psychological assessment

Chapter 23: Assessment and Monitoring of Symptoms in the Treatment of Psychological Problems

AUTHORS: D. Edwards, C. Young

ABSTRACT: This chapter considers the clinical application of brief symptom measures in South African contexts. Although typically developed in the USA and UK, these measures can assist South African clinicians to assess the severity of their clients’ presentations, to track the progress of psychological therapy from one session to the next and to evaluate therapy outcomes. There is evidence for their value not only for research but also for practice, as such systematic tracking of symptoms improves clinical outcome. While many competing measures have been developed over the years, a few dominate in the literature and even fewer have been used and at least partially validated in South Africa. This chapter summarizes recent local validation studies on the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation – Outcome Measure (CORE-OM), and of the Xhosa translations of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS).  Other disorder-specific measures that have been used in local contexts include the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and a number of trauma scales such as the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale (PDS), the Impact of Events Scale (IES), the Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory, and the Traumatic Grief Inventory (TGI). The utility of these scales in everyday settings, and their interpretation in conjunction with other assessment data are examined by reference to clinical examples, including published case studies.  Problems encountered in the translation of scales as well as their use in local multicultural and multilingual contexts are discussed.

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Chapter 12: The Griffiths Scales in South Africa

AUTHOR/S: L. Jacklin, K. Cockcroft

ABSTRACT: The Griffiths scales were developed by Ruth Griffiths O. B. E. The Abilities of Babies was published in 1954 followed by The Abilities of Young Children in 1970.  These scales were used extensively in the United Kingdom and a variety of other countries. Eventually, it became clear that with greater exposure of children to electronic media and early childhood education that there had been acceleration in the development of children. The Griffiths scales had to be updated to keep pace with the changes. This resulted in the publication of the revision of the Birth to 2 years in 1996 and the   Extended Revised Scales for children of between 2 years and eight years in 2006 .This text will describe the history and development of the scales. The Griffiths scales are one of a variety of tests available for assessing the development of young children. What makes them unique is that they can be used to test children from birth up to the developmental age of eight years across all areas of development. They therefore give a complete profile of the development of the child. The strengths and weaknesses of the use of the Griffiths scales as a test and as a research tool in the South African context will be described. The use of the Griffiths scales is controlled by the Association for Research in Infant and Child Development (ARICD) to ensure that the test is administered by suitably trained testers. The training process is described. Assessment and the development of tools is a dynamic process. The future development of the scales is discussed.

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Chapter 11: The APIL and TRAM learning potential instruments in South Africa

AUTHOR/S: T. Taylor

ABSTRACT: This chapter covers three main topics involving the APIL and TRAM learning potential instruments developed by Aprolab, namely, the underlying theory, the nature and contents of the instruments and technical information. Early theory by Vogotsky, Feuerstein and others suggested that learning potential is solely reflected in the zone of proximal development, the degree to which an individual’s performance improves with intervention.  APIL and TRAM instruments are based on a broader theory drawn from cognitive psychology, information processing theory and learning theory. This theory incorporates four main elements – fluid intelligence, information processing efficiency, transfer and learning rate. The first two constructs are static (not direct measures of learning potential, but nevertheless critical to learning). The last two dimensions are dynamic (direct measures of learning). Only learning rate is related to the zone of proximal development concept from which the learning potential construct originally arose. There are actually three Aprolab learning potential instruments: APIL, TRAM-2 and TRAM-1. They cover the educational spectrum from no education to tertiary education. All of them are based on the theory mentioned above and incorporate separate measures of the four constructs listed above. In some cases the constructs are broken down into sub-dimensions. APIL has eight scores, TRAM-2 six and TRAM-1 five. The sub-dimensions are described, the techniques whereby the raw-scores are converted into normed scores on these sub-dimensions explained, and examples of stimulus material provided. The APIL and TRAM instruments have been used since the mid-90’s. Technical information is given on scale inter-correlations, reliabilities, predictive and concurrent validity, and culture-fairness/lack of bias.

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Chapter 14: The 16PF in South Africa

AUTHORS: N. Taylor, C. Prinsloo, R. van Eeden

ABSTRACT: Personality assessment and the general history of the development of the 16PF are briefly discussed. An overview of the history of the 16PF in South Africa is subsequently given including the development and psychometric properties of older versions of the questionnaire and of related questionnaires. This is followed by a detailed discussion of two versions of the questionnaire, namely the SA92 version and the SA fifth edition. Both versions are locally used and supported by test publishers (although the form SA92 is being phased out in favour of the SA fifth edition). The latter represents current local and international developments and the former is important in terms of the associated research results both from a practical and a methodological point of view. The versions are described in terms of their development and the subsequent research conducted in South Africa. The emphasis is on critical discussion/examination of the instruments in the local context, focusing on cross-cultural research. In addition to comparisons across groups, issues such as the understanding of items, the role of language proficiency and translation difficulties are discussed. Issues related to the 16PF in practice are discussed and the chapter concludes with ideas on the future of the questionnaire in South Africa. Reliability, validity and bias issues are highlighted as far as possible.

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Chapter 10: The Learning Potential Computerised Adaptive Test (LPCAT) in South Africa

AUTHOR/S: M. de Beer

ABSTRACT: In the multicultural and multilingual South African context where differences in socio-economic and educational background and opportunities of individuals further complicate psychological assessment, the measurement of learning potential provides additional information in the cognitive domain that has shown positive results.  This chapter deals with the history of dynamic assessment internationally and locally and provides empirical results on the LPCAT that provide support for utilizing this approach in conjunction with standard tests of cognitive ability and aptitude.  It further elucidates how the use of Item Response Theory (IRT) and Computerised Adaptive Testing (CAT) addresses a number of practical and measurement issues that have been hampering the wide-scale implementation and use of dynamic assessment of learning potential in assessment in education and in industry.

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Chapter 9: Dynamic Assessment in South Africa

AUTHOR/S: Z. Amod & J. Seabi

ABSTRACT: This chapter outlines current developments in Dynamic Assessment (DA), an interactive assessment procedure that uses deliberate and planned mediational teaching and assesses of the impact of that teaching on subsequent performance. The objective of the chapter is to critically review the major criticisms of the traditional “static“ testing approach, discuss the theoretical basis of the DA approach and its relevance within the South African context, present current empirical research on the Dynamic Assessment of children, and suggest some directions for future research. The DA approach has been motivated by the inadequacy of traditional “static” tests to provide accurate information about the individual’s ability. Given that the history of “static” testing in South Africa closely resembles the racial policies of apartheid, which attempted to preserve and perpetuate social structures (Benjamin & Lomosfky, 2002), and that many of such tests have been standardized on middle class children, concerns regarding the relevance of traditional testing have been raised.  DA is presented in this chapter as an alternative approach that minimizes discriminatory approaches to the assessment of culturally different populations and facilitates a strong link between assessment and intervention.  DA is aimed at changing and modifying the individual’s cognitive structures within the assessment process. The theoretical foundations of DA are derived primarily from Vygostky’s socio-cultural theory, specifically the zone of proximal development, and Feuerstein’s Mediated Learning Experience theory. DA has been applied with different educational and clinical groups of children and adolescents both abroad and in South Africa and has been found to be more accurate in reflecting children’s learning potential. Although the DA approach has a great appeal to many professional psychologists and educators, it has not yet become a central part of prevailing practice. Major critiques leveled against the DA approach are discussed.

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Chapter 8: The Cognitive Assessment System (CAS) in a South African context

AUTHOR/S:  Z. Amod

ABSTRACT: Limitations of current intelligence tests, the search for more equitable assessment procedures and the need to link assessment with intervention have led to the exploration of alternative forms of cognitive assessment.  Information processing models of assessment embodied in the work of Luria, Kaufman and Das, for instance, are in the forefront of the latest developments in cognitive psychology.  In this chapter the Cognitive Assessment System (CAS) developed by Das and Naglieri (Das, Naglieri & Kirby, 1994) is discussed both theoretically and in relation to research conducted mainly abroad but also in South Africa. This novel assessment approach is based on the Planning, Attention, Simultaneous and Successive (PASS) model of cognitive functioning. There is empirical support for the PASS theory and the CAS (Naglieri, 1999; Van Luit, Kroesbergen and Naglieri, 2005) and extensive research has been conducted to establish the relationship between certain cognitive processes of the PASS model and specific academic skills (Kirby and Das, 1990; Hold, 2000; Lerew, 2003; Germain, 2004). The usefulness and application of the CAS instrument in South Africa has been indicated by several studies (Chow and Skuy, 1999; Churches, Skuy & Das; Fairon, 2006; Floquet, 2008; Hofmeyer 2000; Naidoo, 2001; Reid, Kok & van der Merwe, 2000). The PASS Remedial Programme (Das et al, 1994) has been developed to provide a link between cognitive processing strategies and academic content. It is proposed in this chapter that the PASS model as operationalized by the CAS is a valuable alternative or at least adjunct to traditional intelligence tests. Further research needs to be conducted which combines the Information Processing model with Dynamic Assessment, to facilitate a link between assessment and intervention.

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Chapter 7: The Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) in South Africa

AUTHOR/S:  K. Greenop, J. Fry, D. de Sousa

ABSTRACT: The K-ABC was published in 1983 (revised and re-standardised, K-ABC ll, in 2004) as a measure of cognitive ability in children aged 2-12:6 years. The revised edition appropriately extends the age band to 18:11 years and modifies, subtracts and adds subtests. The K-ABC measures fluid and crystallised abilities, short and long term memory and visual processing and aligns with the Cattell-Horn-Carroll hierarchically organized model. The battery is based on Luria’s model of mental processing and has correlated significantly with scholastic achievement. Of greatest relevance is that the K-ABC was designed to have a reduced language and cultural load and the second edition has altered two sub-scales that were shown to load differently for diverse cultures.  The degree to which the K-ABC is able to offer a reduced cultural load test is debatable. Cross-cultural research, in Zaire and South Africa predominantly, has demonstrated that the K-ABC has value in cross-cultural settings but with specific caveats. Importantly the Sequential and Simultaneous processing scale offer more value that the Mental Processing Composite which has a knowledge basis that is culturally specific. The few studies have been conducted on the K-ABC in South Africa, have demonstrated its assessment value in a diagnostic, remedial and dynamic assessment framework, especially in comparison to alternate intelligence tests. However, caution is raised due to the absence of a strong South African normative basis.

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Chapter 1: Contextualising Psychological Assessment in South Africa

AUTHOR/S: S. Laher & K. Cockcroft

ABSTRACT: According to Claassen (1997), psychological testing came to South Africa through Britain and that the development of psychological tests in South Africa followed a similar pattern to that of the tests in the United States. The difference is that tests in South Africa were developed in a context with unequal distribution of resources due to apartheid. According to Nzimande (1995), assessment practices in South Africa were used to justify the exploitation of black labour and to deny black people access to education as well as economic resources. Sehlapelo and Terre Blanche (1996) argue further that tests are used on a large scale in South Africa to determine who gains access to economic and educational opportunities, which is why the reformation of tests is important. The Employment Equity Act (Act 55 of 1998) requires that all testing procedures are scientifically reliable, valid and free from bias. This chapter briefly contextualises psychological assessment within the history of South Africa and alerts the reader to some of the main debates in the area. The chapter then proceeds to highlight the input provided by each of the chapters in the book. Thus it serves as an introduction to the book whilst at the same time highlighting the salient aspects in psychological assessment in South Africa.

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Chapter 21: The Millon Inventories in South Africa

AUTHORS: R. Patel, S. Laher

ABSTRACT: The Millon family of instruments consists of the MCMI-III, MIPS, MAHI,MBHI. This chapter will provide a brief history into their development touching on Millon’s theory of abnormal and normal personality development. Following this a brief description of each instrument will be provided. Since the MCMI-III is the most commonly used instrument both internationally and locally, this will receive more coverage in the chapter. Research on the MCMI-III in SA will be presented. Finally the MIPS was studied in the SA context and SA norms were developed for the instrument. These will also be included in the chapter.

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