Chapter 3: Clinical Assessment Flashcards
Clinical Assessment: the ____ evaluation and ___ of psychological/behavioral, biological, and ____ factors in an individual that is _____ with a possible psychological disorder
Clinical Assessment: the SYSTEMATIC evaluation and MEASUREMENT of psychological/behavioral, biological, and SOCIAL factors in an individual that is PRESENTING with a possible psychological disorder
a clinical assessment requires a ____ and ___ approach about gathering info about a client to make____ and____ decisions
a clinical assessment requires a INTEGRATIVE and MULTIDIMENSIONAL approach about gathering info about a client to make INFORMED and ACCURATE decisions
DIAGNOSES
THE PROCESS OF DETERMINING WHETHER THE PROBLEM SYMPTOMS AFFECTING THE INDIVIDUAL MEETS ALL THE CRITERIA FOR A PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDEER, ACCORDING TO DSM5
2 broad steps when assessing psychological disorder
1) clinician collects a BROAD range of info about individuals functioning to determine the SOURC of a problem. Gets a PRELIMINARY sense of overall functioning of the person
2) narrow the focus by ruling out problems in some areas, and focusing on areas that seem more relevant.
3 concepts that determine the value of the clinical assessment
1) Reliability:degree to which a measurement is consistent
2) validity: degree to which a technique measures what it is designed to measure
3) standardization: application of standards to ensure consistency across dif measurements
standardization: application of standards to ___ ____ across dif measurements
standardization: application of standards to ensure consistency across dif measurements
degree to which a technique measures what it is designed to measure
VALIDITY: degree to which a technique measures what it is designed to measure
what type of reliability ensures that the technique/protocol is stable over time?
test-retest reliability
when 2 or more raters who use the same device on the same person and get the same results, this protocol has high ____ reliability
inter-rater reliability
concurrent validity
comparing the results of one asssessment measuring to the results of another in order to determine the validity of the first measure.
predictive validity
how well your assessment tells you what will happen in the future
Mental status exam: the systematic ____ of behavior: clinicians get enough info to determine the presence of a psychological disorder
when does this occur?
the systematic OBSERVATION of behavior: clinicians get enough info to determine the presence of a psychological disorder
a mental status evaluation usually occurs during the clinical interview
5 categories of a mental status exam
1) appearance and behavior
2) thought processes
3) mood and affect
4) intellectual functioning
5) sensorium
what encompases the appearance and behavior aspects of a mental status exam
the observation of overt, physical behavior.
- twitches, style of dress, facial expression and tone.
what encompasses the thought processes aspects of a mental status exam
fast/slow speech, continuity, and content of speech.
- strange diction?
- reasonable flow and content ?
- is there evidence of delusions, hallucinations of reference? (the feeling that everything anyone else does somehow relates back to them)
reference
the feeling that everything anyone else does somehow relates back to them
____ is the predominant feeling state of an indivdual, whereas an ____ is a transient feeling state that is accompanied by an action at a given time.
MOOD is the predominant feeling state of an indivdual, whereas an AFFECT is a transient feeling state that is accompanied by an action at a given time.
what encompasses the intellectual functioning aspects of a ____ is the predominant feeling state of an indivdual, whereas an ____ is a transient feeling state that is accompanied by an action at a given time.
general levels of functioning
-adequate vocabulary and grammar, ability to use metaphors and abstractions.
what is sensorium
our general awareness of our surroundings, ex/ knowing where we are, who the clinician is, the date etc.
Orientedx3
the “good” ranking of sensorium (CLEAR SENSORIUM), which means THEY KNOW THE PLACE, PERSON, AND TIME.
What does the clinical interview and mental status exam allow the clinician to make?
allows the clinican to make a preliminary determination of which areas of the patient’s behavior and conditions should be assessed in more detail/more formally
2 quantitative measures of the mental status exam
1) mini-mental state exam (MMSE)
2) montreal cognitive assessment (moCA)
a ____ interview is made up of questions that have been carefully phrased to elicit useful info in a consistent manner. Disadvantage to semi structured vs unstructured
SEMISTRUCTURED. ensures that clinicians have acquired the most pertinent info relating to a particular disorder, but also allows them to follow up on a specific issue.
disadvantage; decreased spontaneity quality of 2 ppl talking about a problem. If too rigid of an interview, people may not reveal vulnerable info.
why is a physical examination imporant to note when acquiring info for clinical assessment?
PE should be done in order to rule out medical conditions that are associated with psych disorders, and to rule out medical conditions that may masquerade as a psychological disorder.
ex/ hyperthyroidism can result in feelings of anxiety. this psych disorder is actually just due to a toxic state.
the purpose of a BEHAVIOURAL ASSESSMENT is to identify problems in ___ ____ and ____ ____ that may become targets of therapeutic intervention.
What method of assessment is used?
the purpose of a BEHAVIOURAL ASSESSMENT is to identify problems in TARGET BEHAVIOURS and ENVIRONMENTAL EVENTS that may become targets of therapeutic intervention
- uses DIRECT observation to formally assess and individuals thoughts, feelings and behaviour in specific situations (environmental events).
- target behaviours are identified and observed with the goal of determining the factors that seem to influence those behaviours.
during a obersvational behavioural assessment (when you look at behaviours in a specific environment), the clinicain needs to directly observe the behaviours in a naturalistic environment. If that isn’t possible, what is done?
If you cannot observe the individual in a naturalistic environment, you can set up an ANALOGUE in a lab that resembles the natural setting.
ABCs of Formal Observation (Observational behavioural assessment)
1) Antecedents: what happened just prior to the behaviour and setting events
2) Behaviour: current behaviour that is operationally defined.
3) consequences: what happens after the behaviour.
Goal of formal observation and collecting the ABCs
goal is to see whether there are any patterns of behaviour, and then to design a treatment based on these patterns.
informal observation
taking rough notes about what has occurred but not purposefully observing. There is no formal operational definition of behaviour.
why is behavioural assessment also called functional assessment
because a behavioural assessmet is sort of related to operant conditioning. we are observing what consequences are allowed/facilitating this behaviour. It is an analysis of context and consequences.
during a behavioural/functional assessment, a clear ____ ____ of the behaviour is being observed
operational definition
during a behavioural assessment, you are forming a hypothesis about what is ___ and ___ the behaviour
what is triggering and maintaining the behaviour.
treatments that are ____ based are more effective than treatments that focus just on adapting the behaviour itself.
treatments that are FUNCTIONAL-BASED (focuses on what causes + reinforces the behaviour) are more effective than treatments that focus just on adapting the behaviour itself.
example of how behavioural assessments can also be scaled questionaires
the motivational assessment scale.
what is functional analysis
an experiment that tests problem behaviour. often done in individuals who do not have the capacity to explain their behaviour themselves. Researchers need to see and trigger the behaviour, and to see what triggers the behaviour.
involves exposing the pt to varous reinforcing factors of the behaviour to gain better understanding of ABCs
A behavioural assessment can also take the form of ____ ____, when a person is asked to observe and record their own behaviour. Why is this type of behavioural assessment so important?
SELF MONITORING.important for when behaviours only occur in private.
reactivity
changes in behaviour as a result of knowing that one is being watched. Self monitoring reduces reactivity because a person is no onger being watched by someone else.
- alternatively, self monitoring can cause reactivity and thus used to increase the effectiveness of treatments because the person is decreasing a behaviour they want to decrease.