Psychological assessment
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Development of contemporary psychological testing techniques and how they have shaped assessment theory and Praxis
Psychological assessment is a building block for psychologists to understand a person and how they behave. It tends to determine the core components that entail an individual’s psychological problem (Meyer, Eyde, Kay, Moreland, Dies, Eisman, Kubiszyn & Reed, 2001). Psychological assessment in itself is a process, which is useful in identifying an individual’s strengths as well as their weakness. Such tests incorporate several tests that have been researched and proven completely, and procedures of weighing up certain aspects of an individual’s psychological makeup. Contemporary psychological testing techniques can be used to determine the IQ levels of a person, the person’s personality (Fischer, 1994). The various techniques available vary in terms of achieving the wanted results.
The Battery for Health Improvement is one comprehensive psychological testing method, which has been designed for tracking computerized progress and it uses serial administrators (Fischer, 1994). It measures an individual’s level of depression, dependency, their violent or suicidal nature, the level and extent of how a person bears pain, conflicts related to work issues, hostility and levels of anxiety in an individual, and the perception one is regarding their normal functioning’s (Meyer et al, 2001). This technique is important in engaging, applying, realizing and practicing of ideas and perceptions created (Meyer et al, 2001). The Battery for Health Improvement is a useful psychological tool, which could be effective in identifying and relating those factors, which affect pain and disabilities. Such factors include identification of social, psychological and character-logical behaviors (Meyer et al, 2001). The other importance of this test is in the assessment of patients who have been referred for further intensive treatment programs including functional restoration, treatment of chronic pains in determining the pre surgical risk implications, strong indications due to psychological factors that are brought about when the process of recovery becomes delayed (Meyer et al, 2001).
When relating the psychological testing and how they affect Praxis, Battery for Health Improvement has contributed tremendously to the understanding and evaluation of psychological and social factors, which are essential in perceiving the causes of disabilities, pain reports and help in creating an appropriate design intervention (Groth- Marnat, 2009). Psychologists and medical practitioners use this test to track a wide range of variable changes that might occur during the course of treatment for a mentally ill patient suffering from violent and suicidal ideation, and at other times; hostility and anxiety (Groth- Marnat, 2009).
The advantage about the Battery for Health Improvement is that it has two profiles concerned with pain, which are of average valuation and is readily available. The limitation with this psychological assessment is that there are certain dimensions related to psychopathology that are not accessible including psychosis. The other weakness is the lack of longitudinal research, which is aimed at coming up with conclusive and predictive sincerity (Groth- Marnat, 2009).
Personality Assessment Inventory is another psychological assessment technique. This technique is used to measure anxiety, stress, drug and substance abuse, depression, paranoia, and antisocial disorders (Groth- Marnat, 2009). The Personality Assessment Inventory is useful because it is designed for the assessment of a more comprehensive mental evaluation especially the psychiatric patients (Groth- Marnat, 2009). The Personality Assessment Inventory is useful because it does not deal with pain patients therefore, the issue of bias results becomes considered fully. Such assessments are very popular with psychiatrists and medical practitioners in the same field because when using such an assessment technique as part of a comprehensive evaluation by the test users, it can provide a substantial analysis and identification of a wide range of risk factors, which could pose as a potential threat towards the medical patient (Groth- Marnat, 2009).
The good thing about the Personality Assessment Inventory is the fact that it can be administered first to a patient and then see if it has a positive or negative reaction and later, whether to continue with the test or not (Groth- Marnat, 2009). The weakness portrayed by this assessment is the fact that is has been designed for patients suffering from psychiatric disorders. This means the test user cannot use this method to assess patients suffering from pain or those who are undergoing rehabilitation (Groth- Marnat, 2009). Therefore, the Personality Assessment Inventory does not assess the factors, which are specific to the treatment of pain and in the long run, not an effective psychological assessment tool.
Humanistic analysis of psychological testing, the origins of individualized assessment and how does it deviate from other approaches
In the health care sector, it is the mandate of every mental health care profession to assess the problems, which are affecting their patients. Almost every mental evaluation is centered on unstructured interviews and other informal observations (Meyer et al, 2001). These informal interviews and observations serve as key sources of patient information. Even though such methods can become efficient and effective in terms of obtaining data, they can be very limited and conserved at times (Meyer et al, 2001). When such psychological assessments, including interviews become unstructured, most medical practitioners tend to overlook certain aspects of functioning, as they aim at shifting more towards presenting the patients’ grievances (Meyer et al, 2001). According to Hammond (1996), when healthcare professionals interview their patients using the highly structured methods, they tend to lose the main concept underlying the interviews and are more likely to make very precise but errant judgments. This may happen when the clinician shifts their attention towards one specific response without having full consideration of the salience of the responses regarding the patient’s general life background during the interview (Meyer et al, 2001). Consequently, shifting attention towards one specific direction of the patient during evaluation tends to give a biased side because the clinician does not have sufficient information on how the patient’s individual responses from the interview fits together to form a more coherent pattern (Fischer, 1994).
One way psychological assessments deals with such problems is by simultaneously measuring the large number of personality characteristics as well as the cognitive and neuropsychological characteristics (Fischer, 1994). Due to this factor, the three outcomes become included and therefore, cover a wide range of well-designed domains. Most of the well designed domains become ignored during the unstructured and informal evaluation processes (Meyer et al, 2001).
Secondly, the psychological tests provide information, which have been calculated empirically and in the process, allows for a more accurate and precise measurement that incorporate different patient characteristics unlike the other forms of unstructured interviews (Meyer et al, 2001). Psychological testing and assessment have a standardized scoring and administration procedure. Because of this, every individual patient is presented with a uniform stimulus, which serves as the common benchmark for measuring their own individual characteristics (Hammond, 1996). A clinician who has experience in this field may be able to detect even the slightest behavioral signs, which may indicate complications related to psychology and Neuropsychology (Loring & Papanicolaou, 1987).
Legal and ethical issues that result because of unwanted biases towards the patient by a clinician can be reduced by means of standardization. Standardization is not included in an informal psychological assessment therefore, the interactions between the patient and the clinician tends to vary significantly as one function about the many factors that become available (Meyer et al, 2001). Psychological tests have been permitted and made normal and in so doing; allowing patients of the same peer group to be regarded the same. This in turn tends to allow the clinician to come up with superior conclusions concerning the strengths and the weaknesses concerning the subject matter (Meyer et al, 2001). Medical practitioners using the informal and unstructured assessment procedures have a tendency to come up with their own internal principles and ideologies over the given time frame (Meyer et al, 2001). Such clinicians are more likely to develop skewed patient outcomes.
The other factor that differentiates the various psychological assessments is based on research. According to Groth-Marnat (2009), research based on the reliability and validity of personality tests puts down a formal assessment. This varies greatly from the other sources found in the clinical information. Data from the formal psychological assessment favor the clinician to understand and make wise decisions from the strengths and weaknesses obtained from the different possible outcomes (Meyer et al, 2001). The data from the psychological assessment on the other hand boosts the practitioners’s decision making process by means of gauging the accuracy used. As a result of this, the use of test batteries becomes the final determining factor of the recognized psychological evaluation. Such tests help psychologists to utilize the wide range of different information gathering methods. The methods include use of questionnaires, reports, observations and functional assessments (Groth-Marnat, 2009). By integrating the various methods of psychological evaluation, a psychologist may be in a position to gather a wide range of information, which facilitates a patient’s understanding resourcefully.
Characteristics of the APA test user guidelines
The importance of psychological assessment is to identify the therapeutic requirements, which highlight the most probable concerns that are likely to emerge during treatment process (Meyer et al, 2001). Such assessments ought to recommend the necessary forms of intervention and then offer guidelines about the outcomes likely to occur. The other characteristic of psychological assessment guidelines is to describe the current functioning, which incorporates the cognitive capabilities, severity of annoyance and the capacity it would take in order to live independently (Meyer et al, 2001). The psychological assessment guidelines aid in the various differential identification of cognitive disorders as well as emotional and behavioral disorders that provide empathic assessment, skilled feedback as a way of therapeutic intervention by itself (Meyer et al, 2001).
According to the American Psychological Association (1992), ethical principles state that psychologists ought to provide services, which are in their patient’s best interests. This means that the psychological assessment test users ought to come up with a sound underlying principle for their practice and then be able to explain the benefits of their assessment together with the cost implications involved (Fischer, 1994). Even though understanding the benefits of the cost implications of the tests carried out is a necessity, it is also important to conceptualize how the ratio between the costs and benefits can ultimately be determined for various patients when treating them in a hospital (Meyer et al, 2001). Such tests are expected to be cost beneficial if one patient does not have the same outcome as the other patient. Treating two patients suffering from mental disorders may be cost beneficial if memory tests were taken from two patients of the same age bracket. If one patient was young and the other old, then the cost-benefit ratio becomes quite unfavorable.
Current knowledge regarding the extensive disparities that emerge between the various APA guidelines and methods of acquiring the knowledge and skills has an important effect on the healthcare system. According to a report by Meyer et al, (2001), the analytical data obtained indicates that a single clinician, using one method of psychological assessment and testing, may come up with a biased perception regarding their patient. This fact still remains the same whether or not the process may be less expensive. The biased perception becomes extended to the point that the guidelines required for the treatment of the patient including diagnosis, may become misunderstood completely and therefore; no sufficient treatment offered to the patient (Groth-Marnat, 2009). Such information becomes important to the test users because such financial implications together with the misinterpreted perceptions would be taken care of an in the end; no extra health care expenses incurred.
Reference
Fischer, C. (1994). Individualizing psychological assessment. Hillsdale, CA: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Groth-Marnat, G. (2009). Handbook of psychological assessment (5th Ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons.
Hammond, K. R. (1996). Human judgment and social policy: Irreducible uncertainty, inevitable error, unavoidable injustice. New York: Oxford University Press.
Loring, D., W. & Papanicolaou, A., C. (1987). Memory assessment in Neuropsychology: Theoretical considerations and practical utility, Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 9:4, 340-358. Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01688638708405055
Meyer, G. J., Eyde, L. D., Kay, G. G., Moreland, K., L., Dies, R., R., Eisman, E., J., Kubiszyn, T., W. & Reed, G., M. (2001). Psychological Testing and Psychological Assessment. Retrieved February 11, 2013, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11279806
