chapter 3 Flashcards
Psychological assessment:
- evaluating psychological, social, and emotional functioning through a variety of clinical methods
- Often include interviews, observations, psychological and neurological tests
Presenting problem:
major symptoms or behaviors the client is experiencing
Syndrome:
symptoms that cluster together
Diagnosis:
label given to symptoms that cluster together in specific patterns
Validity:
extent to which a test measures what it is supposed to measure
Content validity:
how well a test measures a phenomenon
Predictive validity:
how well a test predicts future behavior
Construct validity:
how well a test measures one thing and not another
Reliability:
degree of consistency in a test
Test-retest reliability:
consistency of test results over time
Alternative form reliability:
consistency between multiple forms of a test
Internal reliability:
consistency in clients’ answers to different parts of the test
Interrater reliability:
consistency between raters who score a test or interview
Standardization
-Administering, scoring, and interpreting a test in a standard way
- T score distribution
Clinical Interview:
- It’s an in-depth interview with a client.
- Understanding the presenting problem, behavioral history, attitudes, emotions, social history, personality, and context
Mental status exam:
- asses client’s current mental state
- each part of the mental status exam is designed to look at different areas of mental function
Structured:
- There are structured interviews which are
- Clinicians ask standardized questions and use concrete scoring criteria
Unstructured interviews:
open-ended questions
Semi-structured interviews:
a combo of standardized and open-ended questions
Self-report questionnaire:
- Assesses the presence of symptoms
- General symptoms or for a specific disorder
- An example would be the Beck Depression Inventory
Personality inventory
- Respondents identify descriptions that apply to them
- Designed to obtain information on peoples well being, self concept, attitudes, beliefs, ways of coping, perceptions of their environment, social resources, and vulnerability
MMPI-2 (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2)
- Contains 550 items
- 10 clinical scales that asses 10 major categories of psychological characteristics or problems (paranoia, anxiety, etc.)
- 4 validity scales
Behavioral observation:
asses deficits in their skills or their ways of handling situations
Direct observation:
observing the client in their natural environment (client might alter behavior because they are being watched and each rater may read the situation differently)
Role-playing:
acting or reenacting an event
Self-minoring
- Client rates their own behavior or mood
- Smartphone self-monitoring
What do intelligence tests assess? What are their problems?
- They determine the level of cognitive functioning
- Tasks that test verbal and nonverbal skills
- Problems: what is intelligence? + Test bias
What do neuropsychological tests assess?
- They assess neurological impairment (like dementia)
- Ex: Bender Gastalt Test, Luria-Nebrask Neuropsychological Battery, Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery
CT (computerized tomography):
- narrow x-ray beams are passed through head in same plane but at different angles and the amount of radiation absorbed is measured and used to construct an image of brain
- Good for tumors and structural things
- Bad because x-ray is harmful and doesnt measure brain activity
PET (Positron admission tomography) scan:
inject person with radioactive isotope and this is used to asses the brain activity using a metabolic profile
SPECT scan (Single photon emission computes tomography):
- its like a pet scan but uses a different tracer
- Less accurate than a PET scan but cheaper
MRI (Magnetic Resonance imaging):
- constructs magnetic field that causes realignments of hydrogen atoms that then emit magnetic signals and can be read to provide 3-D static image of brain
fMRI (Fenctional Magnetic Resonance Imaging):
measures changes in oxygen levels to “map” brain activity
An Electroencephalogram (EEG):
- measures electrical activity in brain from the scalp
- Can be used to detect tumors, stroke, and seizures
Projective tests
When a client responds to ambiguous stimuli (they project)
Ex: Rorschach Inkblot Test, Thematic Apperception Test
Problems: subjective interpretations, time-consuming
International Classification of Disease (ICD):
is the classification system that the rest of the world uses
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM):
- official manual of diagnosing psychological disorders in the USA
- DSM-5 States how long symptoms must present to be be diagnosed and how symptoms must interfere with functioning
