Chapter 3: Clinical Assessment and Diagnosis Flashcards
Purpose of Clinical Assessment
Treatment Planning, Understanding the individual, Predicting behavior, Diagnosing
Reliability
degree of consistency of a measurement
Inter-rater Reliability
measures the level of agreement between ratings by multiple people (raters, judges, etc.); higher = more accurate
Test-retest Reliability
a test produces similar results over time
Inter-item Reliability
consistency between multiple items measuring the same construct (multiple items tell you a result; ex: personality quizzes)
Parallel Forms Reliability
create more than one form that asses the same thing (ex: two different forms for an exam)
Validity
Does the test measure what it’s supposed to?
Face Validity
the assessment appears effected in terms of its stated aims
Content Validity
all factors have equal coverage
Criterion-related Validity
how well the measurement of one variable can predict the response of another variable
What are the two types of Criterion-related validity?
concurrent & predictive
Concurrent Validity
measures two variables at the same time to see if one is significantly associated with the other
Predictive Validity
determines if a measurement of one variable is able to accurately predict the measurement of some variable in the future
Construct-related Validity
how well a test measures the theory it is supposed to measure
Convergent Validity
Does it relate to things that it should relate to?
Discriminant Validity
Does it not relate to the things that it should not relate to?
Standardization
set of norms to ensure consistency throughout measurements
Clinical Interview
makes use of verbal communication; medical expert attempts to understand the patient’s mind through various questions and observing the reactions
Mental status exam
systematic observation; tests an individual’s cognitive function
Structured Clinical Interview
less open-ended and offer a guided approach
Semi-structured Clinical Interview
more open-ended
Unstructured Clinical Interview
completely directed by the clinician who chooses what questions are asked
Name the type of reliability: You go to a clinician on Tuesday and are told you have an IQ of 110, you should expect a similar result if you take the same test again on Thursday.
test-retest
Name the type of validity: The results from a standard, but long, IQ test were essentially the same as the results from a new, brief version.
Concurrent validity
Name the type of validity: An IQ test predicts who will succeed in school and who will not.
Predictive validity
What is used to organize information obtained during an interview?
mental status exam
psychomotor retardation
slow and effortful motor behavior
The mental status exam covers which five categories?
appearance and behavior, thought process, mood and affect, intellectual functioning, sensorium
loose association or derailment
a disorganized speech pattern
delusions of persecution
someone thinks people are after them and out to get them all the time
delusions of grandeur
an individual thinks they are all powerful in some way
ideas of reference
everything everyone else does somehow relates back to the individual
affect
the feeling state that accompanies what we say at a given point
sensorium
general awareness of our surroundings
behavioral assessment
uses direct observation to formally access an individual’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior in specific situations or contexts
What is the problem with informal observation?
it relies on the observer’s recollection and interpretation of the events
formal observation
involves identifying specific behaviors that are observable and measurable
Observational assessment focuses on:
Antecedents, Behavior, Consequences
self-monitoring
observing one’s own behavior to find patterns
Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale
screens for moderate to severe psychotic disorders
reactivity
when observing how people behave, the mere fact of your presence may cause them to change their behavior
projective tests
a variety of methods in which stimuli (like pictures) are presented and people are asked to describe what they see
What is the theory for projective tests?
people project their own personality and unconscious fears onto other people and things without realizing it
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
test taker is shown a picture and asked them to tell a story about it
