Answer to Question #235773 in Psychology for Lynn

Question

Discuss major components of the diagnostic assessment in a clinical setting

Answer 1

Clinical assessment refers to the collection of data and drawing conclusions via use of observation, psychological tests, neurological tests, and interviews to know what the person’s problem is and what signs he/she is presenting with. The diagnostic assessment process involves three major components; reliability, validity, and standardization.

First, the assessment should be reliable or consistent. Take an example of a patient who is suffering from a mental disorder. If one mental health professional says the person suffers from major depressive disorder and another says the issue is doubtful personality disorder, then there is an issue with the assessment tool being used, in other words the tool of assessment used is not reliable.

In addition to reliability, we should make sure that the test measures what it says it measures. This is what we call validity. For example, let’s say a new test is developed to measure symptoms of depression. It is compared against an existing and proven test, such as the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). If the new test measures depression, then the scores on it should be highly comparable to the ones obtained by the Beck Depression Inventory

Finally, when we want to make sure that the experience one patient has when taking a test or being assessed is the same as another patient taking the test the same day or on a different day, and with either the same tester or another tester. This is accomplished with the use of clearly set out rules and procedures, and is called standardization.