Interviewing and Assessment

Clinical Interviewing
 Most commonly strategy used in diagnosis, but has many uses as part of assessment
and therapy
 Sets rapport and tone with the client
 Interviews are used to define the presenting problem, set goals, and case formulation
o Gather information which are not usually available with a psychological test
o Yalom: Diagnosis may be too simplistic for a client – interview goes beyond
 Interviews can vary in their degree of structure
o Structures
o Semi-structured (e.g., SCID-5, ADIS5, ADISC/P)
o Unstructured

Clinical Interviewing with Children

 Children
o ADIS-C/P & ADIS/ASA – Thermometer
o Puppets (Albow et al.)
o Cartoons (e.g., Dominic interactive)
 Most visual, tangible measures that help children to connect with children for
interviewing
 Recommended to have parents
o Rapport between parent/child is usually conflicting

Confidentiality (with limits)

 Clinician can’t share information unless the client demands to
 Clinician might share information if there is a risk for the clients of others
o This must be stated initially so client know what information be kept private and
what might not

Clinical Interviewing v. Conversation

 In contrast to conversation, clinical interviews are:
o Confidential (with limits)
o Goal and clinician directed, but client-focused
o Time-limited
o Involve information gathering, with focus on rapport building
o Touch upon painful topics
o Recorded (written notes or other)
 “Fellow Travellers” – Yalom, Chapter 3
Culturally Sensitive Interviewing
 Understanding the point of view of the client and others in their network
o APA Cultural Formulation Interview
o If there’s no understanding, there might be more room for bias
 Be aware of biases
o When assessing abnormal behaviour, it must be necessary to know if their
“abnormality” is/isn’t associated with their culture
 Engagement, support & empathy
o Yalom, Chapters 4-6
 Think as travellers
 Importance of being supportive and empathize
 See the world as their client sees it
Observation
Clinical Observation
 Observations of client during assessment
o What was their mood?
o Where they able to complete the test? Why not? Which parts?
o Was their speech clear and coherent?
o Did they need help or didn’t understand some parts?
 Naturalistic observations
o Observe in the environment (school, home)
 Client behaviour during the assessment might not reflect behaviour outside assessment

Semi-structured observations
 Semi-structured observations (e.g., ADOS)
o Giant box of toys
o Are presented to every child and adult and scene is presented with the exact
same manner (standardization)
o It’s designed for a specific purpose (autism)
o Has a high bar of reliability
 More common in research than in clinical practice

Limits of Clinical Observation

 Snapshot of the person’s behaviour, often in an atypical setting/scenario
 Psychologists are not immune to biases
o Bias is likely
 Observation is never sufficient for diagnosis

Self-Monitoring
 Strategies to monitor one’s own behaviour
 Reactivity (monitoring behavior changes behavior)
o That’s why it might benefit the client therapeutically