241 clinical assessment Flashcards
clinical asesment
Clinical assessment = systematic evolution and measurement of psychological, biological, and social factors in an individual presenting with a possible psychological disorder.
diagnosis
Diagnosis = process of determining whether the problem affecting the individual meets all (or some of) the criteria for a psychological disorder, based on DSM 5.
clinical interview
Systematic observation of somebody’s behaviour to determine whether a psychological disorder might be present
MSE Thought process
rate or flow of speech, any evidence of delusion
MSE Apperance and Behaviours
overt behavior, individual dress, general appearance, posture, and facial expression
MSE Mood and affect
mood = predominancy feeling state of the individual
Affect = feeling state that accompanies what we say at whatever given time
MSE intellectual functioning
vocab, memory, abstraction metaphors; take educated guess on individuals intelligence
MSE Sensorium
awareness of surroundings, if they are okay – sensorium clear and oriented time three (person, place and time)
End of clinical interview, psychologist should:
- Clear idea where a patient’s behaviour be accessed in more details
- Hypothesize which psychological disorder (if any) are presented
Important Aspects to Remember:
- Problem reported by patient may not be major issue
- Important to elicit trust and empathy in the patient
- Information acquired during the interview is confidential: not even authorities can come in to possess info clearly stated by patient unless harm could be inflicted in patient or others
Unstructured interview
follow no systematic format
Semi structured interview
follow series of questions carefully phrased, tested to elicit useful information.
Goal
Identify target behaviour to determine factors that influence those behaviours
Identify ABC
Antecedent: what happens right before behaviour
Behaviour: Target Behaviour
Consequence: what happens just after behaviour
(Neuro)psychological tests:
- Projective tests
- Personality inventory
- Intelligence testing
- Neuropsychological tests
Scale # and Abbreviation
Example of tests to measure intelligence
IQ = intelligence quotient
Each score compared within population
Standardized IQ tests when looking at a population are distributed in a following ‘bell curve’ average of 100. Peak in the middle around the 100 marks, in stats it is called a normal distribution.
Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-IV)
4 majors scores
- Verbal comprehension
- Perceptual reasoning
- Working memory
- Processing speed
Turner Syndrome
: 1 in 2500 live female births = chromosomal condition affects development in females. Tend to be shorter in stature and may experience loss of ovarian function. Neurocognitive profile of normal global intelligence. Mathematical, attention, spatial impairment and motor coordination difficulties have been reported.
3 Important Concepts that define the value/accuracy:
- Reliability: degree which measurement is consistent
- Carefully design assessment to ensure 2 or more raters would get same answers
- Ensure measures are stable across time - Validity: measure employed actually measures what is supposed to be measured
- Compare results obtain with (new measure) with other (well-known) assessment measures (concurrent validity)
- Use instruments with high predictive validity: score obtained in one scale predicts individual skills in related construct - Standardization: standardized (or structured) test defines structures, administration, scoring and interpretation. Followed by same way every professional who uses test. Client performs normally compared to representative sample of population with similar characteristics
