Module III The Interview and Writing The Report 2

MODULE II
The Assessment Report.

Process: Interview the
Client and Writing the
Report
The Essentials of Testing and Assessment: A Practical Guide to Counselors, Social Workers, and Psychologist
Edward S. Neukrug & R. Charles Fawcett
Objectives: At the end of the discussion the student
will be able to:
1. Discuss the purpose of the assessment report.

2. Discuss the process of gathering information for
the report.
3. Identify the process of interview.
4. Know the purpose of writing the report
PURPOSE OF THE ASSESSMENT REPORT
Assessment report. Written summary, synthesis, and

recommendations from the assessment.

The assessments report is the “deliverable” or
“end product” of the assessment process whose
purpose is to synthesize an assortment techniques
so that a deeper understanding of the examinee is
made and recommended course of action are offered
(Goldfinger & Pomerantz, 2010: Lichtenberger,
Mather, Kaufman, & Kaufman, 2004; Spores,
2013).
Purpose of reports included the following:

1.To respond to the referral questions being asked;
2.To provide insight to clients for therapy;
3.To assist in the case-conceptualization process;
4.To develop treatment option in counseling (e.g.,
type of counseling, use of medications, and so
on);
5.To suggest educational services for students with
special needs (e.g., for students who are mentally
retarded, learning disabled, or gifted);
6. To offer direction when providing vocational
rehabilitation services;
7. To offer insight about and treatment options for individuals
who have incurred a cognitive impairment (e.g. brain injury,
senility);
8. To assist the courts in making difficult decisions (e.g.,
custody decision, sanity defense, and determination of
guilt or innocence);
9. To provide evidence for placement in school and at jobs;
and
10. To challenge decisions made by institutions and agencies
(social security disability, Individual Educational Plans in
school).
GATHERING INFORMATION FOR THE REPORT: GARBAGE IN,
GARBAGE OUT
Information gathered for the client is very important

as writing the report, because your report will reflect
the methods you used to obtain your information.

Choosing inappropriate instruments or conduct a
poor interview (garbage in”), the report will be filled
with error and bias (garbage out”). Writing a report
will always relay on the information you are
gathering is highly quality and substantial, always
take into account the breadth and depth of
assessment procedures should be properly observed.
Breadth – covering all important or relative issues;
wide net.
Breadth should be based on the purpose of the

assessment. The examiner should done all necessary to
adequately assess what he or she is looking for.
Depth – Extent and seriousness of a
concern.

Depth- assessment has to do with
ensuring that one is using techniques that
reflect the intensity of the issue(s) being
examined.

Depth is also dependent on the purpose
for which the client is being assessed.
STRUCTURED, UNSTRUCTURED, AND SEMI-STRUCTURE
INTERVIEWS

Determining the kind of interview to conduct is critical to gathering
information successfully. Using clinical interview offers ability to
obtain information for clients. The interview should have the
following:

1. Sets the tone for the types of information that will be covered during the
assessment process,
2. Allows the client to become desensitized to information that can be very
intimate and personal,
3. Allows the examiner to assess the nonverbal signals of the client while he or
she is talking about sensitive information, thus giving the examiner a sense of
what might be important to focus on.
4. Allows the examiner to learn firsthand the problem areas of the client and
place them in perspective, and
5. Gives the client and examiner the opportunity to study each other’s
personality style to assure that they can work together.
Interviews generally have a choice
between three kinds of interviews:
structured, unstructured, or semi-
structured. The advantage and
disadvantages to both, which one to
choose is not always easy
(Bruchmuller, Margraf, Suppiger, &
Schneider, 2011; Goldfinger &
Pomerantz, 2010; Lichtenberger et al.,
2004).
STRUCTURED INTERVIEW. Uses pre-established questions to
assess broad range of behaviors.

Structured interview has the examiner ask the examinee to respond to
pre-established items. This kind of interview can provide the
following benefits:
• It offers broad enough areas of content to cover topics a
practitioner may otherwise have missed or forgotten (assure
breadth of coverage).
 It increases the reliability of results by ensuring that all prescribed
items will be covered.
 It ensures that the examiner will cover all of the items because
they are listed in detail and there is an expectation that they all
will be covered.
 It ensures that items will not be missed due to interviewer or
interviewee embarrassment.
On the other hand, the structured interview can have the following
drawbacks:
 The examiner may miss information due to the fact items

are predetermined and the examiner does not feel free to go
off on a tangent or a “hunch,”
 Clients may experience the interview as dehumanizing.
 Clients, particularly minorities, may misinterpret of be
unfamiliar with certain items.
 Follow-up by the examiner to alleviate confusion on the
part of the examinee is less likely as compared to other kind
of interviewing.
 It does not always allow for depth of information to be
covered because the interviewer is more concerned with
gathering all the information than going into detail about
one potentially sensitive area.
UNSTRUCTURE INTERVIEW. Examiner asks questions based on
client responses.
Contrast the structured interview with the unstructured interview,

where the examiner does not have a pre-established list of items or
questions to which the client can respond. The unstructured
interview offers the following advantages:
• It creates an atmosphere that is more conductive to building
rapport.
 It allows the client to feel as if he or she is directing the
interview, thus allowing the client to discuss items that he or she
deems important.
 It offers the potential for greater depth of information because
the clinician can focus on a potentially sensitive area and
possibly uncover underlying issues that the client might
otherwise avoid revealing.
Unstructured interview may have the
following disadvantages:
 Because it does no allow for breadth of

coverage, the interviewer might miss
information because he or she is “caught
up” in the client’s story instead of
following a prescribed set of questions.
 The interviewer may end up spending
more time on some items than he or she
might like.
Semi-structured interview. Allows flow between
structured and unstructured approaches. This kind of
interview uses prescribed items, which allows the
examiner to obtain the necessary information within a
relatively short amount of time.

 It also gives leeway to the examiner should the client
to “drift” during the interview process.
 Allowing the client to discuss potentially emotion-
filled topics can be therapeutic, open up new issues of
importance, and be an important tool in the rapport
building.
 The skilled examiner can easily flow back and forth
between structured and unstructured approaches.
Computer Driven Assessment

Computer driven assessment. Can result in
sophisticated assessment and well-written report.

Computers are frequently used when conducting a
structured or semi-structured interview and in the
report generation. Interviewers and interviewees can
jointly sit down and complete specific items included
in the system, and this information can stored with
other related, medical and psychological information
(Cimino, 2013)
Choosing an Appropriate Assessment Instrument
Only choose assessment technique to match purpose of testing

The result of the interview will be used as information for
assessment as well as the breadth and depth of other needed
information in writing the report. Choosing appropriate test
will result to credible assessment.

Counselors are responsible for the appropriate application,
scoring, interpretation, and use of assessment instruments
relevant to the needs of the client, whether they score and
interpret such assessments themselves or use technology or
other services. (ACA, Section E.2.b)

Psychologists administer, adapt, score,
interpret, or use assessment techniques,
interview, tests, or instruments in a
manner and for purpose that are
appropriate in light of the research on or
evidence of the usefulness and proper
application of the techniques. (APA,
Section 9.02.a)
Writing
the Report
Writing assessment reports. Known “tips” to good report
writing. Many clinicians these days are asked to write involved
reports, the actual format of the report tends to vary from
setting to setting.

For example:

 Mental health clinic may specify a preferred or required
format for its therapist
 Social worker in private practice may be driven to a
particular format by insurance provider requirements
 School counselor may have to use an established formats
required by the –system-wide school counseling director.
Report formats:

1. Demographic information
2. Presenting problem or reason for referral
3. Family background
4. Significant medical/counseling history
5. Substance use and abuse
6. Educational and vocational history
7. Other pertinent information
8. Mental status
9. Assessment results
10.Diagnosis
11.Summary and conclusion
12.Recommendations
SUMMARY OF ASSESSMENT REPORT
DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
Name:
Address:
Contact No.:
Ethnicity:
Date of interview:
Age:
Sex:
E-mail address:
Name of interviewer:

PRESENTING PROBLEM OR
REASON FOR REFERRAL

1.Who referred the client to the

agency?
2.What is the main reason the client
contacted the agency?
3.Reason of assessment
FAMILY
BACKGROUND
1.Significant factors from family of origin
2.Significant factors from current family
3.Some specific issues that may be mentioned:
Where the individual grew up, sexes and
ages of siblings, whether the client came
from an intact family, who were the
major caretakers, important stories from
childhood, sexes and ages of current
children, significant others, and marital
concerns
SIGNIFICANT MEDICAL/COUNSELING HISTORY
1.Significant medical history, particularly

anything related to the client’s
assessment (e.g., psychiatric
hospitalization, heart disease leading to
depressions)
2.Types and dates of previous counseling
SUBSTANCE USE AND
ABUSE
1.Use or abuse of food, cigarettes,
alcohol, prescription medication,
or illegal drugs
2.Counseling related to use and
abuse

EDUCATIONAL AND
VOCATIONAL HISTORY
1.Educational history (e.g., level of
education and possible names of
institution)
2.Vocational history and career path (names
and types of jobs)
3.Satisfaction with educational level and
career path.
4.Significant leisure activities
OTHER PERTINENT
INFORMATION
1.Legal concerns and history of

problems with the law
2.Issues related to sexuality (e.g.,
sexual orientation, sexual
dysfunction)
3.Financial problems
4.Other concerns
MENTAL STATUS
1. Appearance and behavior (e.g., dress, hygiene, posture,
tics, nonverbal, and manner of speech)
2. Emotional state (e.g., effect and mood)
3. Thought components (e.g., content and process;
delusions, distortions, suicidal or homicidal ideation,
circumstantiality, coherence, flight of ideas, logical
thinking, intact as opposed to loose associations,
organization, and tangentially).
4. Cognitive functioning (e.g., orientation to time, place,
and person; short-and long-term memory; knowledge
base and intellectual functioning; insight and
judgment).
ASSESSMENT
RESULTS
1.List assessment and test instrument
used
2.Summarize results
3.Avoid raw scores and state results in
unbiased manner
4.Consider using standardized test
and percentiles
DIAGNOSIS
1.DSM-5 diagnoses
2.Include V and or Z codes if
appropriate
3.Include other diagnoses such as
medical, rehabilitation, or other
salient factors
SUMMARY AND
CONCLUSION
1.Integration of all information
2.Accurate, brief, and relevant
3.No new information
4.Inferences that are logical, sound,
defendable, and based on facts in the
report.
5.At least one paragraph that speaks to the
client’s strengths.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1.Based on all information gathered

2.Should make logical sense to
reader
3.In paragraph form or as a listing
4.Usually followed by signature of
examiner
FIFTEEN SUGGESTION FOR WRITING REPORTS
1. Omit passive verbs

2. Be nonjudgmental.
3. Reduce the use of jargon
4. Do not use a patronizing tone.
5. Increase the use of subheading
6. Reduce the use of and define acronyms
7. Minimize the number of difficult words.
8. Try to use shorter rather than longer words.
9. Make sure paragraphs are concise and flow well.
10.Point out strengths and weaknesses of your client.
11 . Don’t try to dazzle the reader of your report with
your brilliance.
12. When possible, described behaviors that are
representative of client issues.
13. Only label when it is necessary and valuable to so
for the client’s well-being.
14. Write the report so a non-mental-health professional
can understand it (e.g., a teacher).
15. Don’t be afraid to take a stand if you feel strongly
that the information warrants it (e.g., the
information leads you to believe a client is in
danger or harming self.)
Chapter review:
1. Describe some purpose of the assessment report.

Relate to your workplace if applicable.
2. Compare and contrast structured, semi-
structured, and unstructured interview
techniques.
3. What is your opinion with regards to computer-
generated reports take in the assessment report
process and interview using artificial intelligence
(AI)?
- selomanlzel@gmail.com
Thank you!

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MODULE II

The Assessment Report.

1. Discuss the purpose of the assessment report.

Assessment report. Written summary, synthesis, and

Information gathered for the client is very important

Breadth should be based on the purpose of the

 The examiner may miss information due to the fact items

Contrast the structured interview with the unstructured interview,

 Because it does no allow for breadth of

Only choose assessment technique to match purpose of testing

1.Who referred the client to the

1.Significant medical history, particularly

1.Legal concerns and history of

1.Based on all information gathered

1. Omit passive verbs

1. Describe some purpose of the assessment report.

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