Tomada de decisão de Psicólogos em avaliação Psicologica

Psychological assessment is a procedure that is inserted in all areas of a psychologist s professional field of work. When starting any psychological intervention, it is necessary to carry an analysis of how individual operate in order to identify and define their demands to adequately meet them. It is important to study this practice because the choice of instruments, techniques and procedures to be employed influences the efficiency and effectiveness of the work and the image of the profession towards society in general, also impacting the scientific community. This study aimed to identify, in the subjects, the percentage of professionals in psychology who make use of the Psychological Assessment in the Northeastern region of Brazil; another objectives were to analyze the profile of these professionals in terms of gender, time after graduation, additional training in PA, the state of the country where he/she works; to check how psychologists do their planning when using PA as well as to identify which differences can be observed in terms of time from graduation and additional training in the process of planning the assessment different extents. The instrument used was an online questionnaire and the sample was by adhesion to the application. The attendance was of 159 professionals and most of them were females with a specialist degree. It was found that the majority of the professionals perform the planning of the PA, establishing a method and choosing the most appropriate strategies to be used. It was also verified that most of the subjects fulfill the steps of the whole process, and when planning the techniques of data collection, integrating database from different sources, reporting the results and returning the information, the professional demonstrates his/her goals to understand their demands and accomplish the decision making and/or proposed intervention for individuals assessed. It was found that the undergraduate degree may not have produced a more complete effect in the professional qualification and therefore, of the quality of the actions in PA, and that there is a need for training and continuing education

The Assessment of Multiple Processes Underlying the Attentional Blink: A Fixed - links Modeling Approach based on Behavioral and Electrophysiological Data

When observers are presented with two visual targets appearing in the same position in close temporal proximity, a marked reduction in detection performance of the second target has often been reported, the so-called attentional blink phenomenon. Several studies found a similar decrement of P300 amplitudes during the attentional blink period as observed with detection performances of the second target. However, whether the parallel courses of second target performances and corresponding P300 amplitudes resulted from the same underlying mechanisms remained unclear. The aim of our study was therefore to investigate whether the mechanisms underlying the AB can be assessed by fixed-links modeling and whether this kind of assessment would reveal the same or at least related processes in the behavioral and electrophysiological data. On both levels of observation three highly similar processes could be identified: an increasing, a decreasing and a u-shaped trend. Corresponding processes from the behavioral and electrophysiological data were substantially correlated, with the two u-shaped trends showing the strongest association with each other. Our results provide evidence for the assumption that the same mechanisms underlie attentional blink task performance at the electrophysiological and behavioral levels as assessed by fixed-links models.

The assessment of visual short-term memory in considering the underlying processes and their relation to psychometric intelligence

By means of fixed-links modeling the present study assessed processes involved in visual short-term memory functioning and investigates how these processes are related to intelligence. Using a color change detection task, short-term memory demands increased across three experimental conditions as a function of number of presented stimuli. We measured amount of information retained in visual short-term memory by hit rate as well as speed of visual short-term memory scanning by reaction time. For both measures, fixed-links modeling revealed a constant process reflecting processes irrespective of task manipulation as well as two increasing processes reflecting the increasing short-term memory demands. For visual short-term memory scanning, a negative association between intelligence and the constant process was found but no relationship between intelligence and the increasing processes. Thus, basic processing speed, rather than speed influenced by visual short-term memory demands, differentiates between high- and low-intelligent individuals. Intelligence was positively related to the experimental processes of shortterm memory retention but not to the constant process. In sum, significant associations with intelligence were only obtained when the specific processes of short-term memory were decomposed emphasizing the importance of a thorough assessment of cognitive processes when investigating their relation to intelligence.

Development of a diagnostic online tool system for Swiss sport psychology practitioners

Psychological assessment is a central component of applied sport psychology. Despite obvious and well-documented advantages of diagnostic online tools, there is a lack of a system for such tools for sport psychologists so far in Switzerland. Having the most frequently used questionnaires available online in one single tool for all listed Swiss sport psychologists would make the work of practitioners a lot easier and less time consuming. Therefore, the main goal of this project is to develop a diagnostic online tool system with the possibility to make available different questionnaires often used in sport psychology. Furthermore, we intend to survey status and use of this diagnostic online tool system and the questionnaires by Swiss sport psychologists. A specific challenge is to limit the access to qualified sport psychologists and to secure the confidentiality for the client. In particular, approved sport psychologists get an individual code for each of their athletes for the required questionnaire. With the help of this code, athletes can access the test via a secure website at any place of the world. As soon as they complete and submit the online questionnaire, analysed and interpreted data reach the sport psychologist via E-Mail, which is timesaving and easy applicable for the sport psychologist. Furthermore, data are available for interpretation with athletes and documentation of individual development over time is possible. Later on, completed and anonymised questionnaires will be collected and analysed. Bigger number of collected data give more insight in the psychometric properties, thus helping to improve and further develop the questionnaires. In this presentation, we demonstrate the tool and its feasibility using the German version of the Test of Performance Strategies (TOPS, Schmid et al., 2010). To conclude, this diagnostic online tool system offers new possibilities for sport psychologists working as practitioner.

The Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning: A Next Generation Formative Evaluation and Feedback System

Recent developments in federal policy have prompted the creation of state evaluation frameworks for principals and teachers that hold educators accountable for effective practices and student outcomes. These changes have created a demand for formative evaluation instruments that reflect current accountability pressures and can be used by schools to focus school improvement and leadership development efforts. The Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning (CALL) is a next generation, 360-degree on-line assessment and feedback system that reflect best practices in feedback design. Some unique characteristics of CALL include a focus on: leadership distributed throughout the school rather than as carried out by an individual leader; assessment of leadership tasks rather than perceptions of leadership practice; a focus on larger complex systems of middle and high school; and transparency of assessment design. This paper describes research contributing to the design and validation of the CALL survey instrument.

Therapeutic Personality Assessment with Couples: A Short-Term Therapy Model

This paper focuses on the importance of psychological assessment as a short-term therapeutic tool for use in couples therapy. Personality assessment, when used collaboratively, can be a vital contribution to the therapeutic environment and can help couples can insight into each other's character traits and behavior patterns. This paper addresses the need for a short-term model of couples therapy for couples where one partner is incarcerated. The author proposes using a slightly modified version of Finn's Therapeutic Assessment for couples - Therapeutic Personality Assessment for Couples for a Prison Setting (TPAC-PS). A future research paradigm is suggested to test the validity of the TPAC-PS model.

Asking For Help: Vulnerability within Consultative Assessment A Couples Therapy Example.

In many different ways psychologists are challenged to evaluate their work and be accountable when therapy is not progressing. One time honored approach to addressing the lack of progress is to seek formal psychological assessment to gain a better diagnostic understanding as well as treatment recommendations. The perspective on the purpose of the assessment seems to have changed however. Historically, the presumption was that there was some kind of pathology that the clinician was not seeing, where currently the perspective seems to be shifting more towards a focus on what might not be working in the therapeutic process. This shift in focus has led to new styles of collaborative and consultative assessment such as Therapeutic Assessment. Therapeutic Assessment was developed by Stephen Finn and has shown a great deal of promise helping clients and therapists gain valuable insight and move toward meaningful life changes (1998). Amidst the promise of consultative assessment also lie potential challenges for the referring clinician. This paper will explore the nature of consultative relationships in the field of mental health and the current thoughts about the advantages and challenges of these relationships. Using a case study format, it will discuss and illustrate issues of professional vulnerability that can arise during these relationships and postulate that a similar vulnerability could be present during a consultative assessment. Recommendations are made for maximizing the success of this type of assessment, and ideas for future research are reviewed. Through the lens of a couples Therapeutic Assessment case, this paper will examine what it is about this unique kind of professional relationship that garners such powerful potential and pitfalls.

The Use of Therapeutic Assessment with Forensic Populations: Practitioners' Perspectives

Therapeutic Assessment is a semi-structured approach to collaborative assessment developed by Stephen E. Finn and colleagues. In Therapeutic Assessment, psychological assessment is used as a therapeutic intervention (Finn, 2007; Finn & Kamphuis, 2006). The Therapeutic Assessment model differs from traditional assessment with regard to procedure and the roles of both assessor and client. Therapeutic Assessment has yet to be explored in forensic settings, wherein assessors are required to take on a number of varying and conflicting roles. In the current study, five forensic psychologists completed a semi-structured interview to identify their perspectives of Therapeutic Assessment and its utility in forensic contexts. A phenomenological qualitative analysis of the interviews was conducted to derive themes about Therapeutic Assessment, forensic psychology, and the overlap between these two domains. General themes that emerged include (a) the role and the context of the practitioner's work with the forensic population; (b) the potential of using Therapeutic Assessment's paradigm in family law settings; and (c) the increased risk of harm when using Therapeutic Assessment with forensic populations. In addition to these themes, multiple respondents discussed components of collaborative/Therapeutic Assessment that they have found useful with this population. Finally, the implications of these results are discussed.

A psychological investigation into the relationship between hemispheric functioning and specific written language difficulties (dyslexia), using pharmaceutical intervention techniques

This thesis attempts a psychological investigation of hemispheric functioning in developmental dyslexia. Previous work using neuropsychological methods with developmental dyslexics is reviewed ,and original work is presented both of a conventional psychometric nature and also utilising a new means of intervention. At the inception of inquiry into dyslexia, comparisons were drawn between developmental dyslexia and acquired alexia, promoting a model of brain damage as the common cause. Subsequent investigators found developmental dyslexics to be neurologically intact, and so an alternative hypothesis was offered, namely that language is abnormally localized (not in the left hemisphere). Research in the last decade, using the advanced techniques of modern neuropsychology, has indicated that developmental dyslexics are probably left hemisphere dominant for language. The development of a new type of pharmaceutical prep~ration (that appears to have a left hemisphere effect) offers an oppertunity to test the experimental hypothesis. This hypothesis propounds that most dyslexics are left hemisphere language dominant, but some of these language related operations are dysfunctioning. The methods utilised are those of psychological assessment of cognitive function, both in a traditional psychometric situation, and with a new form of intervention (Piracetam). The information resulting from intervention will be judged on its therapeutic validity and contribution to the understanding of hemispheric functioning in dyslexics. The experimental studies using conventional psychometric evaluation revealed a dyslexic profile of poor sequencing and name coding ability, with adequate spatial and verbal reasoning skills. Neuropsychological information would tend to suggest that this profile was indicative of adequate right hemsiphere abilities and deficits in some left hemsiphere abilities. When an intervention agent (Piracetam) was used with young adult dyslexics there were improvements in both the rate of acquisition and conservation of verbal learning. An experimental study with dyslexic children revealed that Piracetam appeared to improve reading, writing and sequencing, but did not influence spatial abilities. This would seem to concord with other recent findings, that deve~mental dyslexics may have left hemisphere language localisation, although some of these language related abilities are dysfunctioning.

Az egyéni teljesítményértékelési rendszer működésének tapasztalatai a magyar közigazgatásban (Operating experiences of the individual performance appraisal system in the Hungarian public sector)

A tanulmány – egy 2005 végén lefolytatott, országosan reprezentatív kérdőíves felmérés empirikus bázisán – a magyar közigazgatási dolgozók körében 2002-től bevezetett egyéni teljesítményértékelési rendszert vizsgálja. A rendszer egészét tekintve a vizsgálat végkövetkeztetései nem túl rózsásak: az eredmények arra utalnak, hogy a rendszer mint egész nem képes kitűzött fő célját, a munkateljesítmények javítását elérni. Az egyes részrendszerek, szervezettípusok szintjén differenciáltabb eredményeket kapunk, míg a minisztériumokban a rendszer egésze a szándékolttól alapvetően különböző célokat látszik szolgálni, addig a többi szervezettípusnál inkább „csak” a rendszer tökéletlen működéséről beszélhetünk. ____ On the basis of a questionnaire survey of a nationally representative sample of Hungarian civil servants, the study attempts to give a preliminary evaluation of the individual performance assessment system introduced in 2002 throughout the Hungarian civil service. The general conclusion of the analysis is that the performance assessment system is unlikely to reach its goals: its central element, the performance related pay incentives are overly dispersed and, on the average, insignificant in size, meanwhile the objectivity of performance assessments is also questionable. Moreover, comparative analysis of responses from different administrative branches reveals an interesting idiosyncrasy characteristic for central government ministries. Here, the main function of the incentive system seems to be ensuring the labor market competitiveness of the ministries as employers by enabling them to pay higher-than-usual salaries for employees having certain types of expertise.

Qualidade de vida, percepção de saúde, resiliência, auto-regulação e suporte social nos adolescentes portugueses com a doencça crónica

Tese de Doutoramento em Psicologia na área de especialidade Psicologia da Saúde

Procedures for successful data collection through psychological tests in the elderly

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium provided the original work is properly cited.

The diagnostic validity and reliability of an internet-based clinical assessment program for mental disorders

BACKGROUND: Internet-based assessment has the potential to assist with the diagnosis of mental health disorders and overcome the barriers associated with traditional services (eg, cost, stigma, distance). Further to existing online screening programs available, there is an opportunity to deliver more comprehensive and accurate diagnostic tools to supplement the assessment and treatment of mental health disorders. OBJECTIVE: The aim was to evaluate the diagnostic criterion validity and test-retest reliability of the electronic Psychological Assessment System (e-PASS), an online, self-report, multidisorder, clinical assessment and referral system. METHODS: Participants were 616 adults residing in Australia, recruited online, and representing prospective e-PASS users. Following e-PASS completion, 158 participants underwent a telephone-administered structured clinical interview and 39 participants repeated the e-PASS within 25 days of initial completion. RESULTS: With structured clinical interview results serving as the gold standard, diagnostic agreement with the e-PASS varied considerably from fair (eg, generalized anxiety disorder: κ=.37) to strong (eg, panic disorder: κ=.62). Although the e-PASS' sensitivity also varied (0.43-0.86) the specificity was generally high (0.68-1.00). The e-PASS sensitivity generally improved when reducing the e-PASS threshold to a subclinical result. Test-retest reliability ranged from moderate (eg, specific phobia: κ=.54) to substantial (eg, bulimia nervosa: κ=.87). CONCLUSIONS: The e-PASS produces reliable diagnostic results and performs generally well in excluding mental disorders, although at the expense of sensitivity. For screening purposes, the e-PASS subclinical result generally appears better than a clinical result as a diagnostic indicator. Further development and evaluation is needed to support the use of online diagnostic assessment programs for mental disorders. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN121611000704998; http://www.anzctr.org.au/trial_view.aspx?ID=336143 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/618r3wvOG).

Structured professional judgement approach to risk assessment: generalisability across patient groups for the prediction of adverse outcomes in secure mental health care

This is a redacted version of the the final thesis. Copyright material has been removed to comply with UK Copyright Law.