Communicating Assessment Results 2

Question 1

What are the potential Problems in Presenting Feedback?

Answer 1

• Counselors may face some issues when disseminating information during feedback sessions.
• More common problems here, including acceptance of results, client readiness, negative results, flat profiles, and client motivation and attitude.

Question 2

1 Acceptance of Results

What is the original goal in the feedback session and how it goes wrong?

Answer 2

• The goal of the feedback session is often to get clients to accept assessment results and incorporate that information into their decision making.
• Negative results frequently prompt test takers to resist accepting valid and genuine information about themselves.

Question 3

1 Acceptance of Results

How Assessment professionals can enhance acceptance of test results?

Answer 3

o Involve the clients in decision making and general selection of tests prior to the testing
o Establish rapport with the clients so that they trust the counselor and are relaxed in the sessions
o Spend sufficient time interpreting the results to test takers; but, do not overwhelm them with too much data.
o Translate the results into language that the clients can understand.
o Show the validity of the information for the decision(s) to be made.

Question 4

2 Readiness

How readiness is related to the Acceptance of Results?

Answer 4

• The critical factor in the acceptance of the test results is the examinee’s readiness to hear it.

Question 5

2 Readiness

Why Sometimes the test taker is not ready to hear the results?

Answer 5

Sometimes the test taker is not ready to hear the results, specially if they have an impact on their self concept (e.g., that they have a substance use disorder)

Question 6

2 Readiness

What the he counselor should do If the information is damaging to an examinee’s self-concept?

Answer 6

• getting that individual to extend his or her acceptance.
• The following techniques can help increase an examinee’s readiness level:
  o Have several sessions prior to the feedback session to build rapport.
  o Allow the client to bring up the topic of test results; don’t immediately begin the feedback session with test interpretation.
  o Focus on the test rather than on the client.
  o Reflect the examinee’s responses to feedback.

Question 7

3 Negative Results

Why a result can be perceived as negative to a an examinee? give example

Answer 7

• Sometimes, the results are not what the test taker wanted or expected
• E.g.: On a clinical test, a client may become defensive after being informed that they scored high on scales assessing substance-abuse problems. Or, an individual may score high on the validity scales on a personality test and be told that their test was invalid.

Question 8

3 Negative Results

How to deal when this problem occur?

Answer 8

• The test administrator must know how to appropriately communicate negative test results to individuals.
• The following are several recommendations:
  o Explain the rationale for cutoff scores and the validity of the established procedures.
  o Avoid using negative terms or labels, such as “abnormal” or “deviant” or “pathological.”
  o Gain an understanding of the test taker’s perceptions and feelings.
  o Accept the test taker’s right to argue with test implications, without necessarily agreeing with the test taker. E.g. in the case of substance abuse
  o Identify other information about the individual that supports or does not support the test data.
  o Discuss the implications of the data and the importance of that information for decision making.

Question 9

4 Flat Profiles

What is flat profiles?

Answer 9

• Many times an individual’s pattern of scores has no highs or lows; rather it is just a flat profile.

Question 10

4 Flat Profiles

How to deal when this porblem occur? give example

Answer 10

• When dealing with test results that show no significant differences across items, exploring outcomes with the client is critical.
• E.g. on career inventories, flat profiles indicate that the client is undecided about future goals. In this case, the counselor can discuss with the client their expectations, past experiences, previous work activities, values, career goals..
• Assure clients that their results are not abnormal
• Clients can often provide insights into test outcomes.

Question 11

5 Motivation and Attitude

What is the problem here? And how to prevent it?

Answer 11

Clients sometimes take assessments for inappropriate reasons, so they Counselors should be aware of client motivations for taking assessments.

Counselors should be aware of client’s
o motivations for taking assessments.
o The client’s attitude toward the test.

Question 12

5 Motivation and Attitude

What are the 3 types of clients, when it comes to motivation.

Answer 12

• 3 types of clients:
o motivated from the beginning and maintain positive attitude
o demotivated after seeing that test results are not what they expected
o demotivated from the beginning and maintain negative attitude

Question 13

5 Motivation and Attitude

Why it happen?

Answer 13

• Tests can aid the clients in developing a more realistic expectations (e.g. some clients put too much weigh on the results and become overly reliant on the test results to solve their problems)
• Tests can be valuable in decision making for the client:
• Other clients use test results as a way of escaping from their feelings and problems.