Chapter 3: Clinical Assessment and Diagnosis(lecture) Flashcards
Clinical Assessment?
determination of how and why a person is behaving abnormally and how to treat.
Assessment?
collect all relevant info in an effort to reach a conclusion
Tools used in Clinical Assessment….3 main types!
Clinical Interviews (1st used) Test's Observations (usually done in the clin.interview)
Characteristics of assessment tools? 3
Standardized
Reliable
Valid
Standardization?
a test is used on a large group whose performance average serves as a norm against which individuals scores are compared to!
administration, scoring and interpretation must be standardized.
Reliability?
consistency of a test
a good test will give the same results in similar situations.
Test-retest Reliability
tested twice at 2 diff occasions and scores are correlated. higher correlation= high reliability.
Inter-rated reliability?
different judges independently agree on how to score, and interpret a particular test.
Validity??
accuracy of a test’s result… does it measure what it is suppose to be measuring?
Face Validity?
a test appears to measure what it is supposed to measure.
Predictive Validity?
a test accurately provides a prediction of future characteristics or behaviour
ex: highschool grades and university acceptance.
Concurrent Validity??
a test’s results agree with independent measures assessing similar characteristics or behaviour.
Clinical Interviews can either be….? 2
- Unstructured
2. structured
Unstructured Clinical Interviews
ask open ended questions,,,basically a free flowing interaction..like a normal conversation.
Structured Clinical interviews?
prepared questions are asked…often a from a published interview schedule….
Limitations of clinical interviews?
may lack validity
can be biased or make mistakes (unstructured)
miss information
lack reliability (unstructured)
Clinical Tests?
devices used for gathering info about specific topics from which broader info can be inferred. *follow up for what was taken away from the interview.
The Mental Status Exam ? 5 parts?
involves the systematic observation of somebody’s behaviour.
- Appearance and behaviour
- thought processes
- Mood and affect
- intellectual functioning
- sensorium
- Appearance and behaviour
any overt physical behaviours…
- thought processes
listen to a patients speech to get a good idea of their thought processes.
Looseness of association?
disjointed speech pattern
3.Mood and affect
Mood is the predominant feeling state of the individual. Affect by contrast is the feeling state that accompanies what we say at a given time
- Intellectual functioning
make a rough estimate of others intellectual functioning by talking to them. Vocabulary? abstract thought? memory? deviation from norm?
- Sensorium
our general awareness of our surroundings. (who they are, where, date, time)
oriented times three - to person, place and time.
Semeistructured Interviews
questions that are carefully phrased and tested….but they can deviate to follow up on specific issues.
Physical Examination?
if they have not had a physical in the last year they are required to have one.
many issues have a clear relationship to a toxic state.
Behavioural Assessment ?
direct observation to assess formally an individuals thoughts, feelings and behaviour in specific situations.
Target Behaviour?
what are identified in the behavioural assessment and observed with the goal of determining the factors that seem to influence those behaviours.
Naturalistic?
observe them in their natural environment aka home, school etc
The ABC’s of observation?
immediate behaviour, its antecedents (what happened just before), and its consequences (after it).
Relatively Informal Observation?
taking rough notes about what occurred, later elaborating in your office.
Formal Observation?
identifying specific behaviours that are observable and measurable…operational definition
Operational Definition?
once the target behaviour is identified, observer writes down the time it occurs, antecedent and occurrence..
Self monitoring?
people can observe their own behaviour to find patterns. …essential for when the behaviour only occurs in private settings.
