GNM - Nursing psychology and sociology - First yearUnit 8: Psychological Assessment and Tests..

GNM - Nursing psychology and sociology - First year

Unit 8: Psychological Assessment and Tests..

Contents:

• Psychological tests: Meaning, types, principles of test development, characteristics, uses, interpretation

• Role of nurses in psychological assessment
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Notes:

¶ Introduction:

Psychological assessment is a process of testing that uses a combination of techniques to help arrive to some hypotheses about a person and their behavior, personality and capabilities.

¶ Purposes of Psychological Tests:-

It is helpful in identifying child’s strengths and weakness.

• A psychological assessment is used to assist in planning child school programs.
• It is used to diagnose psychopathology and screening for jobs.
• It may be used in an educational setting to determine personality strengths and weaknesses.

¶ Characteristics:

• Objectivity
• Standardized
• Test Reliability
• Predictive
• Practicability
• Test norms
• Test Validity

¶ Principles:

• Test are samples of behavior
• Test should have adequate reliability and validity
• Test results are dependent on person cooperation and motivation
• Test results should be interpreted in relation to other behavioral data and to case history information, never in isolation.

¶ Types of Psychological Tests:

1. Intelligence test: These are used to measure intelligence, or our ability to understand the environment and interact with it.

Example:

• Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
• Wechsler intelligence scale for children (WISC)
• Stanford- Binet intelligence scale (SB)

2. Personality tests: These are used to measure personality style.

Example:

• Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory (MMPI)
• Inkblot test

3. Attitude tests: These tests are used to measure how an individual feels about a particular event, place, person or object. Attitude scales are used in marketing to determine individual preferences for brands.

Example: Likert’s scale

4. Achievement tests: These are used to measure how well we understand a particular topic.

Example:

• Peabody individual achievement test
• Wechsler individual achievement test

5. Aptitude test: are used to measure abilities in specific areas.

Example:

• Armed services vocational aptitude battery
• Bloomberg aptitude test

6. Neuropsychological tests: These tests are used to measure a psychological function known to be linked to a particular brain structure or pathway.

Example: Benton visual retention test

7. Direct observation tests: is usually conducted with families in the laboratory, home or with children in a classroom.

Example: The parent- child interaction assessment- II

8. Sexological test: Number of tests specifically meant for the field of sexology is quite limited.

Example:

• ASKAS ( Aging sexuality knowledge and attitudes)

¶ Role of Nurse in Psychological Testing:

• Nurse should be aware about various psychological tests, which will help her to clarify the doubts of relatives or family members.
• Nurse should become familiar with many standardized tests that are available to enhance each stage of the nursing process.
• Nurse should maintain the safety and confidentiality of clients.
• Nurse should have good rapport with family members and the client.
• Nurse should clear all doubts of family members and the client.
• Nurse should have adequate recording and reporting about observations made during administration.