Summary of psychological assessment. Contains multiple articles that needed to be read in the course:
Wright (2011);
Gregory (2014);
Bijttebier, P., Ter Laak, J., & Vertommen, H (2019)
Barelds (2016);
LECTURE 1
Introduction to Part I: THE HYPOTHESIS TESTING MODEL Wright, A.J.
The ultimate goal of assessment is to make clear, useful recommendations that have a high likelihood of
improving a person’s life and functioning.
There are 6 major processes that make up any psychological assessment:
1. Conducting a clinical interview
2. Choosing a battery of tests
3. Administering, scoring, and interpreting tests
4. Integrating and conceptualizing information gathered from test results, the clinical interview,
behavioral observations, and other sources
5. Writing a psychological assessment report
6. Providing feedback to the individual assessed and/or the referral source
The hypothesis testing model
The importance of psychological assessment lies in the fundamental assumption that there are aspects
of our functioning that we are not entirely aware of or cannot effectively articulate.
Testing and assessment provide a picture of how the individual being assessed is currently functioning.
The tests measure individuals at that particular moment in time. Assessment results cannot predict the
future with 100% accuracy.
Each assessment can be treated as a research study by (a) making hypotheses and testing them to rule
out possibilities and incorporate others, and (b) using multiple tests and multiple methods, which
provide more solid data and allow the assessor to be much more confident in his/her feelings.
Step 1: clinical assessment
Clinical assessment has two goals:
1. Assessing impairment in functioning
- Some impairments might be overly evident whereas others are more subtle.
- Assessments are not entirely about weakness and impairment but also about the strengths
and aptitudes of a person!
2. Generating hypotheses
- For this, a thorough understanding of psychodiagnosis is necessary + general theories of
behavior, regardless of theoretical orientation.
- Based on the “findings” of the clinical assessment, all possible causes of the functional
impairment should be listed.
In this first step, a thorough clinical interview will be conducted. The results of this interview, together
with background information collected from various sources (important!) will be used to create
hypotheses.
- The clinical assessment is a combination of the information gathered from the clinical interview
and other sources of report (e.g. referral parties, previous records, collateral interviews)
Step 2: selecting tests
Based on the hypotheses generated (in step 1), the assessor selects a testing battery. Tests should be
chosen based on an established set of criteria, which should include (1) their own internal
psychometric properties, (2) what exactly they assess, and (3) how they assess it.
Multiple measures of the same constructs should be included, multiple tests to assess the same
hypothesis.
Page 1 of 22
, Step 3: testing
Once again: it is important to include multiple measures. It’s better to have too many tests than too few.
Having more data is better!
This step involves the administration and scoring of the chosen tests (in step 2). Mistakes made in these
two steps can invalidate the entire process. You have one shot at correct administration of all tests per
assessment, without in-the-moment help or support. All steps after administration and scoring of the
tests are predicated on the assumption that administration and scoring are absolutely correct and valid.
The ability to apply correct interpretation of all tests used is also absolutely critical to the competence
of the assessor, the ethical application of assessment, and the utility of the final product. It is vital to
know the limitations of each test, so that the interpretation does not overstep the bounds of what each
individual test is able to do.
Step 4: integration of all data
This step involves combining all the data collected into a coherent, concise description of an entire
person. The test results and behavioral observations are combined with clinical assessment data to
address each of the hypotheses (formed in step 1).
In addition to integrating all the data collected into themes, the process of fitting the themes together
into a coherent narrative is also important. A more narrative approach (telling a story) is often best for
both the individual being assessed and the individual who made the referral. You want the individuals
being assessed and the referral sources to take the recommendations made at the end of the report.
Step 5: writing the assessment report
In this step it is important to find a balance between using professional language while also not using
too much psychological jargon. It is important to understand what should go within each section and
how this should be presented.
Assessment reports should be professional and straightforward and fulfill the foal of providing logical,
useful recommendations.
Step 6: providing feedback
Feedback should be provided at a level that is both professional and understandable (just like the
assessment report). Feedback sessions must be both specifically tailored and flexible.
An assessor must be able to be flexible throughout a feedback session, given that individuals’ reactions
to feedback are as varied as individuals themselves.
It is ethically essential to make sure that, in the feedback session, the individual being assessed is
absolutely clear as to the content of what you are presenting, including the results and the
recommendations.
A follow-up may be necessary to make sure that he/she is able to follow through with the
recommendations.
Page 2 of 22
, The diagnostic process Bijttebier, P., Ter Laak, J., & Vertommen, H. (2019)
1.1 Introduction
In contrast to treatment, clinical psychodiagnostics is an exclusive specialism of the clinical
psychologist. It has been agreed that a thorough diagnosis of a client’s problems and complaints is a
prerequisite for adequate care.
Clinical psychodiagnostics is based on three elements:
1. Theory development of the problems/ complaints and problematic behavior
2. Operationalization and its subsequent measurement
3. Application of relevant diagnostic methods
1.2 Steps in the diagnostic process
A clinical psychodiagnostics examination usually begins
with a referral, but it can also begin with a client’s direct
question to the diagnostician. The diagnostician
analyzes both the clients’ request for help and the
referrer’s request. The diagnostician constructs a
diagnostic scenario which contains a provisional theory
about the client. This theory describes what the
problems are and how they can be explained. Testing
this theory requires 5 diagnostic measures:
1. Converting the provisional theory into
concrete hypotheses
2. Selecting a specific set of research tools,
which can either support or reject the
formulated hypotheses
3. Making predictions about the results or
outcomes from this set of tools, in order to
give a clear indication as to when the
hypotheses should be accepted or rejected
4. Applying and processing instruments
5. Giving reasons for why the hypotheses have
been accepted or rejected. This results in the
diagnostic conclusion.
1.3 Five basic questions in clinical psychodiagnostics
There are five basic questions that form the basis for most of the questions that are posed by clients,
referrers and diagnosticians. These are:
1. Recognition: what are the problems; what works and what doesn’t?
2. Explanation: why do certain problems exist and what perpetuates them?
R-E-P-I-E
3. Prediction: how will the client’s problems subsequently develop in the future?
4. Indication: how can the problems be resolved?
5. Evaluation: have the problems been adequately resolved as a result of the intervention?
Not all of the basic questions need to be examined in every diagnostic examination.
Question 1: recognition
Includes: (a) Inventory and description, (b) organization and categorization in dysfunctional behavior
clusters or disorders, and (c) examination of the seriousness of the problem behavior
Recognition may occur as a result of:
Page 3 of 22
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