LCSW Clinical Exam – Assessment, Diagnosis, and Treatment Planning – study guide and
practice questions with answers
Genogram - correct answer ✔✔A family diagram that depicts each member of the family and
shows connections between the generations.
mental status exam - correct answer ✔✔snapshot in time that describes the mental state and
behaviors of an individual; includes both objective observations made by clinician and
subjective descriptions given by client; assesses appearance, orientation, speech, behavior,
affect/mood, judgment, insight, thought process, thought content, intellectual functioning,
memory
direct or indirect communication of intent
specific plan
history of previous attempts
major life change
recent loss/anniversary of loss
recent improvement in depressive symptoms
isolation - correct answer ✔✔Name some factors associated with high risk for suicide
specific plan for killing of harming another
possession of a weapon
history of violent acts (including against animals)
history of threats to harm others
antisocial behavior
recent provocation or perception of loss of control - correct answer ✔✔what's included in an
assessment of risk of harm to others?
, parallel forms reliability - correct answer ✔✔consistency between/among alternate versions of
the same instrument; e.g. creating 2 parallel forms of a questionnaire (with difficult questions)
and both tests show correlation
internal consistency reliability - correct answer ✔✔Reliability assessed with data collected at
one point in time with multiple measures of a psychological construct. A measure is reliable
when the multiple measures provide similar results.
test-retest reliability - correct answer ✔✔a method for determining the reliability of a test by
comparing a test taker's scores on the same test taken on separate occasions
face validity - correct answer ✔✔Measures whether a test looks like it tests what it is supposed
to test.
content validity - correct answer ✔✔The degree to which the content of a test is representative
of the domain it's supposed to cover.
criterion-related validity - correct answer ✔✔a measure of validity based on showing a
substantial correlation between test scores and job performance scores
predictive validity - correct answer ✔✔The success with which a test predicts the behavior it is
designed to predict; it is assessed by computing the correlation between test scores and the
criterion behavior.
concurrent validity - correct answer ✔✔the degree to which the measures gathered from one
tool agree with the measures gathered from other assessment techniques
convergent validity - correct answer ✔✔an empirical test of the extent to which a measure is
associated with other measures of a theoretically similar construct
practice questions with answers
Genogram - correct answer ✔✔A family diagram that depicts each member of the family and
shows connections between the generations.
mental status exam - correct answer ✔✔snapshot in time that describes the mental state and
behaviors of an individual; includes both objective observations made by clinician and
subjective descriptions given by client; assesses appearance, orientation, speech, behavior,
affect/mood, judgment, insight, thought process, thought content, intellectual functioning,
memory
direct or indirect communication of intent
specific plan
history of previous attempts
major life change
recent loss/anniversary of loss
recent improvement in depressive symptoms
isolation - correct answer ✔✔Name some factors associated with high risk for suicide
specific plan for killing of harming another
possession of a weapon
history of violent acts (including against animals)
history of threats to harm others
antisocial behavior
recent provocation or perception of loss of control - correct answer ✔✔what's included in an
assessment of risk of harm to others?
, parallel forms reliability - correct answer ✔✔consistency between/among alternate versions of
the same instrument; e.g. creating 2 parallel forms of a questionnaire (with difficult questions)
and both tests show correlation
internal consistency reliability - correct answer ✔✔Reliability assessed with data collected at
one point in time with multiple measures of a psychological construct. A measure is reliable
when the multiple measures provide similar results.
test-retest reliability - correct answer ✔✔a method for determining the reliability of a test by
comparing a test taker's scores on the same test taken on separate occasions
face validity - correct answer ✔✔Measures whether a test looks like it tests what it is supposed
to test.
content validity - correct answer ✔✔The degree to which the content of a test is representative
of the domain it's supposed to cover.
criterion-related validity - correct answer ✔✔a measure of validity based on showing a
substantial correlation between test scores and job performance scores
predictive validity - correct answer ✔✔The success with which a test predicts the behavior it is
designed to predict; it is assessed by computing the correlation between test scores and the
criterion behavior.
concurrent validity - correct answer ✔✔the degree to which the measures gathered from one
tool agree with the measures gathered from other assessment techniques
convergent validity - correct answer ✔✔an empirical test of the extent to which a measure is
associated with other measures of a theoretically similar construct
