Assignment: Standards on Assessment

Assignment: Standards on Assessment

9. Assessment

9.01 Bases for Assessments

(a) Psychologists base the opinions contained in their recommendations, reports, and diagnostic

or evaluative statements, including forensic testimony, on information and techniques sufficient

to substantiate their findings. (See also Standard 2.04, Bases for Scientific and

Professional Judgments.)

Psychological assessment serves the public good by providing information to

guide decisions affecting the well-being of individuals, families, groups, organizations,

and institutions. Psychologists who draw their conclusions on information

and techniques based on the scientific and professional knowledge of the discipline

are uniquely qualified to interpret the results of psychological assessments in ways

that merit the public trust. However, the public and the profession are harmed

when psychologists provide opinions unsubstantiated by information obtained or

drawn from data gathered through improper assessment techniques (Principle A:

Beneficence and Nonmaleficence and Principle B: Fidelity and Responsibility).

Standard 9.01a of the APA Ethics Code (APA, 2010c) prohibits psychologists from

providing written or oral opinions that cannot be sufficiently substantiated by the

information obtained or the techniques employed.

The standard is broadly worded to apply to all written and oral professional

opinions irrespective of information recipient, setting, or type of assessment.

Permalink: https://collepals.com/assignment-standards-on-assessment/ ‎

Information Recipient

The standard prohibits unfounded professional opinions offered to, among others,

(a) individual clients/patients or their representatives; (b) other professionals;

HMO

FOR THE USE OF UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX STUDENTS AND FACULTY ONLY.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION, SALE, OR REPRINTING.

ANY AND ALL UNAUTHORIZED USE IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED.

Copyright © 2013 by SAGE Publications, Inc.

268——PART II ENFORCEABLE STANDARDS

(c) third-party payors; (d) administrative and professional staff at schools, hospitals,

and other institutions; (e) businesses, agencies, and other organizations; (f) the

courts; (g) the military or other governing legal authorities; and (h) callers to talk

radio programs or those interacting with psychologists via the Internet or through

other media.

Setting

Standard 9.01a applies to (a) diagnostic opinions offered orally in the office of a

private practitioner; (b) written reports provided to clients/patients, other practitioners,

or third-party payors through the mail, the Internet, or other forms of

electronic transmission; (c) testimony provided in the courts; and (d) opinions

about an individual’s mental health offered over the Internet, radio, television, or

other electronic media.

Types of Assessment

The standard pertains to all unfounded opinions claiming to be based on any

form of evaluation, including but not limited to (a) standardized psychological,

educational, or neuropsychological tests; (b) diagnostic information gained

through clinical interviews; (c) collateral data obtained through discussions with

family members, teachers, employee supervisors, or other informants; (d) observational

techniques; or (e) brief discussion or correspondence with an individual via

radio, television, telephone, or the Internet.

Violations of this standard are often related to failure to comply with other standards,

including Standards 2.04, Bases for Scientific and Professional Judgments;

9.01b, Bases for Assessments; and 9.02b, Use of Assessments. The following are

examples of opinions based on insufficient information or techniques that would

be considered violations under this standard:

􀀴 Testifying on the validity of a child abuse allegation based on the results of an idiosyncratic,

improperly constructed parent checklist of child behaviors

􀀴 Diagnosing an adult with impaired decisional capacity as developmentally disabled

without taking a developmental history

􀀴 Providing preemployment recommendations on the basis of a personality test with no

proven relationship to job performance

􀀴 Submitting a diagnosis of neurological impairment to a health insurance company

based solely on information derived during therapy sessions

􀀴 Informing parents that their preschooler is autistic on the basis of a single observational

session

􀀴 Recommending a child for special education placement solely on the basis of scores

on a standardized intelligence test

FOR THE USE OF UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX STUDENTS AND FACULTY ONLY.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION, SALE, OR REPRINTING.

ANY AND ALL UNAUTHORIZED USE IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED.

Copyright © 2013 by SAGE Publications, Inc.

Chapter 12 Standards on Assessment——269

Psychologists who knowingly provide unsubstantiated opinions in forensic,

school, or insurance reports fail to live up to the ideals of Principle C: Integrity

and may also find themselves in violation of Standard 5.01, Avoidance of False

or Deceptive Statements (see Hot Topic “Avoiding False and Deceptive Statements

in Scientific and Clinical Expert Testimony,” Chapter 8). However, psychologists

should also be alert to personal and professional biases that may affect their

choice and interpretation of instruments. For example, in a survey of forensic

experts testifying in cases of child sexual abuse allegations, Everson and Sandoval

(2011) found that evaluator disagreements could be explained, in part, by individual

differences in three forensic decision-making attitudes: (1) emphasis on

sensitivity, (2) emphasis on specificity, and (3) skepticism toward child reports

of abuse.

(b) Except as noted in 9.01c, psychologists provide opinions of the psychological characteristics

of individuals only after they have conducted an examination of the individuals adequate

to support their statements or conclusions. When, despite reasonable efforts, such an examination

is not practical, psychologists document the efforts they made and the result of those

efforts, clarify the probable impact of their limited information on the reliability and validity

of their opinions, and appropriately limit the nature and extent of their conclusions or recommendations.

(See also Standards 2.01, Boundaries of Competence, and 9.06, Interpreting

Assessment Results.)

Standard 9.01b specifically addresses the importance of in-person evaluations

of individuals about whom psychologists will offer a professional opinion.

Under this standard, with few exceptions, psychologists must conduct individual

examinations sufficient to obtain personal verification of information on which

to base their professional opinions and refrain from providing opinions about

the psychological characteristics of an individual if they themselves have not

conducted an examination of the individual adequate to support their statements

or conclusions. As video conferencing and other electronically mediated

sources of video communication become increasingly common, appropriately

conducted assessments via these media may meet the requirements of this standard

if the psychologist has had the appropriate preparatory training and the

validity of the video methods of assessment has been scientifically and clinically

established for use with members of the population tested (Standards 2.01e,

Boundaries of Competence; 2.04, Bases for Scientific and Professional Judgment;

9.02, Use of Assessments).

􀀴 Offering a diagnosis of PTSD based on a 5-minute discussion with a listener to a radio

program hosted by the psychologist

􀀴 Offering a diagnosis of bipolar disorder based on an individual’s comments on the

psychologist’s blog

􀀴 Prescribing a psychotropic medication to an elderly patient complaining of memory

lapses without conducting a neuropsychological assessment

FOR THE USE OF UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX STUDENTS AND FACULTY ONLY.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION, SALE, OR REPRINTING.

ANY AND ALL UNAUTHORIZED USE IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED.

Copyright © 2013 by SAGE Publications, Inc.

270——PART II ENFORCEABLE STANDARDS

Standard 9.01b also recognizes that in some cases, a personal examination may

not be possible. For example, an individual involved in a child custody suit, a disability

claim, or performance evaluation may refuse or, because of relocation or

other reasons, be unavailable for a personal examination. The standard requires

Collepals.com Plagiarism Free Papers

Are you looking for custom essay writing service or even dissertation writing services? Just request for our write my paper service, and we'll match you with the best essay writer in your subject! With an exceptional team of professional academic experts in a wide range of subjects, we can guarantee you an unrivaled quality of custom-written papers.

Get ZERO PLAGIARISM, HUMAN WRITTEN ESSAYS

Why Hire Collepals.com writers to do your paper?

Quality- We are experienced and have access to ample research materials.

We write plagiarism Free Content

Confidential- We never share or sell your personal information to third parties.

Support-Chat with us today! We are always waiting to answer all your questions.