Operationalizing Informed Consent in Psychological Assessment: Ethical Issues and Considerations

Life and Death Decisions: Psychological and Ethical Considerations in End-of-Life Care

ROBERT D. HOGE Assessing Adolescents in Educational, Counseling, and Other Settings Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1999, viii + 318 pp. (ISBN 0-8058-3094-4, Us$39.95, Hardcover) Reviewed by RICHARD w. YOUNG This book introduces the reader to the standardized psychological assessment of adolescents. It contains 12 chapters divided into three parts: an introduction to research and theory on adolescence, an introduction to psychological assessment, and a review of a substantial number of standardized tests and other assessments devices in six domains: aptitudes and achievement, personality, interview and observation measures, behavioural ratings and checklists, measures of cognitions, attitudes, values, beliefs, and interests, and composite and environmental measures. The introduction to research and theories of adolescence is quite broad, and includes developmental descriptions and theories as well as a range of approaches to intervention. The chapter introducing psychological assessment reviews basic concepts of assessment and practical and ethical issues. While informative in themselves, they are not sufficient for most users of psychological assessment instruments with this population. One would expect that graduate courses in measurement and adolescent development are needed to undertake and interpret many of the instruments reviewed in this book. Professor Hoge proposes three audiences for the book: mental health professionals, including psychologists, professionals required to use the results of psychological assessments for decision-making, and developmental researchers. While persons in all of these groups may find things of value in this book, the introductory level of the first two sections would seem to suggest that the second group, including school principals, youth court judges, and managers of residential treatment facilities would profit most from this work. So many introductory texts on psychological testing and measurement address both child and adult assessment (e.g., Anastasi, Urbina, & Anastasi, 1997). A compendium of assessment devices pertinent to adolescents is a welcome addition to the available psychometric literature. In addition to the obvious strength of compiling and reviewing the full range of instruments used in adolescent assessment, this book has several other assets. In all chapters, including the chapters on the instruments themselves, the author returns to the issues surrounding adolescent assessment - thus the book is more than an index and review of tests. The book is very well organized and presented, and includes many tables. One group of tables is used to list the measures that are reviewed in any section, as well as the publisher's name or reference to its use. Another group of tables indicates the subtests of the more widely used tests. Addresses for major test publishers are provided in an appendix. A major premise of this book is that the assessment of adolescents in the domains covered serves to enhance the decisions made regarding individual adolescents. These decisions are pertinent in several areas, for example, being placed in a residential treatment centre or in a special class, or being provided with psychotherapeutic treatment. High quality assessments are assumed to improve the quality of the decision. The rationale provided for this is sound and the information contained in this book will likely serve to improve both the quality of assessment and the concomitant decisions. Furthermore, using psychological assessment to help in making decisions about others is not an uncommon practice (e.g., Guion, 1998). However, in this case, the book does not adequately address the larger issue of where the adolescent fits into any decision-making process about him or her. …

This study elaborated the recurrent themes, trends and issues in Psychological Testing and Assessment. This study is able to discover the challenges in the process of assessment and testing, the ethical issues encountered by clinicians and the contributions of psychological testing and Assessment to society. To ensure the credibility of the results, the researcher utilized reliable resources such as published studies, books and literature reviews. Through thematic analysis, results imply that Psychological Testing and Psychological Assessment is very essential in our world, because it is vital in many fields such as Education, Neuropsychology, Employment and Business. And in order to avoid malpractice or misuse of psychological tools, practitioners must have adequate expertise.

In attempting to address the myriad issues that challenge psychologists undertaking to conduct assessments in the most ethically appropriate manner, it is helpful to think in terms of the prepositions before, during, and after. Some ethical considerations are best addressed before the assessment is begun; others come into play as the data are collected and analyzed; and still other ethical issues crop up after the actual assessment is completed. This chapter explores the ethical problems inherent in psychological assessment using the same sequence.

Pain is a subjective psychological experience that is experienced from time to time by virtually everyone. Despite pain’s subjective nature, litigation for pain and suffering has been recognized by the courts for centuries, and currently accounts for the majority of damages awarded in medical malpractice cases. Advances in technology notwithstanding, the experience of pain cannot be objectively assessed by medical imaging and must instead be assessed by psychological methods. Conducting a psychological assessment of a patient with chronic pain requires knowledge of the nature of pain and factors that might influence pain reports. Clinical and forensic examiners can benefit from knowledge of standards regarding which patients should be referred for psychological assessment, for who can perform psychological assessments, for determining which variables to assess, about psychological test selection, for test security, for interviewing the patient with chronic pain, for allowing third party observers, and for other matters. To this end, this article reviews relevant laws, case law, regulations, professional standards, clinical practice guidelines, professional practice guidelines, professional consensus statements pertaining to psychological testing and assessment methods, and presurgical psychological assessment methods. The conclusion addresses the application of these findings to the psychological assessment of patients with chronic pain.

Psychologists that offer psychological counseling may use psychological tests and some other measurement techniques in psychological assessment. In this review, firstly the definition, purposes, and the stages of psychological assessment are explained. After that, ethical rules of psychological assessment are examined in ways that include both tests and other techniques in the context of ethical principles in the Ethical Guidelines of American Psychological Association. Besides, these ethical rules are discussed in the light of findings in the related literature. In the final part, other ethical issues which are psychologist-counselor relationship in psychological assessment, computer-based assessment, psychological assessment in rural and low-income areas, and assessment of mentally retarded people are mentioned and some suggestions that can be considered in doing an ethical assessment are presented.

Assessing obsessive compulsive symptoms and cognitions on the internet: Evidence for the comparability of paper and Internet administration

Preface 1. Introduction: Ethics: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - William T. O'Donohue & Kyle E Ferguson (both of University of Nevada, Reno) PART I. FOUNDATIONS 2. Philosophical Foundations of Professional Ethics - Andrew Lloyd & John Hansen (both of University of Nevada, Reno) 3. Moral Reasoning - Karl H. Henning (St. Francis Xavier University) Karl H. Henning (St. Francis Xavier University) Karl H. Henning (St. Francis Xavier University) Karl H. Henning (St. Francis Xavier University) PART II. PSYCHOLOGY & PROFESSIONAL ETHICS 4. Ethical Principles of the Psychology Profession & Professional Competence - Ype H. Poortinga (Tilburg University & Catholic University of Leuven) & Karel A. Soudijn (Tilburg University) 5. The Mismeasure of Psychologists: A Review of the Psychometrics of Licensing Requirements - William T. O'Donohue & Jeffrey A. Buchanan (both of University of Nevada, Reno) 6. Institutional Review Boards: Balancing Conflicting Values in Research - Gregory J. Hayes (University of Nevada, Reno) PART III. SPECIAL TOPICS 7. Ethics and the Allocation of Healthcare - Nicholas A. Cummings (The Nicholas and Dorothy Cummings Foundation) 8. Fees and Financial Arrangements - Robert Miranda, Jr. (Brown University) & Brian P. Marx (Oklahoma State University) 9. The Termination & Referral of Clients - Natalie M. Rice & Victoria M. Follette (both of University of Nevada, Reno) 10. Ethical Principles of the Psychology Profession and Involuntary Commitment - Derek Truscott & Lori Goodkey (both of University of Alberta) 11. Ethics of Multiple & Overlapping Relationships - Janet Schank (Wilder Foundation Community Assistance Program) and Rachel Slater, Devjani Banerjee-Stevens, & Thomas M. Skovholt (all of University of Minnesota) 12. Ideals & Realities in the Development & Practice of Informed Consent - William C. Follette, Deborah Davis, Markus Kemmelmeier (all of University of Nevada, Reno) 13. Seven Sins of Misdirection? Ethical Controversies Surrounding the Use of Deception in Research - Markus Kemmelmeier, Deborah Davis, & William C. Follette (all of University of Nevada, Reno) 14. Confronting the Ethical Issues in the Use of Animals in Biomedical & Behavioral Research: The Search for Principles - John P. Gluck, Jordan B. Bell, & Melody Pearson-Bish (all of University of New Mexico) 15. Ethical Considerations in Psychological Assessment - Henry E. Adams (deceased) & Kristen A. Luscher (both of University of Georgia) PART IV. SPECIAL POPULATIONS 16. Confidentiality in Psychotherapy and Related Contexts - Nancy E. Tribbensee, Charles D. Claiborn (both of Arizona State University) 17. Ethical Principles of the Psychology Profession & Ethnic Minority Issues - Gordon C. Nagayama Hall (University of Oregon), Gayle Y. Iwamasa (University of Indianapolis), & Jessica N. Smith (University of Oregon) 18. Sexual Orientation & Professional Ethics - David W. Purcell, Stephanie Swann, & Sarah H. Herbert 19. Ethical Issues for Psychologists Working with Persons with Developmental Disabilities - W. Lawrence Williams & Kevin D. Williams (both of University of Nevada, Reno) 20. Ethical Principles of the Psychology Profession and Correctional Psychology - Linda E. Weinberger & Shoba Sreenivasan (both of University of Southern California) 21. The Central Role of Informed Consent in Ethical Treatment & Research with Children - David F. Richards (University of Nevada, Reno) 22. Ethical Principles & Practice in Couple & Family Therapy - Steven R. Thorp (Duke University Medical Center) & Alan E. Fruzzetti (University of Nevada, Reno) 23. Ethics and the School Psychologist - Susan Jacob-Timm (Central Michigan University) 24. Issues in the Ethical Treatment of Older Adults - Jane E. Fisher & Craig Yury (both of University of Nevada, Reno)

The rising costs of new psychological tests, increased frequency of test revisions, and difficulty receiving authorization and reimbursement from managed care companies make it increasingly difficult for practitioners to provide the best standard of care to clients when conducting psychological and neuropsychological assessments. Practitioners, especially those in low-income and rural areas, may struggle with handling these practical realities while maintaining ethical standards in conducting psychological assessment. Suggestions for how to manage practical challenges faced by practitioners who provide psychological assessments, such as selecting tests when authorization or reimbursement by a third-party payer is restricted or denied, purchasing psychological tests on a budget, and providing assessments with a limited number of qualified staff are discussed. The authors also provide recommendations for the future prevention of these challenges through work with test developers, test publishing corporations, third-party payers, political action groups, and the psychology profession itself.

Both historically and in terms of present training and employment, medical settings have provided a fertile environment for formal psychological assessment. In fact, recently trained physicians expect to have psychological assessment resources available within the hospital systems in which they practice because these resources were present within the institutions in which they trained. Within this chapter, psychological assessment is viewed as encompassing all traditional (e.g., personality, intellectual, academic) and specialized testing (e.g., health/illness coping styles, neuropsychological). Important issues pertaining to psychological assessment in medical settings are reviewed. These topics include the influence of the medical environment, current pressures regarding ‘accountability,’ opportunities for clinical, educational, and research collaborations with physicians, reimbursement issues, financial efficacy, ethical and legal issues, logistics, and integration within a biopsychosocial model. Finally, types of medical settings, specific assessment instruments, and areas of specialty assessment are reviewed.

Current ethical and social issues in epidemiology.

Although rating scales and checklists are useful and informative for some clinical situations and settings, there are times when a more comprehensive psychological or neuropsychological assessment is called for. The present chapter outlines the different forms of psychological assessment and how a more comprehensive assessment might lead to improved diagnosis and treatment. Furthermore, the use of psychological assessment as a therapeutic intervention will also be addressed and explained. Finally, the specifics of how to ask a good referral question that might result in a beneficial assessment will be discussed.

The goal of this chapter is to provide a general outline for the psychological assessment of adult psychiatric inpatients and outpatients. We regard psychological assessment as a problem‐solving process in which psychological tests, structured diagnostic interviewing, and unstructured clinical interviewing are employed to answer specific referral requests. The fundamental premises of the approach recommended in this chapter is that psychological assessments must be evidenced based and multimodal. Consistent with this approach, psychological assessment should evaluate a client's psychiatric symptoms in relation to the diagnostic criteria according to the most recent version of theDiagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disordersand use objective tests supplemented with structured interviews that have proven reliability and validity. Examples of such tests and interview techniques that meet these standards are discussed as are various practical issues, including selecting the appropriate tests, addressing referral questions, and the requisite skills required to conduct psychological assessments.

The Limits of Confidentiality: Informed Consent and Psychotherapy.

BackgroundPsychological assessment in school settings involves a range of complexities and ethical dilemmas that practitioners must navigate carefully. This paper provides a comprehensive review of common issues faced by school psychologists during assessments, discussing best practices and ethical guidelines based on codes from various professional organizations.MethodsWe examine the entire assessment process, from pre-assessment considerations like informed consent and instrument selection to post-assessment practices involving results communication and confidentiality. Key ethical concerns addressed include fairness in assessment, cultural and linguistic appropriateness of testing materials, and issues surrounding informed consent.ResultsSpecific challenges discussed include selecting appropriate assessment instruments that reflect the diverse needs and backgrounds of students, ensuring fairness and removing bias in testing, and effectively communicating results to various stakeholders while maintaining confidentiality. We emphasize the importance of multi-source, multi-method assessment approaches and the critical role of ongoing professional development in ethical practice.ConclusionBy adhering to established ethical standards and best practices, school psychologists can effectively support the educational and developmental needs of students. This paper outlines actionable recommendations and ethical considerations to help practitioners enhance the accuracy, fairness, and impact of their assessments in educational settings.