Text Book Flashcards
“Barbara is 65 years old and recently retired. She is experiencing trouble concentrating and sometimes suffers memory loss and was referred by her physician. Barara completed the full WAIS-IV and received a FSIQ of 110. Barabar’s VCI was 115 and her PRI was 95. Her WMI was 105 and her PSI was 85. Briefly summarise her results and suggest the next step.
A. Barbara’s general cognitive ability, as estimated by the WAIS-IV, is in the High Average range (FSIW range 110 to 119). The client’s general verbal comprehension abilities were also in the High Average range (VCI Range 110 to 119). Barbara’s ability to sustain attention, concentrate, and exert mental control is in the Average range (WMI Range 90 to 109) and her ability in processing simple or routine visual material without making errors is in the Low Average range when compared to her peers (PSI Range 80 to 89). Given that Barbara scored Low Average on the PSI subsca/e, work with Barbara to complete the WMS-IV to get a more detailed measure of her global cognitive functioning. Further investigating Barbara’s processing speed capabilities will determine the nature of strengths and deficits in memory to help explain her current inability to retain information.
B Barbara’s general cognitive ability, as estimated by the WAIS-IV, is in the High Average range (FSIQ range 11O to 119). The client’s general verbal comprehension abilities were in the High Average range {VCI Range 110 to 119). Barbara’s ability to sustain attention, concentrate, and exert mental control is in the average range (WMI Range 90 to 109), and her ability in processing simple or routine visual material without making errors is in the Average range when compared to her peers (PSI Range 80to 89). Given that Barbara performed average or higher on all scales, work with the client to develop strategies that better manage her memory loss. C. Barbara’s general cognitive ability, as estimated by the WAIS-IV, is in the High Average range (FSIQ Range 110 to 119). The client’s general verbal comprehension abilities were in the High Average range (VCI Range 110 to 119). Barbara’s ability to sustain attention, concentrate, and exert mental control
is in the average range (WMI Range 90 to 109) and her ability in processing simple or routine visual material without making errors is in the Low Average range when compared to her peers (PSI Range 80 to 89). Given that she showed strength in verbal abilities, continue to work with her to develop these strengths.
D. Barara’s general cognitive ability as estiamted by the WAIS-IV is in the HIgh Average (FSIQ 110 to 119). The clientls verbal comprehension abilities were in the High Average range (VCI Range 110 to 119). Barara’s ability to sustain attention, concentration and exert mental contorl in the High Average range (WMI Range 90 to 109), and her ability in processing simple or routine visual material without making errors is in the High Average range (PSI 80 to 89). Given that Barara performed in the High Average range across all scales, work with the client to develop a gifted and taleneted program for her in retirement. E. Bara;s Wais-IV results are inconclusive and the WMS-IV should be adminsitered. “
A
Mixed cognitive profile e.g., High Average across FSI and VSI, average PRI, average WMI and low average PSI indicates that further assessment is required (e.g., WSM-IV) can provide a comprehensive memory assessment to determine the nature of the strengths and deficits in memory)
“WISC-IV Wechsler lntelli1ence Scale for Children -Fourth Edition
Nathan is a 13-year-old boy, refeffed for an assessment of his intellectual functioning following concerns of school staff and parents about his low achievement levels that have become more of an issue in his first year of high school. Results of testing using the WISC-IV show Full Scale IQ in the Very Low Range, with all Index scores within this range. From this information you can conclude
A Nathan has an intellectual disability, unfortunately not identified during his primary school years.
B Nathan does not have an intellectual disability, as 13 is too late to make this diagnosis.
C Nathan may have an intellectual disability, but further assessment of academic achievement is needed.
D Nathan may have an intellectual disability, but further assessment of adaptive behaviour is needed.
E Nathan has an intellectual disability, and a treatment plan should be drawn up to support him. “
D
IQ scores alone are not suffient to diagnose an IDD. Adaptive behaviour needs to be assessed.
“16PF
At your request, your client Lucy has completed the Sixteen Personality Factors Questionnaire (16PF). As you generate Lucy’s personality profile, you discover that Lucy falls at the 92nd percentile for Impression Management. What would be the most appropriate way to proceed?
A Re-administer the 16PF to Lucy.
B Re-test Lucy only on the Impression Management scale of the 16PF.
C Ask Lucy to complete another measure of personality.
D Finalise Lucy’s personality profile as her Impression Management Index would not be considered problematic.
E. Finalise Lucy’s personaloty profle even though her Impression Management Index would be considered problematic, indicating that her primary factor scores are inaccurate. “
If the Impression Management Index is below the 5th percentile or exceeds the 95th percentile, it would be appropriate to consider re-testing the client using the entire questionnaire (considered problematic).
“A client you have been seeing for a while is especially emotive in session. He or shy is crying and describing a situation that has upset him or her greatly. When reflecting the feeling back to the client.
A. Just state what feeing has been observed so as to not interrupt their emotional expression.
B Connect the leeling expressed to the circumstances noted by the client in a ““you feel x, because y””
C. Simply focus on the client’s thoughts and actions as you know that will refocus attention from their feelings and help them regain composure.
D. Focus on the problem so it can be solved and the client can feel better.
E. Model the feeling to increase the accurarcy of the reflection “
B
If one reflects feelings, includes their context and includes a “check-out”, they are more likely to help the client both feel understood and help the client understand their own emotional reactions. A “check-out” after reflecting a client’s feelings will elicit confirmation of accuracy by the client.
“A particular psychologist starts all their first contacts with new clients the same way. Before gaining information from the client, they note the purpose, duration, cost, and the nature of their first psychological contact. They inform the client of the limits to confidentiality and how they tend to structure their work with clients. One impact of psychologists structuring first contact with clients in this way is that it:
A Reduces premature termination
B. Makes clients reticent to talk openly as they are now concerned about the limits to confidenitality.
C. Increases the likiehood that the client will not return to therapy as a therapeutic relationship was not established at the start of a psychologist showing interest in them as a person before structuring their time together.
D. Increases client anxiety
E. Reduces client resistance to change. “
A
Benefit to structuring therapeutic contact is to manage client expectations and thus reduce premature termination where a client leaves services before a positive result is realised.
“A psychologist has had a difficult night’s sleep as a neighbourhood dog was barking loudly all night. As a result, the psychologist is feeling tired as shown in his or her sitting with his or her legs crossed, slumping the the chair, and psychologist generally is not paying as much attentio to the tone of voice and eye contact being provided to the client. What is the possible impact of the relaxed attending skills presented by the psychologist?
A The client will likely feel that the psychologist is not very interested in their situation
B. Mimrnal, the client will probably understand that there is an explainable reason wy the psychologist is like this.
C. None, clients do not pay much attention to attending skills provided by psychologists.
D. It depends how much contact the psychologist and client have had up to this point. If this is a first meeting the impact could be serious as the client will not return for psychological services, if they do not fee attended to. If this is a continuing contact scenario, then a strong therapeutic alliance can withstand a relaxing of attending skills.
E. It depends on how much contact the psychologist and client have had up to this point. If this is a first meeting he impact could be minimal as the client does not know what to expect from the psychologist. It this is a continuing contact scenario, then a therapeutic rupture could result as the cltent is used to being attended to. “
A
Basic attending or social skills are important for the establishment and contnuation of a therapeutic relationship. Basicis social skills aid in communication and thus need to be used by psychologists in order to communicate claealt and to model appropaitae social behaviour.
“ABAS
Mary is a 10-year-old girl who was referred to you for academic difficulties at school. You administered a WISC IV. and her mother completed the ABAS-3 Parent Form. Mary’s WISC-IV Full Scale IQ (FSIQ) score of BB falls within the Below Average range and her ABAS-3 General Adaptive Composite (GAG) score of 71 falls within the Borderline range.
What would be the next appropriate step?
A. Given ildren that her her age, GAC score recommend indicates that the that school Mary’s overall implement a adaptive behaviour is below that of most other children her age, recommend tha tthe school implement a tailored individual support program for Mary.
B. Recommend that Mary engage in ongoing supportive counselling with a focus on building her adaptive functioning skills and conduct a second ABAS-3 assessment in 6 months.
C. Review Mary’s more performance detailed within unthe Communication, Functional Academics, and Self-Direction skill areas to obtain a more detailed understanding of her unique profile of adaptive functioning and relative strengths and weaknesses. This will pinpoint areas for which Mary may need the most help and inform recommendations for an aproropaite intervention strategy.
D. Conclude that Mary’s intellectual functioning is negatively impacting her adaptive behvaiour and recommend interventions aimed at improving her cogitive abilities.
E. Request that Mary’s parents arrange a paediatric assessment to rule out medical factos which may account for her acdemic difficulties. “
C
“17-year-old is referred to you after concern over increasing conflict with her parents. Recently, she has been irritable, not sleeping well, trauant from school. You adminsiter the Beck Depression Inventory, Second Edition as part of the clinical assessment. TIna’s responses indicate an overall score for depresion in the clinical range. What is the most appropriate conclusion?
A. Tina mets the criteria for Major Depressive Disorder.
B. Tina’s difficulties are most likely relational.
C. Tina’s results are consistent with, but not sufficient to diagnose, a depressive disorder.
D. Tina requires medication for depression.
E. Tina’s responses should be viewed with caution as the BDI-11 is not appropriate for use with adolescents.”
C
“Child Behavior Checklist
A 7-year-old child is referred to you by her GP for treatment of anxiety. Her mother completes the Child Behavior Checklist, and her teacher completes the Teacher Report Form. Her mother’s responses place the child’s scores on the three Internalising Behaviours scales in the clinical range. However, her teacher’s responses do not indicate any scores are in the clinical range. This means:
A The child does not have difficulties with anxiety as the teacher has not noticed any issues.
B The child is likely to have difficulties with anxiety across all situations, but as the items teachers respond to are different to the parent items, the Teacher Report Form just hasn’t asked the right questions to pick up anxiety in the school context.
C The child is likely to have difficulties with separation anxiety when she is separating from her mother, but once she gets to her classroom, she is no longer anxious.
D. The child is likely to have difficulties with anxiety that her mother notices, but that is not evident to a teacher in the school setting.
E It is uncertain whether the child has any anxiety issues, and further testing is required to provide a comprehensive assessment. “
D
“A psychologist has been treating a client for a driving phobia following a traffic accident when she was driving a work car. During the course of therapy, the client discloses that she has recently submitted a worker’s compensation claim for bullying. The psychologist then receives a valid subpoena to provide all his client records from the workers compensation authority.
What is the most appropriate response to the subpoena?
A. The psychologist is not obliged to release any information as client records are subject to professional privilege
B. The psychologist should only release information about the client that you judge to be in their best interests
C. The psychologist should release a summary of the client records but retain a more detailed set of notes
D. The psychologist must release all information that is requested as there is no professional privilege
E. The psychologist must not release the client records as it constitutes a breach of confidentiality”
D
The psychologist must release all information that is requested as there is no professional privilege. All records listed in the subpoena must be provided; there is no discretion in this matter. Information, documents, data and any other records gathered in the course of a psychological service are not subject to professional privilege. You are required to release all information, documents and other types of records specified in a valid subpoena. This is one of the cases where a legal obligation overrides the normal protection of confidentiality of client records. The psychologist is at liberty to communicate their concerns about releasing this information to the court or relevant authorities, but nevertheless is required to act on a valid subpoena.
“A 10-year-old boy is referred to a psychologist at the suggestion of the school because of the boy’s behaviour difficulties. His teacher has completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ).. The Total Difficulties scale score on the SDQ is at the 91st percentile.
What would be the most appropriate next step?
A. Work with the school to develop positive behaviour plan
B. Work with the parents to better understand this high score
C. Work with the parents to build on the high strengths of this child
D. Work with the school to better manage this conduct disordered child
E. Work with the parents to develop a positive behaviour plan”
B
The SDQ is a broad screening test for emotional and behavioural strengths and difficulties which commonly occur in childhood, and a more comprehensive assessment is required to inform treatment options. It would be helpful to work with the parents you as part of the comprehensive assessment, including asking them to complete the parent form of the SDQ.
“An 18-year-old woman is referred to a psychologist for treatment of social anxiety and insomnia. Following the initial interview, the psychologist and client negotiate a treatment plan targeting social anxiety. The client attends the next session stating that she is ambivalent about addressing her anxiety and instead wants to focus on her insomnia.
What is the psychologist’s most appropriate response to the client’s ambivalence?
A. Utilise motivational interviewing to address the client’s ambivalence
B. Acknowledge the client’s ambivalence but continue with the treatment plan for social anxiety as it is the primary problem
C. Refer the client to another psychologist because of her ambivalence about the treatment plan
D. Change the focus of treatment and work with the client on her insomnia problem
E. Explore the reasons for the client’s ambivalence in order to maintain a good therapeutic alliance”
E
“A is not the most appropriate way to manage the client’s ambivalence. This is because motivational interviewing is best used to strengthen personal motivation for, and commitment to, a specific goal - but in this case the client is unsure about what to focus on. Motivational interviewing is designed to address specific presentations within a readiness to change model, which may not address the client’s reason for wanting to change the focus of treatment.
B is not the most appropriate way to manage the client’s ambivalence. This option ignores the reasons for the client wanting to change the focus of treatment and fails to acknowledge that this may increase the risk of client disengagement in therapy.
C is not the most appropriate way to manage the client’s ambivalence. This option has the potential to invalidate the client’s reasons for changing the treatment focus by assuming it is something problematic about the current therapy arrangement.
D is not the most appropriate way to manage the client’s ambivalence. There is no indication that you and the client have assessed the reasons behind her desire to change, nor have you reassessed if insomnia is the appropriate treatment focus at this time. This option may simply facilitate the client’s avoidance of addressing their social anxiety, which may be counter-productive to effective treatment.
E is the correct response as exploring the ambivalence will help assess the specific issues. Maintaining a strong therapeutic alliance is critical to strengthening client engagement and good outcome and even more critical when a client is ambivalent.”
“A psychologist is providing psychological consulting services to a manager of an international mining company about his strengths and effectiveness within the organisation. The manager is required to travel to remote areas of the world and consulting sessions have become irregular due to his work. Nevertheless, the manager is motivated to continue and he suggests that email could serve as a means for maintaining regular contact. The psychologist has some concerns about communicating electronically.
How should the psychologist best address her concerns regarding electronic communication?
A. Ensure the latest encryption protocols are installed on the psychologist’s email
B. Include a disclaimer in every electronic communication with the client
C. Discuss the issue of confidentiality before engaging in email consulting
D. Insist that the client obtain the psychologist’s permission before forwarding any email communication to a third party
E. Keep copies of all electronic communications with the client”
C
“A is not the best option as email encryption, whilst important, is not sufficient to ensure protection of confidentiality, nor does it directly address all issues or foreseeable risks of breaches of confidentiality in this situation.
B is not the best option. The use of a disclaimer is only one method of attempting to address the confidentiality issues around the use of electronic means of communication and therefore does not directly address all issues or foreseeable risks of breaches of confidentiality in this situation.
C is the best response. Client confidentiality must be protected. The psychologist should proactively address all issues if there are foreseeable risks of breaches of confidentiality and seek appropriate solutions. Discussion of this matter should happen before commencing psychological consulting by email, and can include both data security and the privacy provisions with regards to who may have access to the emails.
D is not the best option as the issue of confidentiality of the psychologist’s emails is less important here than the security of the client’s emails. In this instance client confidentiality is the primary concern.
E is not the best option. The psychologist should keep records of all electronic communications, but this alone does not directly address all issues or foreseeable risks of breaches of confidentiality.”
“A psychologist works in a multidisciplinary practice where all practitioners frequently refer clients to each other. One of the
practitioners tells the psychologist that she is having increasing problems which are impacting on her work performance.
She asks if the psychologist would take her on as a client.
What is the psychologist’s most appropriate response to this request?
A. Advise the practitioner of the contact details of other local psychologists
B. Accept the practitioner as a client and develop a treatment plan together
C. Advise the practitioner to take time off work to lessen her anxiety
D. Accept the practitioner as a client but find another venue for treatment
E. Advise the practitioner to obtain consent from her manager first”
A
“A is the best course of action because by suggesting other local psychologists you are able to maintain appropriate
professional boundaries and refrain from creating a dual relationship.
B is not the best course of action because you should refrain from developing dual relationships where it may be difficult to maintain professional boundaries.
C is not the best course of action because by providing such advice you may risk putting yourself in a psychologist-client relationship with your
colleague and risk blurring boundaries by entering into a dual relationship .
D is not the best course of action because you should avoid dual relationships with a potential client irrespective of the venue for treatment.
E is not the best course of action
as her manager’s consent is not required in assisting the practitioner to seek appropriate help.”
“A psychologist working as an employee assistance program provider for a large employer has been seeing a 23-year-old
Aboriginal woman who has reported experiencing harassment from her work unit supervisor. The woman’s supervisor
contacts the psychologist requesting a meeting to discuss important information.
In this situation what is the most important initial thing to do?
A. Agree to see the supervisor and discuss the issues concerning the client
B. Refuse to discuss with the supervisor any issues concerning the client
C. Inform the client of the request and seek her consent for the meeting
D. Arrange a meeting with the supervisor and the client to discuss the alleged harassment
E. Arrange a meeting with the supervisor to discuss the role of the psychologist”
C
“A is not the most important thing to do as you do not have the consent of your client to discuss these issues.
B is not the most important thing to do, as while you cannot discuss this information initially with the supervisor, it may be appropriate but only if
you are able to obtain relevant informed consent from your client.
C is the most important thing to do as it is critical to obtain consent from your client before you proceed further, and she needs to be informed as the client that her supervisor has contacted you.
D is not the most important thing to do as this option would not be the most important initial thing to do.
E is not the most important thing to do as it is critical to gain consent with your client, the woman. At the outset of the employee assistance program the nature of your role and relationship with people within the organisation should have been defined .”
