise be overlooked during traditional symptom-focused initial assessments. The article further discusses the clinical implications of integrating the CFI into initial behavioral health assessments, emphasizing its role in supporting diagnostic reasoning and therapeutic engagement. Svamo et al. (2025) note that while the CFI does not replace DSM-5 diagnostic criteria, it enhances diagnostic accuracy by contextualizing symptoms within the client’s social, cultural, and existential framework, helping clinicians distinguish between normative developmental stressors and clinically significant impairment.
Furthermore, Svamo et al. (2025) highlight challenges associated with CFI implementation, including time constraints and the need for clinician training to interpret narrative data effectively. Despite these challenges, the study concludes that the CFI strengthens assessment quality by promoting patient-centered dialogue, reducing the risk of misinterpretation, and supporting comprehensive documentation during the initial phase of care. In addition, the journal article highlighted is the use of open-ended, patient-centered questions that invite clients to describe their concerns in their own words, thus allowing clinicians to assess not only symptom presence but also the personal meaning, perceived causes, and functional impact of distress, which are essential components of a complete assessment.
The article also emphasizes the importance of establishing a therapeutic relationship early in the assessment process, noting that CFI promotes collaboration and trust by validating the client’s perspective and experiences, hence encouraging openness and disclosure, which improves the quality and completeness of the information collected during the initial encounter. Finally, the article notes common pitfalls in initial behavioral health assessments, including time constraints, overreliance on diagnostic labels, and insufficient clinician training in narrative interviewing. Therefore, the article contributes to best practices for completing a thorough and effective assessment of a new behavioral health client.
References
Svamo, N. T. Ø., Haug, S. H. K., & DeMarinis, V. (2025). “I need to get back to a normal life”: Using the core DSM-5 Cultural Formulation Interview to explore existential themes shared by adolescents in specialized mental healthcare in Norway. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1652189. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12646933/
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You have now reviewed several documents regarding the initial patient contact, assessment, interview and initial diagnosis of a patient experiencing a behavioral health issue. You will identify, post and discuss one journal article from a peer reviewed journal that discusses strategies for completing a complete assessment of a new behavioral health client. This could include establishing a therapeutic relationship, utilization of DSM 5 criteria for diagnosis, documentation of the initial assessment, and “pitfalls” and “problems” that can occur when completing the initial assessment. You will be responsible for posting your journal article and discussing the article.