T & M Quiz 4

Formal Assessment

primarily for stress, anxiety, depression, substance use/abuse, career direction

Informal Assessment

• techniques are subjective, mostly “homegrown”

  • Group therapy (anger management, body positivity, adjusting to college, etc.)

• Reliability, validity, and cross-cultural fairness often lacking

• Yet informal techniques can

  • Add one more piece of info to total assessment process

  • Be focused to gather specific info

  • Often be used to gather info quickly

• Usually free or low cost

• Tend to be easy to administer and interpret

Types of Informal Assessment

• Observation

• Rating Scales

• Classification methods

• Environmental assessment

• Records and personal documents

• Performance-based assessment

Types Rating Scales

• Numerical Scales-provide a written statement that can be rated from high to low on a number line

• Likert-Type Scales (Graphic Scales)- contain a number of items being rated on the same theme and anchored by both numbers and statement that corresponds to the numbers

  • Ex. Strongly disagree—disagree—neutral—agree—strongly agree

• Semantic Differential Scale-provide a statement followed by one or more pairs of words that reflect opposing traits

  • Ex. Slider scale

• Rank Order Scales- Provide a series of statements which the respondent can rank order based on preferences

  • Ex. Rank your favorite type of food, 1=absolute favorite 4=least favorite

    • 1-thai 2-chinese 3-italian 4-mexican

Two types of error often associated with ratings scales

• Halo Effect-overall impression of client causes inaccurate rating

  • Ex. Your employee is exceptional, so you rate him high on all aspects, even though he consistently comes in late

• Generosity Error-identification with client causes inaccurate rating

  • Ex. You rate a fellow student on her presentation skills

Classification Systems

• Provide info about whether or not an individual has, or does not have certain attributes or characteristics

• Some classification systems

• Behavioral Checklists- allows an individual to identify behaviors that best describe typical or atypical behaviors

  • Used a lot in educational settings

• Feeling Word Checklists- Individuals check/circle feeling words on list to identify which they had, are currently experiencing, or hope to feel

  • Emotional awareness

• Values Checklist

  • Help clients create goals that align with their values

  • Help clients understand what is most important to them

  • Couple’s counseling

  • Career Counseling

Value Card Sort

• Have client look through all the cards (73) and place each into one of the 3 piles (Not Important, Somewhat Important, Very Important)

• Look over the Very Important pile again and narrow it down to 5

• Why do this? Major/job search, self-exploration, decision-making, discuss how to integrate values into daily life

Environment Assessment

• Collecting info from client’s home, school, or workplace, usually through observation or self-reports

• More systems-oriented and naturalistic than in-office testing

• 4 Types

  • Direct observation

    • Visit client’s home, classroom, or workplace, or other setting

    • Can discover important info about client you would rarely uncover in counseling

  • Situational tests

    • Real-to-life situations examine how an individual is likely to respond in a contrived but natural situation

    • Ex. role-playing a counselor as part of admissions process for a doctoral program, asked to solve a complex puzzle-observe frustration level

  • Sociometric instruments

    • Maps the relative position of an individual within a group

    • Often used to determine the dynamics of individuals within a group, organization, or institution

  • Environmental Assessment Instruments

    • Comprehensive Assessment of School Environments Information Management System

      • Assesses entire school environment (personality of the learning context) and climate through self-report surveys of students, parents, teachers, and principal

      • Psychometrically sound

      • School Psychology or School Counseling

Records and Personal Documents

• Biographical inventories- similar info as intake interview

• Cumulative records-collected info from a school, employer, or mental health agency

• Anecdotal information- subjective comments or notes in a client’s records regarding usual patterns or atypical behaviors

• Autobiographies- asking client to write their life story. Get detailed history and important events. Typically used in Narrative Therapy.

• Journals and diaries- helps clients have a safe space to express themselves outside of session (dream journals)

• Genograms- family map, look at 3 generations, can look at different subjects in the family (relationship patterns, drugs/alcohol, health, culture)

Workbooks or Worksheets

• The CBT Anxiety Solution Workbook

• Emotion Exploration Worksheet

• Therapist Aid-Example Worksheets

• Strengths-Based Therapy Book

• Card Decks

Validity, Reliability, Cross-Cultural Fairness, and Practicality

v- how well the examiner defines that which is being assessed

• Ex. If concerned about acting out behavior of a child, need to define the behavior identified as “acting out”

• Exactly which “acting out” behaviors are we talking about

r- The better we defines the behavior being assessed (the more valid) the more reliable our data

C- Informal procedures are easily open to bias

• Unconscious or conscious bias can lead examiner, observer, or rater to misinterpret verbal or nonverbal behaviors of a minority client

• Examiner, observer, or rater, may be ignorant of verbal or nonverbal behaviors of diverse clients

p= their practical nature makes them particularly useful

• Low-cost or cost-free

• Can be created or obtained in a short amount of time

• Are relatively easy to administer

• Fairly easy to interpret