CHAPTER 3 NOTES: CLINICAL
ASSESSMENT, DIAGNOSIS &
TREATMENT
CLINICAL ASSESSMENT: HOW & WHY DOES THE CLIENT
BEHAVE ABNORMALLY?
ASSESSMENT - collecting relevant information in an effort to reach a
conclusion.
CLINICAL ASSESSMENT - used to determine whether, how, & why a person is
behaving abnormally & how that person may be helped.
enables clinicians to evaluate a client’s progress after treatment - & decide
whether or not the treatment should be changed.
Hundreds of clinical assessment tools have been developed & falls in 3
categories:
1. clinical interviews
2. tests
3. observations
CHAPTER 3 NOTES: CLINICAL ASSESSMENT, DIAGNOSIS & TREATMENT 1
, the main focus is to gather IDOGRAPHIC - Information about a particular
individual, as opposed to a larger population.
to help clients overcome problems, clinicians must understand the
client & their difficulties.
CHARACTERSTICS OF ASSESSMENT TOOLS:
All clinicians must follow the same procedures when they use a particular
type of assessment tool.
They must STANDARIZE -the process in which a test is administered to a
large group of people where their performance reflects a standard or norm
against any individual score measured.
clinicians must standardize the way they interpret results of an
assessment tool in order to understand what a particular score means.
RELIABILITY - the consistency of assessment measures. A good
assessment tool will always yield similar results in the same situation.
An assessment tool has high test re-test reliability - if it yields similar
results every time it is given to the same people.
To measure test-retest reliability, participants are tested on two
occasions & the two scores are correlated → the higher the correlation,
the greater the test’s reliability.
VALIDITY - accurately measures what it is that is supposed to be measure.
FACE VALIDITY - While a given assessment tool may appear to be valid
simply because it seems reasonable doesn’t mean it always is. By
itself, it does not mean its instrument is trustworthy.
Assessment tools should not be used unless it has a high predictive
validity or concurrent validity.
PREDICTIVE VALIDITY - a tool’s ability to predict future characteristics or
behavior.
CONCURRENT VALIDTY - the degree to which the measures gathered
from one tool agree with the measures gathered from other assessment
techniques.
CHAPTER 3 NOTES: CLINICAL ASSESSMENT, DIAGNOSIS & TREATMENT 2
ASSESSMENT, DIAGNOSIS &
TREATMENT
CLINICAL ASSESSMENT: HOW & WHY DOES THE CLIENT
BEHAVE ABNORMALLY?
ASSESSMENT - collecting relevant information in an effort to reach a
conclusion.
CLINICAL ASSESSMENT - used to determine whether, how, & why a person is
behaving abnormally & how that person may be helped.
enables clinicians to evaluate a client’s progress after treatment - & decide
whether or not the treatment should be changed.
Hundreds of clinical assessment tools have been developed & falls in 3
categories:
1. clinical interviews
2. tests
3. observations
CHAPTER 3 NOTES: CLINICAL ASSESSMENT, DIAGNOSIS & TREATMENT 1
, the main focus is to gather IDOGRAPHIC - Information about a particular
individual, as opposed to a larger population.
to help clients overcome problems, clinicians must understand the
client & their difficulties.
CHARACTERSTICS OF ASSESSMENT TOOLS:
All clinicians must follow the same procedures when they use a particular
type of assessment tool.
They must STANDARIZE -the process in which a test is administered to a
large group of people where their performance reflects a standard or norm
against any individual score measured.
clinicians must standardize the way they interpret results of an
assessment tool in order to understand what a particular score means.
RELIABILITY - the consistency of assessment measures. A good
assessment tool will always yield similar results in the same situation.
An assessment tool has high test re-test reliability - if it yields similar
results every time it is given to the same people.
To measure test-retest reliability, participants are tested on two
occasions & the two scores are correlated → the higher the correlation,
the greater the test’s reliability.
VALIDITY - accurately measures what it is that is supposed to be measure.
FACE VALIDITY - While a given assessment tool may appear to be valid
simply because it seems reasonable doesn’t mean it always is. By
itself, it does not mean its instrument is trustworthy.
Assessment tools should not be used unless it has a high predictive
validity or concurrent validity.
PREDICTIVE VALIDITY - a tool’s ability to predict future characteristics or
behavior.
CONCURRENT VALIDTY - the degree to which the measures gathered
from one tool agree with the measures gathered from other assessment
techniques.
CHAPTER 3 NOTES: CLINICAL ASSESSMENT, DIAGNOSIS & TREATMENT 2
