DPSY5102 - Psychological assessment part 1

Leader: Dr Greg Savage

Offered

Clayton First semester 2007 (Day)

Synopsis

Students will be introduced to a number of psychological tests and scales, designed to assess important aspects of cognitive functioning. They will learn how to select which tests are most appropriate in specific clinical situations and how to administer, score and interpret each measure. The skills required to document the assessment results will be imparted. Issues in assessing people from other cultural and linguistic backgrounds will also be discussed. On a broader level, students will be taught to be critical consumers of the neuropsychological literature.

Objectives

On completion of this unit students should:

1. Understand the principles of psychological measurement and their application;
2. Have become proficient in the administration, scoring and interpretation of some of the most commonly used psychological tests.
3. Show competency in evaluating psychometric instruments for research purposes and in screening referrals for psychometric assessment, selecting appropriate tests, integrating results and providing oral and written communication of results to interested parties.

Assessment

Satisfactory attendance and participation are required to pass the subject. In addition, each student will be required to present a 20 minute talk and prepare a class handout on a selected, clinically-relevant psychological test (30%). They will also complete a short take-home exercise concerning psychometric issues (30%) and will be required to prepare a psychological report of approximately 500 words or less (40%). Prior to the completion of Semester 1, students must administer and score two WAIS-III's and two WMS-III's (hurdle requirement). They will be required to demonstrate two randomly chosen subtests of the WAIS-III (hurdle requirement).