2.D.1
Keeping the assessment on the question
Énoncé de compétence 2.D.1 d’ASPPB : Distinguish between relevant and non-relevant information as it pertains to assessment goals
Every assessment gathers more information than the referral question needs. Deciding what is relevant keeps data gathering efficient, keeps reports readable and protects the person's privacy. Relevance depends on the question: the same fact can be central to one referral and an intrusion in another. Vague statements that would fit almost anyone are another kind of irrelevance, because they say nothing about this person.
Notions clés
- The question defines relevance
- Information is relevant when it bears on the referral question or on how far the findings can be trusted. Effective reports are consumer-focused and address the concerns of the people who made the referral.
- Germane information only
- APA Standard 4.04(a) limits written and oral reports and consultations to information germane to their purpose, so sensitive details that do not bear on the question, such as an unrelated past relationship, are left out.
- Legally relevant factors
- In forensic evaluations, the Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychology direct the evaluator to focus on factors relevant to the legal question rather than on everything that might be clinically interesting.
- Statements that fit everyone
- General descriptions, such as 'he sometimes worries about what others think of him,' feel accurate to almost anyone. Forer showed that people readily accept such descriptions as personal, so they add nothing specific to a report.
Exemple commenté
A vocational rehabilitation counselor asks whether Ms. Tran, 42, a former warehouse worker with a back injury, has the skills to retrain as a medical office assistant. In the interview she mentions a pregnancy loss at 19, a brother in prison, cannabis use in her twenties and none since, lifelong trouble reading forms, poor sleep from pain, and a daily opioid pain medication.
- The psychologist restates the question: can she learn and perform the reading, computer, scheduling and arithmetic tasks of the new job?
- Relevant: her lifelong reading difficulty, which bears on training, and her pain, poor sleep and opioid medication, which may affect attention and the test results, along with test findings in reading, arithmetic, memory and attention.
- Not relevant to this question: the pregnancy loss, her brother's imprisonment and cannabis use that ended years ago, so they stay out of the report.
- The report answers the question from the relevant findings and makes specific recommendations, such as reading support during training.
Ask of each fact whether it helps answer the question or judge the trustworthiness of the results; if not, leave it out.
Vérifiez vos acquis
What is the main problem with including sensitive personal details that do not bear on the referral question in an assessment report?
Sources
- APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (2002, amended 2010 and 2016; effective 2017), Standard 4.04(a), Minimizing Intrusions on Privacy
- Harvey (2006), Variables affecting the clarity of psychological reports, Journal of Clinical Psychology (PMID 16273516), Journal of Clinical Psychology 62, 5-18 (consumer-focused reports address the concerns of referring persons)
- American Psychological Association (2013), Specialty guidelines for forensic psychology, American Psychologist (PMID 23025747), Guideline 10.01, Focus on Legally Relevant Factors
- Forer (1949), The fallacy of personal validation: A classroom demonstration of gullibility, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology (PMID 18110193), Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 44, 118-123