Chapter 3.1 Clinical Assessment of
Abnormal Behavior Test Questions And
Actual Answers.
In order for a mental health professional to effectively help treat a client and know that the treatment
selected actually worked (or is working), he/she first must engage in the Clinical Assessment of the
client. What is Clinical Assessment? - Answer collecting information and drawing conclusions through
the use of observation, psychological tests, neurological tests, and interviews to determine what the
person's problem is and what symptoms he/she is presenting with. Not just
conducted in the beginning of the process of seeking help but all throughout the process. Ongoing
process.
What does the mental health professional try to learn about the client with Clinical Assessment? -
Answer the client's skills, abilities, personality characteristics, cognitive and emotional
functioning, social context in terms of environmental stressors that are faced, and cultural factors
particular to them such as the language that is spoken or ethnicity
1. Why is Clinical assessment not just conducted in the beginning of the process of seeking help but all
throughout the process? - Answer We need to determine if a treatment is even needed. By having a
clear accounting
of the person's symptoms and how they affect daily functioning we can determine to what extent the
individual is adversely affected
Why is Clinical assessment not just conducted in the beginning of the process of seeking help but all
throughout the process? - Answer determine what treatment will work best. there are numerous
approaches to treatment. For any
mental disorder, some of the aforementioned therapies will have greater efficacy than others. Even if
several can work well, it does not mean a particular therapy will work well for that specific client.
Why is Clinical assessment not just conducted in the beginning of the process of seeking help but all
throughout the process? - Answer we need to know if the treatment we employed worked. This
involves measuring before any treatment is used and measuring the behavior while the treatment is in
place. then measure after the treatment ends to make sure symptoms of
, the disorder do not return.
What is important to help see when improvement occurs in a client? - Answer Knowing what the
person's baselines are for different aspects of psychological functioning
What is the first step of clinical assessment? - Answer obtaining the baselines
What is the middle step of clinical assessment? - Answer implementing the treatment plan that is
agreed upon
What is the final step of clinical assessment? - Answer making sure the treatment produces the
desirable outcome
What are the three critical concepts to assessment? - Answer reliability, validity, and standardization.
they are important in science in general too.
What is reliability? - Answer Consistency. E.g 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
What is inter-rater reliability? - Answer Ensuring that two different raters are consistent in their
assessment of patients
What is test-retest reliability? - Answer 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 with one another. The score at test
and the score at retest are correlated with one another
If a test is reliable correlation should be? - Answer 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 is Validity? - Answer make sure the test measures what it says it measures
Abnormal Behavior Test Questions And
Actual Answers.
In order for a mental health professional to effectively help treat a client and know that the treatment
selected actually worked (or is working), he/she first must engage in the Clinical Assessment of the
client. What is Clinical Assessment? - Answer collecting information and drawing conclusions through
the use of observation, psychological tests, neurological tests, and interviews to determine what the
person's problem is and what symptoms he/she is presenting with. Not just
conducted in the beginning of the process of seeking help but all throughout the process. Ongoing
process.
What does the mental health professional try to learn about the client with Clinical Assessment? -
Answer the client's skills, abilities, personality characteristics, cognitive and emotional
functioning, social context in terms of environmental stressors that are faced, and cultural factors
particular to them such as the language that is spoken or ethnicity
1. Why is Clinical assessment not just conducted in the beginning of the process of seeking help but all
throughout the process? - Answer We need to determine if a treatment is even needed. By having a
clear accounting
of the person's symptoms and how they affect daily functioning we can determine to what extent the
individual is adversely affected
Why is Clinical assessment not just conducted in the beginning of the process of seeking help but all
throughout the process? - Answer determine what treatment will work best. there are numerous
approaches to treatment. For any
mental disorder, some of the aforementioned therapies will have greater efficacy than others. Even if
several can work well, it does not mean a particular therapy will work well for that specific client.
Why is Clinical assessment not just conducted in the beginning of the process of seeking help but all
throughout the process? - Answer we need to know if the treatment we employed worked. This
involves measuring before any treatment is used and measuring the behavior while the treatment is in
place. then measure after the treatment ends to make sure symptoms of
, the disorder do not return.
What is important to help see when improvement occurs in a client? - Answer Knowing what the
person's baselines are for different aspects of psychological functioning
What is the first step of clinical assessment? - Answer obtaining the baselines
What is the middle step of clinical assessment? - Answer implementing the treatment plan that is
agreed upon
What is the final step of clinical assessment? - Answer making sure the treatment produces the
desirable outcome
What are the three critical concepts to assessment? - Answer reliability, validity, and standardization.
they are important in science in general too.
What is reliability? - Answer Consistency. E.g 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
What is inter-rater reliability? - Answer Ensuring that two different raters are consistent in their
assessment of patients
What is test-retest reliability? - Answer 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 with one another. The score at test
and the score at retest are correlated with one another
If a test is reliable correlation should be? - Answer 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 is Validity? - Answer make sure the test measures what it says it measures
