assessment Flashcards
(14 cards)
how is psychological assessment carried out? (a range of possibilities)
- clinical interviews
- psychological tests
- biologically based assessment
- clinical observation
what are the key features of clinical interviews?
- assess risk
- establish rapport with client
- gain trust and explain the importance of confidentiality
- show empathy
- accepting attitudes towards disclosures
describe the nature of clinical interviews
- one on one session (approx 1 hour long)
- questions relate to symptoms eg past history, current living and working conditions
- questions differ depending on theoretical orientation
what type of health professional is more inclined to use an unstructured interview technique? and why?
it is the most commonly used technique
- gains insight into the clients difficulties, past history and current living/working conditions
give an overview of the 9 steps involved in an unstructured interview
- confidentiality - must outline the boundaries
- presenting problem - why now?
- functional analysis (specific examples of the current difficulty)
- maintaining factors - avoidance and maladaptive facotrs
- relevant history - previous episodes/ACEs/significant events
- risk - self harm? suicide?
- other influences - sleep, appetite, drugs, alcohol, social support
- previous psychological input
- social support? - do they have any
what limitations are there of unstructured interviews?
- reliability is low
- prone to biases
what are structured interviews used for and what do they entail?
used to make decisions on diagnosis using DSM5
- questions are all predetermined
what is poor about structured interviews?
there is a loss of personal connection, can be difficult to engage with the client
name a couple commonly used scales in structured interviews
Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)
Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)
Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS)
what advantages are there of psychological tests?
they assess more specific characteristics or traits (eg level of anxiety)
they use a rigid response system which is standardised (think bell curve)
what types of psychological tests are there?
- personality inventories
- specific trait inventories
- projective tests
- intelligence tests
- neurological impairment tests
what happens during a clinical observation?
a clinician observes a patient in a stimulated environment to gather more information about triggers and coping mechanisms
what happens during a self observation?
the client logs information about their own behaviour eg sleep patterns, mood, food intake, activity rate etc
- helps to find a pattern when thoughts seem scattered
is there anything to be said regarding cultural anomolies in assessment?
MH problems may manifest differently across cultures which affects how they do in tests. clinicians need to be sensitive of this
