Exam 1, Unit 2: Measures Flashcards
Comorbidity
Meeting criteria for more than one disorder
-50% ppl 1 disorder, have another
-Depression and anxiety often comorbid
-Checklist on DSM makes overlap easy
Culture-Bound syndromes
Unique set of symptoms that appear only in a specific ethnic or racial groups
(ex: Attack of the nerves)
Etiology
The cause of a psych. disorder
Developmental & Cultural Factors Influencing Diagnosis
1- Symptoms can vary by age
2- Prevalence of disorders varies by sex
3- Symptoms/prevalence influenced by race/ethnicity
Developmental & Cultural considerations– choosing assessment instrument/measure
1- Chronological age & developmental status
2- Cultural factors: educational background, language, cultural beliefs/values
Harms of categorical diagnostic system
-Overgeneralizations –> different presentations
-Stereotyped conceptions of disorders (put in box)
-Labeling –> self fulfilling prophecy –> stigmas
-Variations of beh. can be over medicalized
Dimensional Model– alternative to DSM
Symptoms of disorders are simply extreme variations of normal experience
PROS:
-Better description of difficulties across multiple areas
-Better understanding symptom doesn’t fit in category
-Allows them deal w those w diff. characteristics/values (homogeneity problem)
Cons of Dimensional model of diagnosis
-Difficulty sharing and communicating info
-Disagreement on type and number of dimensions
-Categories easier for clinical decision making
Clinical assessment
Gathering of info to make decisions about the nature, status, and treatment of patient’s psych. problems
Steps of clinical assessment
- Referral questions
- Assessment procedures/measures
- Integrate all data, develop preliminary answers
(think autism diagnosis process)
Goals of clinical assessments
- Screening– assessment process to predict risk future problems or ID ppl w potential disorders
- Diagnosis and treatment planning
- Outcome evaluation– measure treatment outcome
Screening
Assessment process to predict the risk of future problems or ID those w/ potential psych. disorders
Outcome evaluation
Examines patient’s treatment progress using multiple assessments regularly
Clinical significance
Degree to which change in patient’s symptoms is meaningful
Properties of assessment instruments
- Standardization
- Normative comparisons
- Self-referent comparisons
- Reliability
- Validity
Standardization
Evaluating scores so one can make (normative or self-reference) comparisons
Normative comparisons
Comparing scores of sample representatives of population/subgroup
Self-referent comparisons
Compare responses w/ prior performance
Reliability
Consistency
-test-retest- consistency overtime
-inter-rater- consistancy across raters
Validity
How well measures what supposed to measure
-Construct validity- how well measures construct
-Criterion validity- how well measure correlates w other measures
-predictive validity- ability to predict performance at future time
Sensitivity of measure
Measure’s ability to identify a problem if it exists
Specificity
Percent of time accurately identifies absence of a problem
Features of useful screening measures
-specificity and sensitivity
Clinical Interview
Conversation to gain more information about client throughout treatment, screening, or diagnostic process
Unstructured Interviews
Clinicians determine which questions to ask and how to ask them
-Open/close-ended responses
-Pro: flexibility
-Con: possibly unreliable
Structured Interviews
Clinicians ask standard set of questions
-Pro: More reliable
Con: Less flexible
Semi-structured interview
Use unstructured questions after the standard questions
Psychological test
Measure of hundreds of dimensions from personality to intelligence
Personality test
Measure of personality characteristics
Behavioral assessments
Measure that applies principles of learning to understand behavior & use direct observation
Psychophysiological assessments
Measure of brain functioning and nervous system
