The purpose of this research was to examine the assessment process in clinical psychology using an ecologically valid design. By capitalizing on the methodologies of cognitive science and adapting data analytic techniques borrowed from the medical decision-making literature, the clinical assessment behaviours of psychology undergraduate students, clinical psychology graduate students, and professional psychologists were compared. / The results demonstrate that professional psychologists took longest to develop their diagnostic formulations, divide their questioning evenly between close and open-ended questions, provide more information to the patient, provide diagnoses that are fully consistent with the clinical data, and demonstrate an increase in diagnostic accuracy using the MultiAxial Form (APA, 1994). Finally, extensive clinical experience affords clinicians with a greater degree of case comprehension that may impact the quality of treatment. / Graduate students in clinical psychology demonstrate the same degree of test familiarity as the psychologists, adhere to empirical recommendations by conducting comprehensive clinical interviews and asking about DSM-IV criteria during the clinical interview, evidence a reliance on open-ended questions during the clinical interview, and also show an increase in diagnostic accuracy using the MultiAxial Form (APA, 1994). There were no significant differences in accuracy rates between professional psychologists and graduate students; however, some graduate students included diagnoses that were inconsistent with the clinical data. / The undergraduate students tended to cover many of the same topics in the interview as the other groups; however, they did so by posing significantly more close-ended questions. Further, none of the undergraduate students provided an accurate diagnosis of the case. There were no differences in confidence ratings across levels of experience. A model of clinical assessment behaviour is proposed that can function as a framework for future studies.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.38098 |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Creators | Zozula, Leanna J. |
| Contributors | Patel, Vimla L. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Psychology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001847691, proquestno: NQ75691, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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