Validity of diagnosis

Question 1

What is validity?

Answer 1

Are you measuring what you’re meant to measure?
Are you using the correct measurement scale?

Question 2

Validity in clinical

Answer 2

. Does this person have a mental health illness at all?
. Does this patient really have this illness or could it be a different one?
. Does the suggested treatment work?

Question 3

Internal validity

Answer 3

. increases when you reduce the risk of demand characteristics
. controlled extraneous variables

Question 4

Ecological/ external validity

Answer 4

How well does the task and setting reflect the ppts everyday life?

Question 5

Population validity

Answer 5

How does the sample reflect the population?

Question 6

Predictive validity

Answer 6

Can you make accurate predictions about what the patient will experience, e.g. do the symptoms experienced match what is predicted by diagnosis

Question 7

Construct validity

Answer 7

Is there a common cause for the illness?
Patients diagnosed with the same illness should share similar causes.

Question 8

Concurrent validity

Answer 8

. Results from one study match the results from another at the same point in time.
. Comparing the development of a new test against one that is already accepted and valid.
. In clinical - e.g. the diagnosis using the DSM and the ICD match. Or the symptoms reported by the patient are the same as the symptoms observed and reported by family members.