Rijtjes CA

Question 1

What are the factors that influence reliability (5)?

Answer 1

(HERRR)
1. Homogeneity of the sample.

2. Error may be introduced if a poor translation is used.
3. Reliability can suffer when there is a longer interval between assessment.
4. Reliability can be affected by rater or child characteristics (e.g. fatigue; age).
5. Reliability can differ for different score levels (e.g. test can be reliable for depressed students but not for non-depressed students).

Question 2

What are the 6 different types of validity?

Answer 2

1. Construct validity
2. Content validity
3. Concurrent validity (i.e. predict outcomes on similar measure)
4. Predictive validity
5. Convergent validity (i.e. correlation between two tests)
6. Discriminant validity

Question 3

What are the 3 response sets?

Answer 3

1. Social desirability response set
2. Acquiescence response set
3. Deviation

Question 4

What are the implications a developmental approach has on the assessment proces (5)?

Answer 4

1. Developmental norms
2. Developmental processes
3. Stability and continuity
4. Situational stability
5. Comorbidity

Question 5

What are the practical implications for assessment (4)?

Answer 5

1. A clinician needs to have knowledge of several areas of psychological research.
2. Children’s behaviours and emotions must be understood within a developmental context.
3. Assessment needs to be based on multiple sources of information that assesses a child’s functioning in multiple contexts as a child’s behaviour is heavily dependent on the context.
4. Assessment of children needs to be comprehensive to take comorbidity into account.

Question 6

What are the basic elements of the informed consent?

Answer 6

• A description of the facility and the qualifications of the person(s) providing the evaluation.
• A description of the purpose of the evaluation.
• A summary of the planned procedures, including how the results will be provided.
• A summary of the potential benefits of the procedures.
• A summary of the potential risks and discomforts associated with the procedures.
• A statement of the right to refuse and description of alternative services.
• A description of the fee for the services.
• A description of protections for confidentiality, including how information will be stored (1), who is legally authorized to obtain the results (2) and when confidentiality needs to be broken (3).

Question 7

What are the 4 reasons history taking is essential in child psychological assessment?

Answer 7

1. It allows the clinician to conceptualize a case by providing information about the developmental course of the child’s difficulties.
2. It provides information on the specific presentation of the individual child’s difficulties.
3. It provides information on risk and protective factors.
4. It provides information on important contextual influences on the child’s functioning.

Question 8

What are the factors history taking consists of? (7)

Answer 8

1. Age of onset
2. Course and prognosis
3. Impairment
4. Etiology
5. Family psychiatric history
6. Previous assessment/treatment/intervention
7. Contextual factors

Question 9

The content of history taking often includes….(8)

Answer 9

1. Complaints/symptoms
2. Developmental history
3. Family history
4. Social functioning
5. Academic functioning
6. Family relations
7. Interests and strengths
8. Views of the problem

Question 10

What are the behaviors that should be observed during history taking by the clinician?

Answer 10

• Perspiration, blushing, paling
• Controlled, uneven or blocked speech
• Plaintive voice or talking in a whisper
• Posture
• Tics
• Affirmative nodding or negative shaking of the head
• A sudden glance at the interviewer after a statement by somebody else
• Clenching, rubbing, wringing hands, searching, nail-biting
• Dress and personal grooming
• Reddening of eyes or crying
• Frowns, smiles
• Inappropriate affect (?)
• Interactions among parents, child and clinician
• Developmentally inappropriate behaviour
• The way in which the child is held or helped during the interview
• The parent’s ability to have the child respond to a request
• Frequent swallowing, tenseness, fidgeting, preoccupation, avoidance of eye contact, social distance.

Question 11

Assessment should…(3)

Answer 11

1. Include many areas of functioning
2. Use multiple techniques
3. Use multiple sources

Question 12

What 7 factors may influence the report of various informants and should be considered when interpreting discrepant information?

Answer 12

1. Marital conflict
2. Parental adjustment
3. Maternal alcoholism
4. Marital difficulties
5. Ethnicity
6. Different motivation
7. Testing conditions

Question 13

Name 4 common cognitive strategies that can lead to errors in the problem-solving process.

Answer 13

1. Availability heuristic
2. Representative heuristic
3. Anchoring heuristic
4. Confirmatory search strategies

Question 14

What are the 5 steps for integrating information?

Answer 14

1. Document all clinical significant findings related to the child’s adjustment:
   This includes reviewing all information and assessing what is significant.
2. Look for convergent findings across sources and methods:
   This includes reviewing information and determining what is consistent across informants and methods.
3. Try to explain discrepancies:
   This includes explaining discrepancies between sources and methods.
4. Develop a profile and hierarchy of strengths and weaknesses:
   This includes developing a profile across the different domains of psychological functioning that have been assessed and includes prioritizing different areas of concern.
5. Determine critical information to place in the report:
   This includes filtering the information to only include relevant information.

Question 15

What should be considered when prioritizing areas within a child’s profile (3)?

Answer 15

1. The degree of impairment in different settings
2. Temporal sequencing of problem behaviours
3. Family history data

Question 16

What are the pitfalls of report writing (5)?

Answer 16

1. Vocabulary:
   Clinicians should avoid using jargon, complex sentence structure and too many acronyms.
   a. Complex words to add length to the report:
   b. Esoteric language only understood by the clinician.
   c. Not written in lay language (e.g. excessive focus on scores).
   d. Vague and unclear language that cannot be falsified.
   e. Vague or imprecise language (i.e. psychobabble).
2. Faulty interpretation:
   This can be the result of 1. personal ideas, 2. biases, 3. idiosyncrasies. It can be most readily seen when the psychologist is using the same theories or drawing the same conclusions in every report.
3. Report length:
   The report should not be unnecessarily long.
4. Number obsession:
   The report should not focus unnecessarily on numbers and only emphasize numbers when they contribute to the understanding of the child being evaluated. Invalid test scores should not be incorporated and test results should not be reported just because it was administered.
5. Failure to address referral questions:
   The report should clarify and address the true referral question, although this may not always be the same as the one presented by the client.

Question 17

What are good practices for report writing (11)?

Answer 17

1. Report only pertinent information
   Only relevant information to the referral question should be included.
2. Define abbreviations and acronyms
   It is important to use non-technical language and acronyms should be defined when they are used.
3. Emphasize words rather than numbers
   There should be an emphasis on words rather than numbers.
4. Reduce difficult words
   The text should be readable and use the child’s name rather than ‘the child’.
5. Briefly describe the instruments used
   The instruments that are used should be briefly described.
6. Edit the report
   The report should be edited to ensure the most accurate communication in the least amount of space.
7. Use headings and lists freely
   This can enhance the readability of the report.
8. Use examples of behaviour to clarify meaning
   This makes sure that there is no discussion about a topic (e.g. anxiety).
9. Check scores
   Only correct scores should be reported.
10. Check grammar and spelling
    The grammar and spelling should always be checked.
11. Reduce report length
    A report may be too long when:
    a. The time it took to write is too long.
    b. The psychologist has difficulty organizing all of the details for presentation.
    c. Some f the content is not clear or useful.
    d. The detail is much greater than can be put to good use.
    e. Speculations are presented without a good rationale.
    f. The writing is unnecessarily repetitious.
    g. The organization is not tight.
    h. The reader is irritated by the length or reads only a few sections.

Question 18

What are the guidelines for communicating test results to parents (13)?

Answer 18

1. Avoid deceit and do report bad news.
2. Use percentile ranks when describing norm-referenced test results.
3. Allow parents opportunities to participate by asking about topics.
4. Anticipate questions prior to the interview and prepare answers.
5. Schedule adequate time for the interview.
6. Practice communicating with parents from a variety of backgrounds.
7. Avoid questionable or overly explicit predictions.
8. Be careful about terms that may be interpreted badly by parents (e.g. average range).
9. Do not engage in counseling beyond one’s level of expertise.
10. Be aware that some parents are not ready to accept test results.
11. Maintain a positive tone throughout the session and discuss the child’s strengths and competencies.
12. Use good, basic counseling skills by allowing the parent to talk about successes of raising a child.
13. Provide some discussion of the strengths of the child and parents early in the feedback session.

Question 19

What are the 4 primary sources of error variance that can affect the reliability of assessment?

Answer 19

1. Temporal variance
   (i. e. changes in behavior over time).
2. Source or rater variance
   (i. e. differences in information due to characteristics of informant).
3. Setting variance
   (i. e. differences due to different demand characteristics across settings).
4. Instrument variance
   (i. e. unreliability inherent in individual instruments).

Question 20

The clinician needs to take several things into account when designing an assessment battery (6):

Answer 20

1. The developmental stage of the child.
2. Current research on developmental psychopathology.
3. Multifinality and equifinality.
4. Practical considerations (e.g. time).
5. The aspects of the child’s environment that should be assessed.
6. Potential comorbidities associated with the referral problems and the most likely factors that can lead to such problems.

Question 21

What 3 factors are essential for building rapport?

Answer 21

1. An attitude of acceptance
2. Understanding
3. Respect for the integrity of the client

Question 22

Building rapport with youth is often characterized by (3):

Answer 22

1. Having multiple participants, such as parents and teachers
2. Lack of motivation of the child
3. A limited timeframe

Question 23

What are the strategies for building rapport with children and adolescents (7):

Answer 23

1. Use a warm, friendly, respectful and interested communication style.
2. Take physical appearance into account (e.g. not too formal).
3. Attempt to match or pace the behaviour of the client (e.g. conform posture; movements; speed of speech; voice tone; volume).
4. Tailor vocabulary to the client.
5. Respect the views of the client.
6. Take time during testing to talk of experiences and interests that client and assessor have in common.
7. Occasionally adopt a one-down position
   (i. e. ask a child from a position of ignorance about something with which the child has expertise).

Question 24

What should be taken into account when explaining testing to adolescents (4)?

Answer 24

1. Do not come across as condescending.
2. Normalize testing as they are busy with fitting in.
3. Explain confidentiality to them.
4. Understand that the adolescent may not want to be there.