Running head: INTERVIEW GUIDE Tonia Rogers Kristy Crowley Argosy University September 29, 2016 Purpose of an Interview with a Client with Persistent Headaches and Lack of Sleep This interview will be between a psychologist and a client who has had persistent headaches and problems in getting sleep. The client thinks that this issue may have been caused by stress from work as she is the managing director of a firm that requires a lot of her input to get results. The primary purpose of the interview will be to collect information that can be used to help in the treatment of the client (Miller & Studio D, 2016). The interview will also be aimed at establishing the cause of the persistent headaches that the customer if facing together with sleeplessness because these may be symptoms of other problems that the client may not be in a manner to identify. The information collected from the client would help the counselor to structure a treatment plan for the client. The interview will also help the psychologist to assess the kind of issues that the client is going through. The Structure of an Interview with a Client An interview with a client requires one to be composed and needs to have a good structure that would lead to collecting enough information towards solving the client's problems. Effective communication will be essential during the interview process. The better that the counselor can communicate their skills and expertise, the more quality information can be collected from the client. The next thing in the interview structure would be the warm up section where the psychologist may be asked general questions out of the subject. This part will enable the client to familiarize with the interview environment (Connecticut, 2002). The other part of the interview structure will be the information exchange which is the major part of the discussion. In this section, the client will be asked many questions and also will learn a lot from the counselor. The inquiries that the client will be asked at this point would lead to establishing the cause of her problems for an appropriate course of treatment. The final stage of the interview would be the wrap-up stage where the client will be given the opportunity to ask the counselor some questions. These items would include questions intended to clarify some of the concerns that the psychologist raised during the interview. It is at this stage where the interviewer may summarize the information that they collected and had the client add or elaborate some of the information that she may feel was not correctly recorded. The structure of the interview would enable the client and the interviewer to have a common ground where every participant will be positive about the process. The structure will also give the customer confidence in the counselor. Similarly, the structure would ensure that all parts of the interview are covered ...

1. Running head: INTERVIEW GUIDE
Tonia Rogers
Kristy Crowley
Argosy University
September 29, 2016
Purpose of an Interview with a Client with Persistent Headaches
and Lack of Sleep
This interview will be between a psychologist and a client
who has had persistent headaches and problems in getting sleep.
The client thinks that this issue may have been caused by stress
from work as she is the managing director of a firm that
requires a lot of her input to get results. The primary purpose of
the interview will be to collect information that can be used to
help in the treatment of the client (Miller & Studio D, 2016).
The interview will also be aimed at establishing the cause
of the persistent headaches that the customer if facing together
with sleeplessness because these may be symptoms of other
problems that the client may not be in a manner to identify. The
information collected from the client would help the counselor
to structure a treatment plan for the client. The interview will
also help the psychologist to assess the kind of issues that the
client is going through.
The Structure of an Interview with a Client
An interview with a client requires one to be composed
and needs to have a good structure that would lead to collecting
enough information towards solving the client's problems.
Effective communication will be essential during the interview

2. process. The better that the counselor can communicate their
skills and expertise, the more quality information can be
collected from the client. The next thing in the interview
structure would be the warm up section where the psychologist
may be asked general questions out of the subject. This part will
enable the client to familiarize with the interview environment
(Connecticut, 2002).
The other part of the interview structure will be the
information exchange which is the major part of the discussion.
In this section, the client will be asked many questions and also
will learn a lot from the counselor. The inquiries that the client
will be asked at this point would lead to establishing the cause
of her problems for an appropriate course of treatment. The
final stage of the interview would be the wrap-up stage where
the client will be given the opportunity to ask the counselor
some questions. These items would include questions intended
to clarify some of the concerns that the psychologist raised
during the interview. It is at this stage where the interviewer
may summarize the information that they collected and had the
client add or elaborate some of the information that she may
feel was not correctly recorded.
The structure of the interview would enable the client and
the interviewer to have a common ground where every
participant will be positive about the process. The structure will
also give the customer confidence in the counselor. Similarly,
the structure would ensure that all parts of the interview are
covered sufficiently without missing any important part.
The topics that are intended to be covered include;
· Background information of the client
· Nature of the clients Job
· Background of the client's problems
· Symptoms evident in the client's problems
· History of any treatment that might have been sought before
for the same problem
· The expected outcomes from the interview and treatment
process

3. Questions That Will Be Used In Obtaining the Required
Information
To acquire sufficient information concerning the client's
problem, the psychologist will need to formulate questions
before the interview. These items will include closed-ended
questions where the client will be required to give specific
responses like yes or no ("Research methods in public
administration and public management an Introduction," 2014).
The other set of questions will include open-ended questions
where the client will be required to elaborate and give more
information regarding their problem. The prior formulation of
the questions will act as a guide to the interview process and aid
collection of sufficient information towards finding a lasting
solution to the clients' concerns.
The questions that will be used to get information from the
client toward finding a treatment plan for her problems will
include:
Background information about the client
1. Would you kindly tell me, how old are you?
2. Are you married?
3. Are you employed?
4. How do you manage family and job commitments?
Nature of client’s job
5. What are some of the responsibilities in your organization as
an employee?
6. Do you get a lot of pressure from your employer?
7. Would you kindly explain the nature of the pressures that you
get from your boss?
8. What can you say about the problem that you are going
through and the nature of your employment?
Background of the clients problems
9. When did you start experiencing headaches and sleepless
nights?
10. Are there some occasions where you fail to attend duty due
to persistent headaches?

4. 11. Do you find yourself sleeping at work?
12. Do you share your problems with your family?
Symptoms evident from the client’s problems
13. When are the headaches more persisted? Is it at home or the
place of work?
14. How frequently do the headaches occur?
15. How long do they last after they begin?
16. Does lack of sleep come alongside headaches?
17. Which one of them seems to lead to the other?
18. Does lack of sleep affect your job performance?
History of treatment for headaches and lack of sleep
19. How many times have you been under medication on
headache problems?
20. Has the treatment worked?
21. How has a headache and lack of sleep behaved when you are
on these medications?
Client Expectations
22. Do you have any question or any other information that you
would like to share?
23. What do you expect at the end of this session?
Examples of Paraphrasing, Summaries and Reflection
Techniques to Be Used In the Interview
Paraphrasing, summaries or reflections are some of the
methods that can be used adequately to gunner information from
a client. One of the paraphrasing techniques that will be
employed in the interview is expansion paraphrasing. Expansion
paraphrasing technique can be used to get more information
from the client as it makes the client give more details. For
example, the client will say, "I started experiencing consistent
headaches after I was promoted to my current position." Which
the counselor may paraphrase it as, "you started experiencing
regular headaches after you got promoted to your current
position, please tell me more."
Another technique that will be used in the interview to
gather information is the summary method where the
psychologist will summarize some of the information that the

5. client gives (Ivey, Ivey, & Zalaquett, 2013). For example taking
the example of the response above, the counselor may
summarize it as, "did headaches came with the promotion."
reflection, on the other hand, is an interview technique that
involves serious thought or consideration of a situation.
Reflection will be used in the interview to get information from
the client. For example, when the client answers the question on
the relationship of headaches and lack of sleep and job
performance, the interviewer can show through the body
language reflecting on the possible suffering that the client is
experiencing.
Similarly, restate and reorder paraphrasing technique will
be used in the interview. This is a technique that involves
restating what the client has said and or rearranging their
wordings. For example, "you were promoted to your current
position, and then you started experiencing persistent headaches
and lack of sleep." Under this example, the interviewer has
restated the idea of the client but rearranged the sentence
wording.
Another technique that will be utilized in the interview is a
paraphrasing technique that involves getting the main ideas in a
response and stating it in your words. For example, a paraphrase
of our example above would be like, "you started encountering
headaches after you were elevated to your present position?"
Opening Techniques for Creating Rapport with the Client
One of the initiation methods that the interviewer may use
to create a good rapport with the client would be to introduce a
neutral subject at the warm-up stage of the interview. This
technique will help the client to relieve any anxiety that may
have mounted. The interviewer may start asking the client about
the prevailing weather conditions and or their travel to the
interview.
Another technique that would be used to build a good
relationship between the client and the interviewer would be to
ensure that the privacy of the information that will be disclosed
is guaranteed. This objective would be achieved by looking for

6. a secure room for the interview where there are no destructors
or other distractions that may put fear to the client (Vangelisti,
A, & Friedrich, 1999).
Finally, the interviewer can allow their personality to be
evident at the beginning of the interview, listen carefully and be
positive about the condition of the client is another technique
that would be utilized in the opening of the discussion.
Examples of Questions to Be Avoided During the Interview
Some questions would make the client feel insecure with
the interview and thus fail to give detailed information
concerning their problems (Weber & Kelley, 2009). Some of
these questions to be avoided include;
1. What are your sexual preferences?
2. Do you think you are about to be sacked by your boss?
3. Does your family complain about your situation?
4. Why did you look for medication elsewhere when you knew
you have a psychological problem?
Analysis Summary of Preliminary thought about the Client
Headache problems and lack of sleep are common
problems that can lead to a person becoming insane. These
forms of illnesses are very disturbing, and I believe they cause a
lot of discomfort to the patient. My belief about such people is
that I am sympathetic as I try to figure out the pain they go
through. The belief of being sympathetic on one hand can be
used to encourage the client to share their story as they will feel
that someone is there for them. On the contrary, the client may
feel that the interviewer is weak and fail to give the required
information. The self-beliefs would lead to success or failed
interview according to how it will be perceived by the client
(Kramer, 2014). Being unsympathetic will affect the discussion
in that the client will not get the psychological support that they
need and thus they will have a negative attitude towards the
interview which will lead to failure of establishing a sufficient
treatment plan.
The beliefs are influenced by my age and experience in the

7. field of psychology as I have dealt with clients with various
varying problems. My age in the area of therapy has influenced
the belief that I should be sympathetic to my clients by
expressing my empathy for their situations. Culture and gender
have been influencers' to the feelings of the people where I
grew treat people's problems with a lot of sympathies.
Personal beliefs can lead to positive or negative impacts
on an interview. To reduce the effects of personal beliefs on the
interview, I would first revisit the ethical guidelines in the
counseling field. These guidelines would restrict my
involvement with the client to the primary purpose of the
interview (Aunger, 2003). Second, I would try to avoid
instances that portray elements of the beliefs during the
interview and lastly, I would maintain the client to a
professional relationship with the client. For the positive
impacts, I would use them to enhance the quality of the
information collected.
References:
Miller, A., & studio D. (2016). The purpose of a clinical
interview in a psychological assessment. Retrieved September
26, 2016, from http://work.chron.com/purpose-clinical-
interview-psychological-assessment-13877.html
Connecticut, S. of. (2002). The interview structure. Retrieved
September 26, 2016, from
https://www.ctdol.state.ct.us/progsupt/jobsrvce/interviews-
structure.htm
Research methods in public administration and public
management an introduction (2014). . Hoboken: Taylor and
Francis.
Ivey, A. E., Ivey, M. B., & Zalaquett, C. P. (2013). Intentional
interviewing and counseling: Facilitating client development in
a multicultural society (8th ed.). United States: Brooks/Cole
Cengage.
Vangelisti, A. L., A, J., & Friedrich, G. W. (1999). Teaching
communication: Theory, research and methods (2nd ed.).

8. Mahwah, NJ: Earlbaum Associates.
Weber, J. R., & Kelley, J. H. (2009). Health assessment in
nursing - 4th edition (4th ed.). Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer
Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Kramer, E. P. (2014). Active interviewing: Branding, selling,
and presenting yourself to win your next job. Boston, MA:
Course Technology/Cengage Learning.
Aunger, R. (2003). Reflexive ethnographic science. Walnut
Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, U.S.
Great job in Module 4!
What do you need to do this week?
Module 5 Readings and Assignments
Complete the following readings early in the module:
· Online lectures for Module 5
· From the assigned textbook Interviewing in Action in a
Multicultural World, read:
· Professional Issues: Ongoing Education and Self Care
Note: While reading make notes of pertinent and important
facts. You'll be required to reference your readings in
discussions and apply them in the week's assignments.
Assignment Summary: Module 5
Assignment 1: LASA 2: Conducting and evaluating an interview
Assignment 2: Discussion Question: Selecting a Counseling
Approach
LASA 2: Conducting and Evaluating an Interview
By Monday, October 10, 2016 complete the assignment
presented below.
During the first week of class you conducted your first practice
interview, and in week three you developed an Interview Guide.
For this activity, you will be using your Interview Guide, the

9. analysis of potential interview biases from LASA 1, and the
feedback you have received from your instructor to conduct an
interview with a volunteer.
Prior to the Interview
1. Locate an adult volunteer.
2. Read the analysis requirements below and ENSURE you meet
them within your interview. Make sure your interview includes:
a. A minimum of 5 open and 5 closed ended questions (10
total).
b. A minimum of 5 examples of paraphrasing, summaries, or
reflections techniques (must have at least one of each
paraphrase, summary, and reflection/5 total).
3. Gather Recording Equipment (video is preferred). You will
need to record your interview.
4. Also make sure you have a watch or a timer to keep track of
the length of your interview. Make sure your interview is not
less than 5 minutes long.
The Interview
1. Needs to be at least 5 minutes long, but it should not be more
than 10 minutes.
2. Be prepared! Although it may not sound like it, 5 minutes is a
long time in interviewing time. If you are having problems
filling 5 minutes, go back to the interview skills you have
learned about (e.g., probing, reflections, and summaries).
After the Interview
1. Play back the recording of the interview.
2. Transcribe or write out the interview completely. Be sure to
write out everythingsaid during the interview
3. After you have written the transcript of the interview,
provide a detailed analysis of the interview. On your transcript:
a. Identify Questions Used: On your transcript identify at least
5 closed and 5 open ended questions that you used during the
interview. Identify these on your transcript using all caps (10
questions total).

10. For example:Interviewer: How long have you been having
headaches? CLOSED QUESTION
b. Evaluate the Questions: After you have identified examples
of 5 open and 5 open questions in your transcript, write an
evaluation of the effectiveness of your use of questions
(Approximately one paragraph for this analysis). Explain
whether or not your questions were effective. How did your
client respond to your questions? How would you improve the
effectiveness of your questions?
c. Identify Techniques Used: Next, identify at least 5 examples
of paraphrasing, summarizing, or reflections you used (must
have at least one of each: paraphrase, summary, and reflection).
Again, use all caps on your transcript to identify each
technique.
For example:Interviewer: So it’s been several weeks since
you’ve been able to sleep without problems? PARAPHRASE
d. Evaluate the Techniques: Evaluate the effectiveness of your
interview technique (Approximately one paragraph for this
entire section). How did your client respond to the techniques in
the interview? How do you know if you were effective with
these? Provide justification for your response. How could you
improve your use of these?
4. Application: Analysis and Summary
a. Explain how the information you gathered during the
interview can aid in planning treatment for your client. How can
treatment of this client be more informed or more targeted
based on the information you gathered (Approximately 2-3
paragraphs).
b. Identify at least two possible ethical issues that could arise
during your interview (hint: go back to your Module 1 lecture
for ideas about ethical issues in interviewing). Explain how an
ethical interviewer should deal with each of these issues.

11. (Approximately 2-3 paragraphs).
Assignment 1 Grading Criteria
Maximum Points
Conducted interview and utilized the questions/techniques for
an in-depth interview.
60
Transcribed interview completely. Identified the questions and
techniques used.
16
Evaluated the open and closed ended questions used during the
interview. Analyzed the effectiveness of the questions and how
the patient responded. Suggested ways to improve the
effectiveness of the questions.
40
Evaluated at least five interviewing techniques (at least one of
each: paraphrase, summary, and reflection). Analyzed the
effectiveness of the technique, and how the patient responded.
Suggested ways to improve the effectiveness of the techniques.
40
Explained how the information gathered during the interview
can aid in treatment planning for the client.
40
Identified at least two possible ethical issues that could arise
during the interview. Explained how an ethical interviewer
would deal with each of these issues.
40
Organization (16 points): Introduction, transitions, and
conclusion
Style (8 points): Tone, audience, and word choice
Usage and Mechanics (16 points): Grammar, spelling, and
sentence structure
APA Elements (24 points): In text citations and references,
paraphrasing, and appropriate use of quotations and other
elements of style
64
Total:

12. 300