What is the status of psychological testing in clinical psychology?
clinicians or practitioners prescribe or utilize a test result to help with the diagnostic process. Phy sicians and psychologists are mainly present within t hese clinical disciplines.
How do psychologists use tests and assessments?
With this objective in mind to define a psychometric indicator of brain pathology, neuropsychological researchers, and clinicians began to map out how cognitive, behavioral, and emotional deficits could be demonstrated by standardized neuropsychological tests in those with TBI (Levin, Grossman, & Kelly, 1976; Lezak et al., 2012; Reitan, 1959; Spreen & Benton, 1965). …
What is the history of psychometric testing?
May 22, 2019 · Clinicians use the results of psychometric tests to influence care planning, overall assessment of needs, for legal purposes, and potentially as evidence in court (Lichtenberger & Kaufman, 2013), but must be used in conjunction with other tools to give a bigger picture.
How are psychological tests similar to medical tests?
The results of the study provide researchers and clinicians with detailed comparisons of the performance of established fatigue measures in cancer patients undergoing treatment to use when selecting measures of CRF. ... The purpose of this article is to report the results of psychometric testing of several fatigue instruments in patients ...
How are psychometric tests useful?
Which is a clinical use of psychological test?
Why is it important for clinical psychologists to understand psychometric considerations?
How might information about intelligence testing be used clinically in treatment?
What are the main methods used in clinical assessment?
How reliable are psychological tests used by practicing clinicians?
Why are psychometric tests important in psychology?
What are psychometric tests in clinical psychology?
Why do researchers need to understand psychometric evaluation?
Why do counselors use intelligence tests?
Why is intelligence testing useful?
What are the advantages of intelligence test?
What is psychometric testing?
Psychometric testing is often useful in the evaluation of the sex offender. Traditional assessment instruments utilize paper-and-pencil self-report inventories to provide information on the offenders' psychosexual and psychological functioning. In general, these tests fall into two categories: general psychological inventories adapted to ...
What is the purpose of psychometric inventories?
Psychological inventories. Psychometric testing is often useful in the evaluation of the sex offender. Traditional assessment instruments utilize paper-and-pencil self-report inventories to provide information on the offenders' psychosexual and psychological functioning. In general, these tests fall into two categories: general psychological ...
What is neuropsychological evaluation?
The neuropsychological evaluation typically goes beyond the assessment of cognitive and motor skills, and also includes psychometric testing of emotional, behavioral, and personality functioning.
What is paper and pencil assessment?
Traditional assessment instruments utilize paper-and-pencil self-report inventories to provide information on the offenders' psychosexual and psychological functioning. In general, these tests fall into two categories: general psychological inventories adapted to the sex-offender population ...
What is the scientific approach to creativity?
The scientific psychological approach to creativity applies the standard array of empirical research tools to works of art, artists, and audiences : testing (psychometrics), correlations, experiments, cross-sectional and longitudinal studies (studies take place at a single time or over an extended period, often years, respectively), interviews, case studies, and the content analysis of biographical, archival, and written material (the historiometric method). These methods yield information on the personality of creative people (autonomy, openness to experience); cognitive abilities (problem-finders/definers/solvers; stimulus free rather than stimulus bound); development (usually emphasizing the younger years); social characteristics (attitudes, values); and interpersonal relations (most often involving family relations). Examined, too, are individual differences, distinctions between minority groups, and gender (e.g., creative men and women face and overcome different demands).
What is static test?
Static tests are the conventional kind in which people are given problems to solve and they solve them without feedback. Their final score is typically the number of items answered correctly, sometimes with a penalty for guessing.
What is home fast assessment?
The Home Falls and Accidents Screening Tool (Home-Fast) is a shorter 25-item tool. Like the Westmead Assessment, it is designed in a checklist format where a “no” response to any of the items indicates that no further therapist action is required. Although further psychometric testing is under way (Mackenzie, Byles, & Higginbotham, 2002) which may lead to a scoring system, at present the inability to calculate a risk score for individuals or to compare the scores of individuals to another are significant limitations of both the Westmead and Home-Fast assessments. The fact that both tools focus nearly exclusively on the physical attributes or hazards of the environment is also a significant drawback to using these tools, since it is now very well understood that the safety of an older adult is a function of their physical abilities and the environment in which they live. There is no such thing as a safe or even unsafe home in an absolute sense, it is only safe for a given person or not, given the specifics of their personal functioning and the type of environment they are in.
TYPES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS
There are many facets to the categorization of psychological tests, and even more if one includes educationally oriented tests; indeed, it is often difficult to differentiate many kinds of tests as purely psychological tests as opposed to educational tests.
PSYCHOMETRICS: EXAMINING THE PROPERTIES OF TEST SCORES
Psychometrics is the scientific study—including the development, interpretation, and evaluation—of psychological tests and measures used to assess variability in behavior and link such variability to psychological phenomena.
TEST USER QUALIFICATIONS
The test user is generally considered the person responsible for appropriate use of psychological tests, including selection, administration, interpretation, and use of results ( AERA et al., 2014 ).
PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING IN THE CONTEXT OF DISABILITY DETERMINATIONS
As noted in Chapter 2, SSA indicates that objective medical evidence may include the results of standardized psychological tests. Given the great variety of psychological tests, some are more objective than others. Whether a psychological test is appropriately considered objective has much to do with the process of scoring.
REFERENCES
AACN (American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology). AACN practice guidelines for neuropsychological assessment and consultation. Clinical Neuropsychology. 2007;21(2):209–231. [ PubMed
Footnotes
This may be in comparison to a nationally representative norming sample, or with certain tests or measures, such as the MMPI, particular clinically diagnostic samples.
What is psychometric assessment?
A Psychological Assessment involves the planned use of interviews (generally semi-structured) and specific psychometric assessments (tests) to answer questions highlighted in a referral.
What is a pre-treatment evaluation?
Pre-treatment evaluations, particularly if you know a patient has been referred to you because of limited success in previous treatment or the patient has complex problems/presentation; When treatment has stalled and psychological assessment can be used to identify the factors limiting progress, and;
What to expect from a psychological test?
What to expect. Psychological testing isn't like taking a multiple-choice exam that you either pass or fail. Rather, psychologists use information from the various tests and assessments to reach a specific diagnosis and develop a treatment plan. Some people are tempted to peek at the tests ahead of time.
Is psychological testing the same as medical testing?
Psychological testing may sound intimidating, but it's designed to help you. In many ways, psychological testing and assessment are similar to medical tests. If a patient has physical symptoms, a primary care provider may order X-rays or blood tests to understand what's causing those symptoms. The results of the tests will help inform develop ...
What is the purpose of psychological evaluation?
Psychological evaluations serve the same purpose. Psychologists use tests and other assessment tools to measure and observe a client's behavior to arrive at a diagnosis and guide treatment. Psychologists administer tests and assessments for a wide variety of reasons. Children who are experiencing difficulty in school, for example, ...
Why do psychologists use assessments?
Psychologists use tests and other assessment tools to measure and observe a client's behavior to arrive at a diagnosis and guide treatment. Psychologists administer tests and assessments for a wide variety of reasons. Children who are experiencing difficulty in school, for example, may undergo aptitude testing or tests for learning disabilities.
What is a norm-referenced test?
A norm-referenced test of a child's reading abilities , for example, may rank that child's ability compared to other children of similar age or grade level. Norm-referenced tests have been developed and evaluated by researchers and proven to be effective for measuring a particular trait or disorder.
What is the purpose of assessment in psychology?
For example, assessments can be used to determine if a person has a learning disorder, is competent to stand trial or has a traumatic brain injury.
What is assessment used for?
For example, assessments can be used to determine if a person has a learning disorder, is competent to stand trial or has a traumatic brain injury. They can also be used to determine if a person would be a good manager or how well they may work with a team.
What is a psychological assessment?
Psychological tests assess the client’s personality, social skills, cognitive abilities, emotions, behavioral responses, or interests. They can be administered either individually or to groups in paper or oral fashion.
What is clinical diagnosis?
Clinical diagnosis is the process of using assessment data to determine if the pattern of symptoms the person presents with is consistent with the diagnostic criteria for a specific mental disorder outlined in an established classification system such as the DSM-5 or I CD-10 (both will be described shortly). Any diagnosis should have clinical utility, meaning it aids the mental health professional in determining prognosis, the treatment plan, and possible outcomes of treatment (APA, 2013). Receiving a diagnosis does not necessarily mean the person requires treatment. This decision is made based upon how severe the symptoms are, level of distress caused by the symptoms, symptom salience such as expressing suicidal ideation, risks and benefits of treatment, disability, and other factors (APA, 2013). Likewise, a patient may not meet the full criteria for a diagnosis but require treatment nonetheless.
What are the three critical concepts of assessment?
The assessment process involves three critical concepts – reliability, validity, and standardization . Actually, these three are important to science in general. First, we want the assessment to be reliable or consistent. Outside of clinical assessment, when our car has an issue and we take it to the mechanic, we want to make sure that what one mechanic says is wrong with our car is the same as what another says, or even two others. If not, the measurement tools they use to assess cars are flawed. The same is true of a patient who is suffering from a mental disorder. If one mental health professional says the person suffers from major depressive disorder and another says the issue is borderline personality disorder, then there is an issue with the assessment tool being used (in this case, the DSM and more on that in a bit). Ensuring that two different raters are consistent in their assessment of patients is called interrater reliability. Another type of reliability occurs when a person takes a test one day, and then the same test on another day. We would expect the person’s answers to be consistent, which is called test-retest reliability. For example, let’s say the person takes the MMPI on Tuesday and then the same test on Friday. Unless something miraculous or tragic happened over the two days in between tests, the scores on the MMPI should be nearly identical to one another. What does identical mean? The score at test and the score at retest are correlated with one another. If the test is reliable, the correlation should be very high (remember, a correlation goes from -1.00 to +1.00, and positive means as one score goes up, so does the other, so the correlation for the two tests should be high on the positive side).
What are the limitations of an interview?
The limitation of the interview is that it lacks reliability, especially in the case of the unstructured interview. 3.1.3.3. Psychological tests and inventories. Psychological tests assess the client’s personality, social skills, cognitive abilities, emotions, behavioral responses, or interests.
What is MRI imaging?
Images are produced that yield information about the functioning of the brain. Magnetic Resonance Imaging or MRI provides 3D images of the brain or other body structures using magnetic fields and computers. It can detect brain and spinal cord tumors or nervous system disorders such as multiple sclerosis.
What is the purpose of a CT scan?
Finally, computed tomography or the CT scan involves taking X-rays of the brain at different angles and is used to diagnose brain damage caused by head injuries or brain tumors. 3.1.3.5. Physical examination.
When was the DSM 5 published?
3.2.2.1. A brief history of the DSM. The DSM-5 was published in 2013 and took the place of the DSM IV-TR (TR means Text Revision; published in 2000), but the history of the DSM goes back to 1944 when the American Psychiatric Association published a predecessor of the DSM which was a “statistical classification of institutionalized mental patients” and “…was designed to improve communication about the types of patients cared for in these hospitals” (APA, 2013, p. 6). The DSM evolved through four major editions after World War II into a diagnostic classification system to be used psychiatrists and physicians, but also other mental health professionals. The Herculean task of revising the DSM began in 1999 when the APA embarked upon an evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the DSM in coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO) Division of Mental Health, the World Psychiatric Association, and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). This collaboration resulted in the publication of a monograph in 2002 called A Research Agenda for DSM-V. From 2003 to 2008, the APA, WHO, NIMH, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (NIAAA) convened 13 international DSM-5 research planning conferences “to review the world literature in specific diagnostic areas to prepare for revisions in developing both DSM-5 and the International Classification of Disease, 11th Revision (ICD-11)” (APA, 2013).
What is a diagnosis in psychology?
In psychology, however, a diagnosis is. A) made on the basis of a single behavior, if significant. B) made only after consultation with the primary physician.
What is screening device?
A screening device is able to indicate a problem when it is present and accurately indicate the absence of a problem when none exists. In psychological terms, this would constitute. A) screening specificity. B) screening sensitivity.
How old is Miguel?
B. Miguel is a 24-year-old married man who was referred by his physician to a psychologist for assessment. In order for the psychologist to release information to Miguel's doctor, A) the psychologist would want to ensure that the information is accurate and reviewed by Miguel before it is released.