assessment: clinical assessment and special issues Flashcards
clinical assessment
The process of assessing clients through multiple methods such as personality testing, observation, interviewing, and performance to increase client self-awareness or assist the professional counselor in client conceptualization and treatment planning
personality tests
Standardized, self-report instruments that often use multiple-choice or true/false format to assess various aspects of personality to identify personality types, personality traits, personality states, and self-concept.
objective personality tests
Standardized, self-report instruments that often use multiple-choice or true/false format to assess various aspects of personality to identify personality types, personality traits, personality states, and self-concept
three common classification systems:
- behavior and feeling word checklists,
- sociometric instruments,
- situational tests
SAD PERSONS:
sex, age, depression, past attempt, ethanol use, rational thinking loss, social supports lacking, organized plan, no spouse, sickness
Informal Assessments
: Subjective assessment techniques that are developed to identify the strengths and needs of clients
clinical interviewing
The process by which a professional counselor uses clinical skills to obtain information from a client that will facilitate the course of counseling, such as a client’s demographic characteristics, presenting problems, current life situation, family, educational status, occupational background, physical health, and mental health history.
direct observation
Observation that assesses an individual’s behavior in real time and usually occurs in a naturalistic setting.
indirect observation
Assesses an individual’s behavior through selfreport or the use of informants such as family, friends, or teachers.
structured interviews
Interviews that use a series of pre-established questions that cover broad topic areas and are presented in an invariable sequential order during each interview
semi-structured interviews
Interviews that use pre-established questions and topic areas; however, the professional counselor can customize the
interview by modifying questions, altering the interview sequence, or adding follow-up questions
unstructured interviews
Interviews that use no pre-established questions and tend to rely on the client’s lead to determine a focus
rating scales
Used to evaluate the quantity of an attribute. Rating scales can measure a broad range of behavioral domains (broad-band rating scales) or a specific dimension of targeted behaviors (narrow-band behavioral rating scales).
classification systems
Used to assess the presence or absence of an attribute.
mental status exam
Used by professional counselors to obtain a snapshot of a client’s mental symptoms and psychological state. The MSE addresses the following areas: appearance, attitude, movement and behavior, mood and affect, thought content, perceptions, thought processes, judgment and insight, and intellectual functioning and memory.
performance assessments
Nonverbal form of assessment that entails minimal verbal communication to measure broad attributes. The client is required to perform a task rather than answer questions using pencil-and-paper methods.
suicide assessment
Determining a client’s potential for committing suicide.
suicide lethality
The likelihood that a client will die as a result of suicidal thoughts and behaviors
bias
In assessment, a broad term that refers to an individual or group being deprived of the opportunity to demonstrate their true skills, knowledge, abilities, and personalities on a given assessment.
test bias
Occurs when the properties of a test cause an individual or particular group of individuals to score lower negative bias) or higher (positive bias) on the test than the average score for the total population. This disparity in scores is due to factors unrelated to the true attribute being measured. Common types of test bias are (a) examiner bias, which occurs when the examiner’s beliefs or behaviors influence test administration; (b) interpretive bias, which occurs when the examiner’s interpretation of the test results provides unfair advantage or disadvantage to the client; (c) response bias, which occurs when clients use a response set (e.g., all yes or no) to answer test questions; (d) situational bias, which occurs when testing conditions or situations differentially affect the performance of individuals from a particular group; and (e) ecological bias, which occurs when global systems prevent members of a particular group of individuals from demonstrating their true skills, knowledge, abilities, and personalities on a given assessment.
test translation
A process of reducing cultural bias in testing by translating test items into the language spoken by examinees
test adaptation
The process of altering a test for a population that differs significantly from the original test population in terms of cultural background and language. The process includes translating language as well as empirically evaluating the cultural equivalence of the adapted test.
Computer-Based Testing
A method for administering, analyzing, and interpreting tests through the use of computer technology, software programs, or Internet sites. Also known as computer-based assessment (CBA).
computer-adaptive testing
A type of testing that has the ability to adapt the test structure and items to the examinee’s ability level (e.g., GRE
