Assessment and Diagnosis Flashcards
purposes of clinical assessment
understand individual, predict behavior, plan interventions, evaluate treatment outcome
patient stays in hospital for extended, constant care
outpatient care
in-home care;residential facilities
psychiatric setting for assessment
briefly screen someone for early intervention purposes
general medical setting for assessment
child custody cases, court system, seeing if someone should be allowed to be released from prison
legal context setting for assessment
the value of a clinical assessment depends on three things
reliability, validity and standardization
the degree to which a measurement is consisten
reliability
the degree to which a technique measures what it is designed to measure
validity
application of certain standards to ensure consistency across different measures
standardization
consistency on how a person “scores”
across time (test-retest) across raters (interrater)
reliability in psychometrics
against a standard / distinguish a group
concurrent validity
what will happen in the future
predictive validity
standards/norms that allow consistency
administration of the test, scoring of the test an interpretation of the test
standardization in psychometrics
common psychological assessments
mental status exam clinical interviews behavioral observation projective tests objective tests neuropsychological tests psychophysiological test
key question: are basic aspects of functioning within normal limits or is there gross impairment?
appearance, attitude, behavior, mood (reported) and affect (observed), thought processes and content, insight, judgement, awareness of surroundings (person, place, time)
can be brief or thorough
happens all the time in daily life
mental status exam
most common assessment method
used in first session when people start receiving treatment
what background/history of the problem
used to establish a diagnoses
the clinical interview
series of questions that are asked to an individual in the exact same way every time
structured clinical interview
series of questions but training is required
can ask follow-up questions to get an answer you need
less chance for confusion because elaboration is allowed
semi-structured clinical interview
no series of questions, simply ask questions based on responses
could take various forms; can hone in on something specific but could also miss something important
free-flowing structure
unstructured clinical interview