Chapter 9
In the ninth chapter of Strauser, Tansey, and Chan’s (2019) textbook, we learn about assessing for mental health and substance use disorders. In the introduction to that part of the text, the authors describe an informative and appropriate assessment of a client displaying symptoms of psychosis as one that ‘utilizes a biopsychosocial approach to assessment,’ taking into account ‘biological, psychological, and social factors that contribute to the development and the maintenance of a disorder, and determine how an individual is coping with that disorder.’ When discussing the assessment of clients’ family health history, they urge counselors to develop and present ‘culturally responsive assessment strategies … designed to assess in a culturally competent way the client’s culture, values, and beliefs’.
The chapter provides an overview of a range of assessment tools, namely (online) clinical interviews that help with revealing important information about the client’s symptomatology, history, and functioning; behavioral observations to gain and document insight into the client’s demeanor and behavior; (online) self-report measures, such as questionnaires and surveys that provide insight into the subjective experience and perceptions of one’s functioning; and (online) objective tests including the cognitive and neuropsychological assessment that provides objective information to assess cognitive functioning.
The chapter also addresses ethical and legal issues in assessment, such as ensuring that clients give informed consent to be assessed, understanding the purpose of the evaluation, possible benefits and risks, confidentiality, and using assessment results concerning decision-making.
Using culturally responsive test instruments is one of the critical points outlined in Chapter 9 (which also outlines the use of the strengths perspective). The authors stress the need to factor in the client’s culture, values, and beliefs when choosing what tests to use and how to administer them, e.g., using a language-appropriate test. Also, trained interpreters or cultural brokers may be used. The need to avoid imposing a deficits and problems view but use a strengths perspective instead applies to the entire assessment process.
This chapter presents multiple illustrative examples of different types of assessment tools and methods used by mental health professionals, such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) – a widely used and accepted classification for mental health disorders and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) – a US government agency that provides guidebooks for substance use disorder assessment The book also covers giving a typical psychodiagnostics instruments of which the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (1943; MMPI) and the Beck Depression Inventory (1961; BDI) are examples.
Overview: In chapter 9 of their textbook discussing assessment and intervention for mental health and substance use disorders, Strauser, Tansey, and Chan demonstrate the importance of the evaluation done using the biopsychosocial and culturally responsive approaches, joint assessment tools and techniques, addressing ethical and legal issues that arise in the course of assessment, and giving several examples of assessment tools and techniques in practice. Keywords: culturally responsive evaluation, biopsychosocial assessment, mental health and substance use disorder assessment, models and methods, ethical aspects. What does this mean? Through a holistic approach involving culturally appropriate strategies, counselors have the skills to offer accurate elaborations and treatment guidelines for people of all ethnicities and social backgrounds, as well as for existing concerns.
Chapter 10
Chapter 10 of the book Assessment in Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling (2020) by Strauser, Tansey, and Chan outlines an assessment of cognitive functioning and the need for rehabilitation and mental health counseling to incorporate assessments of cognitive abilities. Cognitive abilities are the mental processes that allow us to perceive and process information we take in through our senses so we can respond to the world around us. There are many cognitive abilities, such as attention, memory, executive functioning, language, and perceptual-motor skills.
The chapter mentions some typical cognitive quantification tools and techniques, including neuropsychological assessments (tests used to assess a patient’s memory, speed, verbal abilities, motor skills, etc), intelligence tests, and memory assessments. Neuropsychological assessments are a broad evaluation of an individual’s cognitive skills to cover attention, memory, executive functions, language, and so on. Intelligence tests, as the name says, are tests to assess an individual’s general cognitive ability, like ability to rule the information in a problem, verbal reasoning ability, spatial ability, etc. Memory assessing tests are the ways to measure individuals’ ability to remember information.
The chapter discusses the assessments used to evaluate each of these types of cognitive abilities. Attention is the ability to concentrate on pertinent stimuli in one’s surroundings and filter out irrelevant information. A number of assessments have been used to assess attentional skills. Examples include the Continuous Performance Test (CPT), the Digit Span Test, and the Digit Symbol Coding Test. Memory concerns the capacity to encode, store, and recall information. A few examples of assessments of this type include but are by no means limited to the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS), the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT), the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, and the KSADS Memory Scale.’ Executive functioning: This covers all the key areas of planning and implementing a task, monitoring the progress, and shifting since it is the main focus. Next, we consider particularly the executive function tests, such as the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), the Stroop Test, and the Trail Making Test. Language: This means not only knowing how to communicate verbally (speaking and listening) but also writing down and comprehending texts in one’s native language. Sample tests will be used, such as the Boston Naming Test (BNT) and the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (CELF).
Concluding in this chapter, techniques of cognitive assessment data interpretation and how to tailor the intervention to the outcome of cognitive assessment are described. Interpreting cognitive assessment results involves considering the client’s age, level of education, cultural background, and other factors to determine whether any patterns of deficits or difficulties in the assessment are significant. Developing an intervention informed by a cognitive evaluation involves developing a treatment plan that is designed to take into account an individual’s cognitive strengths and weaknesses (e.g., if there are deficits in self-awareness, the nature of the treatment should allow for greater engagement and less demand on the client to make independent choices/decisions). One of the critical messages emphasized throughout the chapter is that cognitive assessment should be undertaken holistically, taking into account all relevant aspects of the client’s medical, psychological, and social history.
Summarizing chapter 10 of Strauser, Tansey, and Chan’s (2020) Assessment in Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling presents an outline and a comprehensive review of cognitive abilities assessment, which are essential in the mental health rehabilitation counseling process. The chapter is hierarchically organized: it begins by guiding you through the most common cognitive testing tools or methods. Next, a main cognitive capacity is outlined to clarify it, and then the methods to examine some of these cognitive abilities will be revealed. To conclude, the authors explain the role of cognition assessment interpretation and the task of formulating the intervention plan based on the evaluation outcome. The chapter concludes that multi-dimensional cognitive evaluation, involving the factors of medical and psychological record and social background, plays a paramount role in deciding rehabilitation and psychotherapy programs. It should be noted that the authors determined this level of approach for cognitive evaluation significant in mental health rehabilitation counseling.
Chapter 13
‘Vocational and Career Development Assessment’ in Strauser, Tansey, and Chan’s Handbook of Assessment in Rehabilitation Counselling and Mental Health Counselling (2020) is one of the critical components of rehabilitation and mental health counseling as it encompasses a range of assessment methods across various fields like interest inventories, aptitude tests, and career counseling approaches.
The chapter discusses vocational and career development stages: career exploration, career decision-making, and career management. The first discussed stage is career exploration. Career exploration is ‘the process of learning about available careers and occupations.’ Secondly, the stage addressed most by career and vocational psychologists is career decision-making, which may also be referred to as vocational choice and is defined as ‘selecting a career or occupation.’ The final stage is career management, which is explained as ‘the process of maintaining and advancing one’s career over time.’ The chapter describes the various types of assessment used to test for each stage. It offers guidelines for taking three primary steps of intervention following such testing, including interpretation of the evaluation, development of the plan of action, and implementation of the career plan.
The academic is the test of career exploration, and one of its applications is the use of interest inventories. The instruments of interest inventories measure interest or likes in occupations or other activities that an individual wants to engage in. The different academic is the aptitude test, which is the test of career decision. The aptitude test instruments identify verbal, numerical, and spatial abilities or skills in an individual. The last type is the comprehensive approach to evaluate the effectiveness of career management, and this is the career counselling approach, which is based on the collaborative relationship between a counselor and a client. The counselor helps the client to identify interests, likes, values, and goals and prepare a plan of how to achieve the goals.
One of the hallmarks of using a client-centered orientation with vocational and career assessment is to explore the client’s interests, values, and goals. The use of a client-centered approach involves working with the client to identify the strengths, weaknesses, and preferences that the client has and developing an intervention that is appropriate to the specific client and the situation in which the client finds it. Within the chapter are examples of guidelines for interpreting the assessment results and formulating intervention development. In interpreting assessment results and the development of intervention, the age of the client, educational background, and any form of relevant job experience are some of the critical considerations. In formulating interventions that are appropriate to the assessment findings, the client’s career goals and objectives are detailed.
One of the chapters, titled ‘Vocational and Career Development Assessment in Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling,’ details vocational and career development assessment in counseling. It maps out the tools and techniques of vocational and career assessment, covers various stages or periods of vocational and career development, and discusses the evaluation of each stage. Contained within this chapter of Strauser, Tansey, and Chan’s Assessment in Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counselling is the central point of vocational and career assessment being client-centered and attuned to the learners’ interests, values, and goals. This chapter demonstrates that, in counseling, vocational and career development calls for an extensive, individualized assessment of the learners in the rehabilitation and mental health fields.
References
Strauser, D., Tansey, T., & Chan, F. (2020). Assessment in rehabilitation and mental health counseling. Springer Publishing.
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