UNIT 2

• Assessment Settings

  • Adult
  • Child
  • School
  • Medical
  • Organizational
  • Forensic
  • Correctional
  • Geriatric
• Objectives of discussing this unit

  1. Investigate how psychological assessments are employed in diverse settings

  2. Clarify the purpose of psychological assessment in understanding various aspects of an individual's psychological functioning

  3. Classify psychological tests on a certain criteria

  4. Understand how tests are done to measure the presence of a particular condition or disorder

  5. Discuss the diverse range of assessment tools and techniques used in psychological evaluations
• The primary purpose of psychological assessments in adult inpatient and outpatient mental health settings is to evaluate patients’ cognitions, affect, behaviors, personality traits, strengths, and weaknesses in order to make judgments, diagnoses, predictions, and treatment recommendations concerning the clients
• General approach to psychological assessment in an adult mental health setting

  1. Foundations of the General Approach to Psychological Assessment

  2. Evidence-Based Assessment

  3. Multimodal Assessment
• Evidence-Based Assessment


  Emphasizes the use of research and theory to inform the selection of assessment targets, methods, and measures used in the assessment
• Multimodal Assessment


  Alternative, often digital, assessments that allow students to demonstrate skills and knowledge in multiple forms
• A diagnosis can be made with more confidence when several independent sources of information converge than when inferences are based on a single source
• Goals of Psychological Assessment

  1. Diagnostic Clarification

  2. Guide for Treatment
• Psychological assessment tools include Interviews, Objective Tests, and Projective Tests
• Types of Psychological Assessment Tools

  1. Interviews

  2. Objective Tests

  3. Projective Tests
• Clinical interviews provide comprehensive and detailed analysis of clients’ past and current psychological symptomatology. They offer insight into clients’ personality features, coping styles, interpersonal styles, and behaviors
• Objective tests require the respondent to make a particular response to a structured set of instructions. They vary in the degree of expertise required to accurately evaluate and interpret the results
• Projective tests involve subjects interpreting ambiguous images or situations to reveal their own emotions and thoughts
• Types of Psychological Assessment Tools
• Types of Psychological Assessment Tools

  • Projective Tests
  • Clinical Judgment
• Projective Test


  A personality test where subjects interpret ambiguous images or situations by projecting their own emotions, attitudes, and impulses onto the stimulus given
• Projective Tests

  • Unstructured, disguised, global
• Most projective tests fail to meet conventional standards of reliability and validity
• Clinical Judgment


  The process by which nurses make decisions based on nursing knowledge, other disciplinary knowledge, critical thinking, and clinical reasoning
• Choosing the Tests to Use


  Clinicians must be familiar with the effectiveness and efficiency of the tests to answer the referral question
• Clinicians must consider factors such as client ethnicity, age, level of education, functional capacity, motivation, and clinician experience when choosing tests
• Clinicians must consider the client's ability to speak the language in which the tests are written
• Integration and Interpretation of Tests

  Test results should be cross-referenced with other test results, interview findings, current behaviors, and client history to guide diagnosis and treatment recommendations
• The primary goal of test integration is to discover the "internal connection" to understand the client's current state of psychological functioning
• Referral questions are the foundation of any psychological assessment, guiding the entire assessment process from test selection to diagnosis and treatment recommendations
• Referral questions depend on the severity and complexity of the client's psychological symptoms and personality, as well as the goals and theoretical orientation of the referring professional
• Referral forms for psychological evaluation should include explicit questions about the reasons, purpose, and potential uses of the test, and whether the patient consented to testing
• Components of the referral form for psychological evaluation

  • Explicit questions about the reasons, purpose, and potential uses of the test
  • Consent of the patient to testing
• The evaluation of youth is substantially different from the comparable evaluation of adults by mental health professionals
• Characteristics of Children and Adolescents

  • Behavioral expectations related to a child’s specific age
  • Attainment of developmental, academic, and social goals
  • Children and adolescents typically referred by parents and teachers
  • Problems in child adjustment defined and identified by adults
  • Treatment efforts incorporate modification of home and classroom environments
• Comorbidity refers to more than one mental disorder that exists alongside a primary diagnosis
• Comorbidity is very commonly observed in youth evaluated in mental health settings
• Children and adolescents troubled by multiple disorders are most likely to be assessed by a mental health professional
• As many as two thirds of elementary school children with ADHD referred for clinical evaluation have been found to have at least one other diagnosable psychiatric disorder
• Referral Process


  1. Youth generally come to mental health settings only because they are referred for specific services

  2. Requests for mental health evaluation may originate from distant professionals or settings

  3. Referral for an evaluation may come from a behavioral health managed care company or a parent
• A psychological assessment can help find out if a child has special needs at school
• Schools involve a psychologist after considering the child’s needs
• If a child has learning, emotional, or behavioral difficulties, the school is responsible for getting an assessment of the child’s needs
• Psychological testing in schools supports children in achieving success
• Psychological testing can detect undiagnosed psychological, emotional, or behavioral difficulties in children