ASSESSMENT IN COUNSELLING PREPAIRED BY: DR.MUNA ABDEEN ABDELRAHMAN

Lec (1) :An introduction to counselling assessment

Brain Storming: What's counseling assessment? Why its important? Brain Storming: What's counseling assessment? Why its important?

Why is counseling assessment Important? Allows us to make important decisions about clients/patient. 2. Allows us to describe & understand behavior 3. Measures personal attributes 4. Measures performance 5. Saves time 6. It’s Scientific

What is assessment in counseling? Introduction: The purpose of this course is to provide information about the various psychological assessment procedures that are specifically relevant for practicing counselors. The course deals with the use of these assessment procedures in the counseling process and includes illustrative case studies. It emphasizes the selection, interpretation, and communication of psychological test results and highlights the basic principles of psychological assessment.

It emphasizes the importance of integrating test results with other information about the client/patients. Also we have attempted to include the latest developments regarding those assessment instruments commonly used by counselors and other mental health professionals—and there have been many such recent developments.

Some counseling assessment used by counselors are well known, such as intelligence, career values measurement and personality tests. This course have also provided information concerning new standards and guidelines for the use of counselling assessment procedures, in this course have a good section on Outcome Measurement that includes a discussion of client satisfaction forms, client self-report scales, counselor rating scales, client feedback interviews, and tailor-made measures.

Definition: Assessment is the process where by counselor collect data that helps the counselor make decisions about the client. Assessment is used to: - Diagnosis client problems. - Make predictions about clients. - Develop client self-awareness.

Counseling assessment : collecting relevant information in an effort to reach a conclusion: – To understand the individual (idiographic) – To predict behavior – To plan treatment – To evaluate treatment outcome – To determine a clinical diagnosis Clinical diagnosis : the process of determining whether the individual meets the criteria for a psychological disorder, recently most of the counselors diagnoses the disorders according to DSM-5 (Diagnostic and statistical mannual of psychological disorders).

DSM-5: Lists approximately 400 disorders Describes criteria for diagnoses, key clinical features, and related features that are often, but not always, present

The Basic Elements in clinical assessment Identification of presenting problem Situational or pervasive, Duration, Prior attempts to help or treat, Self-defeating or resourceful. How does problem impact social roles? Does problem match any DSM-5 disorder criteria?

Relevance of psychological assessment in counseling Assessing the clients problem/s Conceptualizing and defining the clients problem/s Intensity and frequency of client problem/s Selecting and implementing effective counseling Evaluating counseling process Assessment may have therapeutic value

Characteristics of assessment Instruments Value of assessment depends on: Value of assessment depends on: Behavior Sampling Behavior Sampling Reliability,validity and StandardizationReliability,validity and Standardization Scoring Rules Scoring Rules

Behaviour Sampling Behaviour Sampling It is a sample of behavior. It is a sample of behavior. It is not an in-depth measure - it is too difficult to evaluate every behavior. It is not an in-depth measure - it is too difficult to evaluate every behavior. The test must somehow be representative of behaviours that would be observed outside of the testing situation The test must somehow be representative of behaviours that would be observed outside of the testing situation

Reliability: In simple words it is defined as the degree to which a measurement is consistent. Telaborate, Reliability means consistency of the scores on the same test on different intervals. Lets understand with this example, How irritated you would be if you had a stomach ache, and you went to four competent physicians and got four different diagnosis and treatments. The diagnosis would be unreliable because two or more raters did not agree on the conclusion.

Validity: In simple words a test is considered to be valid when it measures what it purports to measure. When you compare the result of one assessment with the result of another assessment, it is called concurrent or descriptive validity. After the assessment, if you are able to predict or if it tells you what will happen in the future is called Predictive validity. Eg: An I.Q test functions with the goal that who will succeed in the school and who will not?

Standardization Standardization It is a process by which a certain set of standards or norms is determined for a technique in order to make its use consistent across different measurements. These standards also might apply to the procedures of testing, scoring and evaluating the data. example.. One test may be given to a large group who differ on factors such as age, race, gender, socio- economic status. Now if you are an Indian female, 19 years old, from a middle class background, your test score should be compared to the scores of others like you and not to the scores of different people like 60 years,African female.

Standardization is easier to obtain with tests designed to be administered in masses. Tests such as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, which are administered individually, are less standardized. The individual giving the test is an important variable. They take special training to standardize the way they give the test.

Scoring Rules Scoring Rules There are established scoring rules for obtaining quantitative information from the behavior sample. 1- Objective Scoring Rules : Most mass produced tests fall into this category. Different qualified examiners will all come to the same score for an identical set of responses.

2- Subjective Scoring Rules : When the judgment of the examiner is an important part of the test, different examiners can legally come to different conclusions concerning the same sample of behavior. There conclusions should be similar, however. Good standardized psychological tests all have a set of rules or procedures for scoring responses to a test.

Types of assessments Types of assessments Most counseling assessments can be sorted into these general categories: intellectual assessment(IQ). personality assessment. aptitude and achievement. interest assessment. psycho education achievement. Neuro psychological assessment Psycho physiological assessment