Problem:
"When my colleague suggests creating a new mental health questionnaire, I would discuss what I learned from Hays (2024), who discusses how assessments must demonstrate reliability, validity, and clear scoring procedures before they can be interpreted. A homemade tool lacks the evidence, standardization, and ethical safeguards required for responsible practice. This is also discussed by Neulinger et al. (2024), who found that validated screening tools in primary care demonstrate acceptable diagnostic accuracy, while untested measures increase the risk of misdiagnosis. To address concerns that the DASS-21 is too frustrating, I would explain that using a tested instrument protects clients and ensures consistency. Plus, administration can be adapted by reading items out loud or by breaking measures into parts, without altering the tool's validity (Hays, 2024). Ali et al. (2021) show that the DASS-21 has strong psychometric support and that shorter, validated versions like the DASS-8 also maintain internal consistency, strong correlations with the full scale, and good discrimination validity. This offers us a time-efficient alternative that remains evidence-based, unlike creating a new measure. By using established instruments, we meet ethical, practical, and psychometric standards while in a rural, resource-limited setting, where time and efficiency is important. How can we balance using validated and reliable tools with the need to reduce assessment fatigue in rural settings?" Need Assignment Help?