Chapter 3
Clinical Assessment and Diagnosis
Assessing Psychological Disorders
Clinical assessment
Systematic evaluation and measurement:
Psychological
Biological
Social
Diagnosis
Degree of fit between symptoms and diagnostic criteria
Purpose
Understanding the individual
Predicting behavior
Treatment planning
Evaluating outcomes
Funnel analogy
Broad, multidimensional start
Narrows to specific problems
Key Concepts
Reliability
Degree of consistency of a measurement
Example: ‘Agreement’ between two different testing times or between two different
evaluators
Validity
Does the test measure what it is supposed to?
Several types
1. Concurrent: Comparison of results of one assessment with another measure
known to be valid
2. Predictive: How well the assessment predicts outcomes
3. Construct: Degree to which test or item measures the unobservable
construct it claims to measure (e.g. depression)
Standardisation
Consistent use of techniques
Provides normative population data
Examples of things that are kept constant
Administration procedures
Scoring
Evaluation of data
