Assessment Techniques and Tools

Counselors use assessment to help their clients and careful use techniques that will be in the best
interests of their clients. Counselors realize the value of using assessment to create an accurate
clinical diagnosis, creating a plan, and helping clients make decisions. Counselors should have
the proper training for administering and interpreting assessments.

Note that for exam purposes, you will be assessed on your ability to know which assessment
tools would be appropriate to use with a client based on his/or her presentation. This may seem
counter-intuitive because in the real world, you would only administer assessment tools that you
are trained to use. However, the exam has no way of knowing what specific training you have, so
you should select any assessment tools that would be appropriate for your client, regardless of
which assessment tools you are trained to use in real life.

Potential Problems:

- Being ill informed about psychometric measures and rushing to use techniques without
appropriate validity and reliability
- Being unfamiliar with bias
- Neglecting to make assessment a collaborative process
- Accepting assessment results uncritically

Recommendations and Resolutions:

- Be a thoughtful consumer of assessment techniques

- Share assessment findings and interpretations with clients
- Only use assessment techniques that will be of value to the client
- Be mindful of limitations
- Honor the client’s right to fully understand the assessment process

Using and Interpreting Assessments

Counselors should only use techniques in which they are competent and should always exercise
appropriate use of techniques. Decisions for client care should be based on results.

Potential Problems:

- Failure to provide subordinates with appropriate training

- A lack of understanding of psychometrics
- Using technology as a substitute for expertise

Recommendations and Resolutions:

- Choose assessment instruments carefully based on psychometrics

- Get training needed to be competent in using assessment techniques
- Never draw conclusions beyond available data
- Remember that assessment data should be evaluated based on the individual
- Closely supervise subordinates
- Use technology as an assistant, not a replacement

Obtaining Informed Consent When Performing Assessments

Counselors must explain the assessments to clients and must be careful with release of results.
Counselors should give clients a careful explanation of the results and interpretations.

Potential Problems:

- Overlooking the informed consent process in assessments

- Failure to clarify at the beginning who will have access to results
- Failing to consider the client’s culture, language, and other personal variables

Recommendations and Resolutions:

- Before any assessments, get the client's full informed consent

- Pay attention to personal variables of the client
- Clarify limits of confidentiality
- When sharing results, ensure that they are not misinterpreted or misused

Releasing Assessment Data

Counselors only release assessment data with the consent of the client. This should only be done
if it deemed to be ethically and clinically appropriate.

Potential Problems:

- Releasing assessment data without the client’s consent

- Releasing data to unqualified professionals
- Failing to consider the qualifications of people to whom data is released

Recommendations and Resolutions:

- Always have client consent before releasing any data

- Make sure the recipient of the data has sufficient training to allow them to make an accurate
interpretation
- Stay current with the minimum standards for competence
- Consult a colleague if unsure of qualifications

Diagnosing Mental Disorders

Counselors must take care to provide proper diagnosis of mental disorders, exercising cultural
sensitivity, recognizing historical and social prejudices. Counselors should avoid reporting a
diagnosis if it will cause harm to the client.

Potential Problems:

- Labeling a client with a diagnosis without valid and reliable assessment

- Failing to find diagnosis by proper assessments
- Reporting any diagnosis regardless of the harm it might cause the client
- Assuming that the criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders can be
applied to all clients regardless of culture
- Overlooking historical patterns of misdiagnosis
- Neglecting analysis of one's own biases

Recommendations and Resolutions:

- Consider all relevant factors when providing diagnosis

- Abide by state laws
- Ensure that all diagnoses are accurate
- Consider the potential impact on a client
- Recognize historical and social prejudices in misdiagnosis of certain cultural groups
- Avoid attributing certain cultural behaviors to any diagnosis and recognize how personal
beliefs can affect diagnosis
- Review the Cultural Concepts of Distress section in the DSM-5
- Consider administering the Cultural Formulation Interview when assessing potential cultural
features of a client's mental health issue; this instrument is found in the DSM-5
- Give extra attention to a client from a traditional disadvantaged culture to avoid pathologizing
- If you lack competence seek consultation

Selecting Assessment Instruments

Counselors should carefully consider all factors of assessment when selecting instruments. If a
client is referred, counselors should provide specific referral questions to make sure that
appropriate instruments are used.

Potential Problems:

- Counselors who select instruments based only on advertisements

- Rushing to render diagnosis on the basis of one assessment
- Failure to look closely at each instrument's reliability and validity
- Failing to provide clear referral questions
- Making vague assessment referrals

Recommendations and Resolutions:

- Never use an instrument without personally reviewing it
- Whenever possible, use multiple techniques
- Put a lot of thought into referrals

Administering Assessments

Counselors give assessments using their standard conditions and use them in an appropriate
environment. When using technology, counselors ensure that it is administered properly and do
not permit unsupervised use unless it is directly designed for such a purpose.

Potential Problems:

- Being careless about standardization procedures

- Failure to look at deviations in the interpretation of results
- Assuming that clients are familiar with any technology used
- Being too busy to directly supervise administration of assessments
- Failure to instruction clients about how to participate in the assessment

Recommendations and Resolutions:

- Administer assessment only under the conditions for which they were designed
- When making accommodations for clients, address the deviations in interpretations
- Before using technology, ensure that it is working and that clients understand it
- Make sure that clients understand the assessment process
- Take responsibility for creating a good assessment environment
- Supervise the administration of all assessments

Multicultural Issues in Assessment

Counselors should recognize the effect of personal variables on assessment data and select
instruments that are appropriate to each client.

Potential Problems:

- Lacking multicultural competence

- Failing to closely examine the psychometric properties of an assessment
- Failing to consider a full range of diversity variables

Recommendations and Resolutions:

- Careful consider the potential impact of all diversity factors

- Select assessments with caution
- Address the role of diversity factors in the conclusions of a report
 Scoring and Interpreting Assessment Results

Counselors should consider a client's background and ability to understand when reporting
assessment results. They should include any deviations when interpreting and reporting results.
Any potential limitations to assessments should be fully disclosed.

Potential Problems:

- Overlooking problematic circumstances or inadequacies

- Being overly eager to validate a new instrument and failing to acknowledge any experimental
nature
- Failing to account for a client's background when sharing assessment information
- Marketing assessment services without accurately disclosing limitations

Recommendations and Resolutions:

- Pay careful attention to the circumstances in which assessments are administered

- Address the potential impact of all factors when writing reports
- When assessment tools have not been fully validated exercise extra caution
- When offering assessment scoring and interpretation services to other counselors, fully disclose
all information related to validity, reliability, use, limitations, etc.
- Keep in mind all ethical obligations to clients

Assessment Security

Assessments can be invalid if their content is inappropriately shared. Counselors must protect the
security of assessment instruments consistent with legal and contractual obligations.

Potential Problems:

- Being lax in assessment security

- Temptation to photocopy/reproduce materials in violation of law

Recommendations and Resolutions:

- Carefully review obligations and copyright

- Store assessment materials securely
- Never release materials that have test items and answers
- Do not copy assessment materials without permission

Obsolete and Outdated Assessments

Counselors should never use outdated tools when updated/improved versions are available.

Potential Problems:
- Financial struggles may tempt counselors to use outdated tools
- Pressure for time
- Discomfort with confrontation if other professional is using an outdated/obsolete assessment

Recommendations and Resolutions:

- Never use obsolete or out-of-date assessment materials

- Consult with a colleague when unsure of validity
- Conduct new evaluations to ensure validity and relevance
- Take responsibility to make sure colleagues and subordinates use up-to-date materials

Designing and Developing Assessments

When designing assessments, counselors must rely on up-to-date scientific techniques and must
conform to relevant professional standards.

Potential Problems:

- Motivation by quick financial gain to take shortcuts

- Being unfamiliar with test-development practices

Recommendations and Resolutions:

- Educate yourself on prevailing scientific standards

- Follow standards meticulously
- Seek appropriate consultation and assistance if in doubt
- Carefully follow all ethical guidelines for publishing

Forensic Evaluations

When providing forensic evaluations, counselors must produce objective findings. They must
get written consent from anyone being evaluated and must not counsel individuals they are
evaluating. Counselors must avoid potentially harmful relationships.

Potential Problems:

- Being unfamiliar with forensic procedures

- Assuming that clients understand the parameters of forensic evaluation
- Assuming that clients understand the difference between forensic evaluation and therapeutic
assessment
- Overestimating your ability to remain objective

Recommendations and Resolutions:

- Have training before providing forensic services
- Make sure anyone evaluated gives informed consent
- Take care to protect client rights
- Only make statements in court based on data
- Clarify the limits of data and interpretations
- When possible avoid evaluations about anyone who is a client
- Avoid personal relationships with anyone you have evaluated before