Assignment:
Administration Considerations for Assessment Tools
Consider the following scenario:
Terrence is considering next steps for a client, Angela, who has come for therapy at the family counseling center where he works. When Angela scheduled her appointment on the telephone, she had described her concerns with marital difficulties, insomnia, and depression. During her first session, however, Terrence noticed that Angela had a very nervous demeanor, picked at her skin constantly, and had a rasping cough. When Terrence asked Angela about her employment, she admitted that she had lost her job and that her husband was angry about it. She said she was afraid her husband was on the brink of becoming abusive.
Terrence is not sure what to do first. He suspects Angela might have a substance addiction, but clearly she has several interlocking problems, and many are urgent. Should Terrence administer a screening for addiction or a more general clinical assessment? If he does decide to administer an addictions assessment, which of the many that are available should he choose and why?
You differentiate between the use of addictions assessment tools and clinical assessment tools and review several assessment tools in order to evaluate one of them.
Discussion: Data Sources
Screening tools are not designed to make diagnoses. They can give evidence that a problem exists. However, there is no guarantee that one screening tool or even one assessment or type of data will yield the necessary data to inform the addictions professional about a potential treatment plan and next steps. This is why addictions professionals may have to seek multiple (also known as multimodal) data sources from which to elicit sufficient data on an individual.
In this Discussion, you will consider what you might do in a hypothetical situation in which a client's scores on a screening tool are insufficient for the purposes of interpretation.
To prepare:
- Review the article "Screening for Alcohol Problems: What Makes a Test Effective?"
- Review the data collected for the diagnostic summary for Jane Roberts (pseudonym "Patty") in Chemical Dependency Counseling: A Practical Guide, Appendix 6 (pp. 254-260)
- Review the Introduction scenario featuring Terrence. Terrence is faced with a client, Angela, who is presenting several problems.
Post your response to the following:
Consider the scenario in the Introduction. What sources of data might Terrence collect in order to understand the client's problems? Explain why you chose each source. Finally, provide a rationale for the number of sources you recommend.
Readings:
Screening for Alcohol Problems-What Makes a Test Effective?
By Scott H. Stewart, M.D., and Gerard J. Connors