Psychologists spend a significant portion of their time writing psychological reports. Oftentimes these reports are highly technical and written at a level which the literature has suggested is often difficult for teachers to utilize in their classrooms. Several previous research studies have examined psychological report writing practices and offered suggestions for improvement. One of these suggestions (theme or referral-based report writing) has not been as thoroughly examined in the literature. The purpose of this study was to examine this report writing style compared to more traditional report writing practices. This study utilized a novel approach to assessing teachers’ perceptions of these report writing styles which was adapted from the social validity literature (e. g., ARP-R). This study investigated both differences between each report writing style as well as a potential interaction effect between teacher experience and report type. Overall, the study did not find significant differences in teachers’ ratings between each report style. The readability of the psychological reports was hypothesized to be a confounding variable which may have impacted teachers’ views of the social validity of each report. Results, limitations, implications, and future research are also discussed.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T13:31:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Camila Miyagui.pdf: 1311252 bytes, checksum: 5223d672be5c99bf61c60aba21ca7162 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-09-29 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This research presents an analysis of social and psychological reports dispatched by the family court of the judicial district of the state of São Paulo that are related to lawsuits from ex-couples that fight in court for child custody. It investigates the concepts of childhood and best interests of the child manifested on the judiciary technicians and law professionals discourses; the criteria used to determine the parent(s) ability(ies) related to custody activities; the parameters for the definition of family, family conflict and custody award. It analyzes the reports according with the recommendations of the Federal Council of Psychology and the Federal Council of Social Service. Two lawsuits were selected, one concerning modified custody and the other concerning joint custody. The theoretical background are the Vygotsky's social-historic psychology and its categories of analysis, meanings and significances, along with Foucault's considerations about legal practices. The results point different ways of understanding family dynamics, relations of parenthood and affiliation, intersubjective conflicts, expressed in the reports. The subtexts revealed in the reports do not stray from the law professionals narratives; they are normative discourses, endorsed by the legislation; they are narratives that do not take into account neither the family dynamics nor the situation of the child given the family and the legal conflicts. This research concludes that the axis of the narrative is not the child but the conception of the ideal bourgeois family. Many are the difficulties that pass through the relation between psychology and law and that interfere in the dialogue between them, as the child listening importance and the conception of child development founded in maturity and age criteria. It is noteworthy, therefore, the importance of understanding the child as an active, singular, being, endowed with the capacity of signify their experiences / Esta pesquisa apresenta uma análise de laudos psicológicos e sociais produzidos na vara de família de comarca do estado de São Paulo e se referem a ações de ex-casais que brigam judicialmente pela guarda dos filhos. Investiga as concepções de infância e de melhor interesse da criança manifestadas nos discursos dos técnicos judiciários e dos operadores do direito; os argumentos utilizados para determinar a capacidade do(s) pai(s) em relação ao exercício da guarda; as condições para a definição de família, de conflito familiar e de atribuição da guarda. Analisa os laudos de acordo com as recomendações do Conselho Federal de Psicologia e do Conselho Federal de Serviço Social. Foram selecionados dois processos judiciais, um caso de guarda modificada e outro de guarda compartilhada. Tem como referencial teórico a psicologia sócio-histórica de Vygotsky e suas categorias de análise, significados e sentidos, complementados por reflexões de Foucault sobre as práticas jurídicas. Os resultados apontam diferentes formas de compreensão da dinâmica familiar, das relações de parentalidade, de filiação, dos conflitos intersubjetivos, expressados nos laudos. Os subtextos revelados nos laudos não se distanciam das narrativas dos operadores do direito; são discursos normativos, referendados pelas legislações; são narrativas que não se ocupam da dinâmica familiar nemda situação da criança diante do conflito familiar e judicial. Conclui que o eixo da narrativa não é a criança, é sim a concepção de família ideal burguesa. Muitas são as dificuldades que atravessam a relação entre a psicologia e o direito e que interferem no diálogo entre elas, como a importância da escuta da criança e a concepção de desenvolvimento infantil fundada em critérios de maturação e idade. Destaca-se, assim, a importância de compreender a criança como ser ativo, singular, dotada da capacidade de significar as suas experiências.

Since the 1970s there has been a rising trend in South Africa for legal professionals to use the services of psychologists in legal proceedings. Psychologists have therefore increasingly started to appear as expert witnesses in court cases. Despite this, the field of forensic psychology in South Africa has yet to be defined and delineated. Currently there are no set guidelines or regulations regarding who is qualified to do forensic work, and no standards against which this work can be measured. Psychology in the courtroom has begun to receive a notorious reputation as a result of this. The Professional Board for Psychology (PBP) of the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) is investigating the creation of a new category of registration, that of Forensic Psychologist, partly in an effort to manage and address this problem. However, to date little, if any, research has been conducted on the scope of the work presented to the courts by psychologists appearing as expert witnesses. This research aimed to address this gap by analysing a sample of forensic psychological reports. The following aspects were investigated: <ul><li>Who (category or registration, length of registration, etc.) is doing sentencing reports;</li> <li>How (interviews, collateral information, psychometric tests, etc.) these reports are compiled; and</li> <li>Whether these reports measure up to professional expectations as well as adhere to the guidelines of the HPCSA.</li></ul> It is clear from the results of this research that some of the psychologists doing forensic assessments and writing reports do so in an idiosyncratic way. Besides the fact that no uniformity exists, forensic work is sometimes done by psychologists who are not qualified to do so in terms of their registration category and thus their scope of practice. The reports analysed did not always measure up to guidelines or professional standards from abroad (in lieu of local standards or guidelines for reports) and/or transgressions were made in terms of HPCSA policies and guidelines. This situation is understandable in the light of two shortfalls in this field, namely training and regulation. The following recommendations can be made on the basis of this study: <ul><li>That psychologists who are adequately trained and have the proven experience in forensic work, be accredited by the PBP;</li> <li>That guidelines and standards for forensic work be drawn up by the PBP; in addition, that more complete ethical guidelines than those contained in chapter 7 of the PBP’s Rules of Conduct Pertaining Specifically to Psychology also be drawn up;</li> <li>That adequate training at MA level in basic forensic issues be made compulsory, with the option of advanced training for those wishing to specialise in the field; and</li> <li>That lawyers be trained in basic concepts of psychology so as to allow for better selection of an appropriate psychologist to assist them and also to assure effective cross-examination regarding psychological issues in court.</li></ul> If these recommendations were implemented, they could aid in regulating the field, thus producing forensic work of a consistently high quality. This will hopefully help to narrow the gap between the expected and actual interaction between law and psychology. Copyright / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Psychology / unrestricted

This dissertation examines different aspects involved in the formation of psychologists’ expert opinion in the Portuguese criminal justice system, more precisely, as this opinion is reflected in assessment reports. The present dissertation is comprised of three qualitative studies, the first sought to provide a general portrait of a sample of 106 forensic psychological reports as to their overall quality as measured in terms of relevance and coherence. Results show that the formal markers of quality are present in the sample analysed, a certain number of weaknesses have been observed, notably concerning the internal coherence of the reports as well as the relevance of the information reported on. The second study explored the opinions of 17 Portuguese judges and state prosecutors concerning the use they make of this type of forensic report. It appears that they consider these reports to be useful and very credible, specially so when they have been produced under the auspices of the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, which is the state forensic institution. Furthermore, it appears that judges and prosecutors were particularly interested in data that allowed for a personalised portrait of the assessee. The third study sought to better comprehend the conceptual bases on which psychologists construct their reports. To this end, an exploratory study was undertaken with a sample of key-actors; the analysis of their interviews shows that they define their judicial mandate as well as the basic concepts that are associated to this mandate in different ways. A theoretical framework provided by an implicit theories model was used to help understand these results. / Cette thèse présente trois études qualitatives qui concernent différents aspects de la formulation de l’opinion experte chez des psychologues forensiques, tel que cette opinion se révèle dans leurs rapports d’expertise psycho-légale. La première étude porte sur la qualité d’un vaste échantillon de rapports d’expertise en se concentrant sur des critères de pertinence et de cohérence comme mesures de leur qualité générale. Cette étape a permis de dresser le portrait de 106 rapports forensiques produits au Portugal et d’établir qu’ils rencontrent les critères de qualité formelle établis tout en présentant certaines faiblesses en ce qui concerne la pertinence des informations utilisées et la cohérence interne du rapport La deuxième étude explore les opinions de dix-sept juges et procureurs de la République portugaise et s’interroge plus particulièrement sur leurs perspectives concernant l’utilité ce type de rapports d’experts dans leur travail en cour criminelle. Il appert que ces derniers leur accordent une grande crédibilité en particulier lorsqu’ils ont été produits par les experts de l’Institut portugais de médicine légale et sciences forensiques, l’institution forensique nationale affiliée au Ministère de la Justice. De plus, il se dégage des entretiens que les juges et les procureurs sont particulièrement intéressés par les données qui permettent de dresser un portrait individualisé de la personne évaluée. La troisième étude vise à mieux saisir les bases conceptuelles sur lesquelles les psychologues experts construisent leurs rapports. Pour ce faire, une étude exploratoire auprès d’un échantillon d’acteurs-clés a été menée qui a permis de dégager un certain nombre de constats, notamment que ceux-ci définissent leurs mandats judiciaires ainsi que les concepts fondamentaux qui y sont associés de manière différente. Un cadre théorique basé sur le modèle des théories implicites a été utilisé pour mieux comprendre ces résultats.