Ethical Use of Assessment Essay

AbstractIn this report Julia has s chooseed an judging instrument that solelyow for be intaked in the mental health counseling field demesne of sea captain practice, the Beck Depression armory-II. Reviews of the assessment lead be read to figure that the assessment measures what it purports to measure and that the article reviews result excessively establish an give up use of that tool. Julia has also analyzed the theoretical basis of the article woof for the chosen assessment tool. In humanitarian, Julia volition comp atomic number 18 who the shew developers or publishers and independent reviewers to treat the applicability of the assessment tool to diverse populations. Julia will provide information cited by the publisher where applicable. Along with this information, Julia will c over how the comparison of the BDI-II to former(a) assessments can help the advocator run an honourable judgment of the applicability of utilize the tool within diverse groups of lymph nodes. Finally, Julia will cite any(prenominal) relevant sections of the code of ethics for mental health counseling within the American Counseling standstill as s hearty up as the Mental Health Professional code of ethics. It is also all strategic(p) to state that the names of histrions used atomic number 18 fictional due to hiding of certain man-to-man(a)s.Ethical Use of Assessmentpsychological Testing moralistics ethics be an infixed part of administering psychological runnings and it is undeniable that all scrutiny users follow the estimable guidelines for assessment when development any fibre of psychological test. Psychological tests are an important tool in equipment casualty of many professions in an array of settings much(prenominal) as in clinical psychology, education, and til now business. However, misuse of psychological test by the administrators is a un alter and troubling issue that has the potential to harm the individuals who are taki ng the test and even society as a whole. For test takers, the misuse of a psychological test could result in improper diagnoses or conflicting decision reservation for their therapeutic carry out. The misuse of tests reflects very poorly on the professional organizations on with highly trained test users. Overall this will result in poor decisions that may harm society in both an economic and mental fashion (Beck, Steer, & amp Garbin, 1988).Usually test administrators do non intentionally misuse tests, but rather are non properly trained within the technological knowledge and boilersuit interrogation procedure involved in administering the test. In an effort to check the misuse of psychological tests, psychologists developed a set of professional and technical standards for the development, rating, administration, scoring, and interpretation of all psychological tests. Professionals can overcome the misuse of tests only by understanding these professional and technica l standards involved in using psychological tests (Beck, Steer, & Garbin, 1988). Beck developed a manual of arms to help the administrator of the BDI to interpret the results of the inventory, which includes fifty reviews within a thirty page manual (Conoley, 2012) In any situation in which a professional offers advice or intervenes in a persons personal life in any look, issues regarding fairness, honesty, and conflict of interest can exist. The precondition ethics veracious a bearing indicates any issues or practices that have the potential to influence the decision making process that involves doing the justifiedly thing.Therefore, ethics refers to the moral aspect of right or wrong in regards to various things such as an entire society, an organization, or a culture. Among many professions, there is a set of practice guidelines which are cognise as ethical standards in which for each one member of those professions elect on such codes after debating and discussing thei r various concerns of these particular guidelines that would make the process of testing more than effective and ethical (Beck, Steer, & Garbin, 1988). However, it is exceptionally intemperate to achieve universal agreement when it comes to ethics. For example, numerous psychologists disagree with each other in name of the proper way to interpret a invitees right to privacy. Issues such as whether knowing a leaf node may be a danger to themselves and others should be protected from good inquiry poses what is cognize as an ethical dilemma.Ethical dilemmas are problems that will arise in which there is no clear, direct, or agreed upon moral solution. While ethical standards are not government appointed laws, violating ethical standards of an organization or profession can have numerous and varied penalties as well which can include expulsion from the organization. Testing is an essential part of the psychological network, and if used improperly, can cause harm to individ uals without their knowledge. Therefore, it is necessary that an ethical use of psychological tests is provided to anyone who relies upon them (Beck, Steer, & Garbin, 1988).Psychological Testing and solitudeEthical standards indisputably cover a large amount of ethical concerns and issues with a common purpose involving protecting the rights of any individual that becomes a liquidator of any psychological service including testing. The Ethical Principles have a terminus to respect individuals, safeguard individual privacy as well as dignity, and c go out any unfair or discriminatory practices. There are many issues of concern when it comes to ethics, one such issue being the right to privacy (an enormous issue in the mental health counseling profession). The concepts of individual rights and privacy are a fundamental part of any society. The Ethical Principles affirm individual rights to privacy and confidentiality as well as self-determination, meaning that each client has th e right to be able to discuss any presenting issue with their therapist and the discussion stay within the leap of the office and to participate in the decision making of the therapeutic process.The term confidentiality indicates that individuals are guaranteed privacy in harm of all personal information that is discover and that no information will then be disclosed without the individuals direct written permission. There are quantify however, that confidentiality is breached because counselors within a business setting, for example, will seek out psychological information about their employees. some other example of confidentiality being breached in a professional setting is when teachers may seek prior test tally for students, however, with the good intention of understanding issues of performance (Beck, Steer, & Garbin, 1988). Counselors will also disclose any information the client discusses with them if the client intends to harm himself/herself and or others and when any type of abuse is indicated during the session.Psychological Testing and AnonymityAnother term involved with an individuals right to privacy is known as anonymity. Anonymity refers to the practice of obtaining information through the use of tests turn concealing the individualism of the role player involved. Anonymous testing is more commonly used in double-blind studies in which the researchers are completely unaware of the identity of the participants of the study. It is suggested that anonymous testing may provide more validity in terms of accurate and truthful information about participants because participants will be more likely to answer questions truthfully about themselves when their identity is not revealed (Beck, Steer, & Garbin, 1988).Psychological Testing and Informed ConsentAnother important issue is the right to informed consent which means that the client has the right to know precisely what is happening at all eons during the testing and therapeutic process during therapy. Self-determination is a right to every individual which means that individuals are entitled to complete compositions as to why exactly they are being tested as well as how the results of the test will be utilized and what their results mean. These complete explanations are commonly known as informed consent and should be conveyed in such a way that is straight-forward and easy for examinees to understand which is around of the time done in a language in which the client understands what is being explained to them. In the scale of minors or those with limited cognitive abilities, informed consent of necessity to be discussed with both the minor examinee themselves as well as their parent or guardian (Beck, Steer, & Garbin, 1988).However, informed consent should not be confused with parental permission. Counselors have a responsibility to ensure that the minor examinee as well as their parent or guardian understand all implications and requirements that will be involved in a psychological test in the first place it is even administered. In addition to the issue of informed consent, participants are also entitled to be prompted with an explanation of the test results in a language structure that they understand. However, due to the full stop that some test results may influence the participants self-pride as well as behavior, it is crucial that a trained professional explain the results to the participant in a sensitive and understanding style so that the participant responds to the items on the test with accuracy (Beck, Steer, & Garbin, 1988).Psychological Testing and StigmaAnother issue that involves ethics in terms of psychological tests is the right of protection from stigma. In conjunction with the participants right to know and understand their results, researchers need to be careful not to use any labels which might be interpreted as a stigma when describing the results in terms of and to the participant. Counselors and researchers must refrain from using terms such as insane, feebleminded, or addictive personality. Therefore, the results that the client receives, along with the parent or guardian in cases involving minors, should be describe in a positive way so that the growth and development of the participant is not disrespected in any way (Beck, Steer, & Garbin, 1988). Beck Depression arsenal versus Beck Depression Inventory-II Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was designed to measure out the possibility and tartness of clinical notion along with suicidality issues. The BDI was developed by Aaron Beck and his associates back in 1961 as a structured interview. Even though Beck is known for using a cognitive therapy methodology, the BDI is not designed in that fashion. Beck used language that was contributive of a fifth grade level to develop black flag items from which the participant can choose a level of moroseness from four alternative with each particular item.Cautions that C onoley (2012) mentioned in the review are those of fakability and social desirability. The individual participant may not be entirely truthful when choosing the severity of his or her level for items on the inventory. He or she may wee-wee higher or lower depending on how the individual responds to the inventory. Julia has also free-base that sometimes a participant has suffered from depression for a length of time in which makes responding to the items difficult since this individual may feel as though what is normal for him or her may not be normal for some other individual. For example, Elka may score lower but has been presenting with depression lots perennial than Norma who scored higher due to the adult attack of depression versus the early onset of depression. Even though the BDI has been used extensively for about twenty-five geezerhood prior to revise in 1987 and again in the 1990s. Many articles touted the use of the BDI causing psychologists and therapists to use t he original version created by Aaron Beck. The most new BDI revised the original version with the rewording of fifteen out of twenty-one of the items due to discriminatory wording.The most recent revision also took into account the changes that were made to the Diagnostic Manual for Mental Illness which correlate with the criteria for depression on a much higher level. It is plausible to have a more recent version created due to the Diagnostic Manual revision this past year in 2013. solely versions of the BDI are designed to measure out the probability of depression and suicidal tendency for individuals aged thirteen and over for a timeframe of five to ten transactions of the participant choosing the criteria associated with each item. The most recent version of the BDI has also revised to avoid sex and grammatical gender discrimination. These factors make the BDI-II a much stronger assessment tool which the counselor uses to judge the clients presenting symptoms of depress ion (Arbisi & Farmer, 2012).Psychological Testing and BDI-IIAll of the ethical issues discussed above come into play when the counselor tests for depression of a client including the severity and longevity of the presenting symptoms of depression. Mental health counselors use the BDI-II to evaluate the possibility and severity of depression with which the client presents, in which it does. Usually the client will make a statement concerning the longevity of their presenting symptoms of depression which gives the counselor an idea of how long the client has been feeling depressed. Both are subservient in not only appropriately diagnosing the severity of the depression but also knowing what steps to take in the way of a treatment plan.Beck Depression Inventory-II and DiversityBDI-II has been limited and or translated into several(prenominal) different languages to address diversity in several cultures, such as Mexican-American, Chinese, as well as the elderly and older women group s. The items are modified in a way so that each group understands what the item is addressing as well as the ethnicity of each diverse group. Depression presents itself other than across cultural groups. What displays as depression in a gabardine is most likely not display in an identical way with another culture group, such as African-American, Hispanic, Latino, Norwegian, etc. (Joe, Woolley, Brown, Ghahramanlou-Holloway, & Beck, 2008). The BDI-II has also been modified to address differences between adolescents, adults, and elderly. The elderly population has a much different presenting issue with depression.BDI-II and Counselor JudgmentThe counselor must make a sound judgment in choosing the BDI-II for use in evaluating a clients presenting issues concerning depression, which includes comparing the BDI-II to other depression inventory assessments such as the CAD (Clinical Assessment of Depression) or the PHQ-9 (Patient Health Questionnaire-9). While the BDI-II is correspondin g to the PHQ-9 in statistical analysis, the CAD seems to be more accurate in evaluating clinical depression. However, the CAD consists of fifty questions which take about ten minutes or more to complete. For this factor alone the client may not accurately respond to the items on the CAD due to the length even though studies show that it results in a more accurate evaluation of depression (Arbisi & Farmer, 2012 Faxlanger, 2009 Kung, Alarcon, Williams, Poppe, & Frye, 2012).Even though the terms of the BDI-II cost much more than the CAD, the CAD is a relatively new assessment that has not had the longevity that the BDI-II has. The PHQ-9 does not have a cost machine-accessible to the assessment, but it is not as well-known as the BDI-II. Once Julia has constituted herself as a mental health counselor, she will explore the trey tests further to see the effectiveness of each test compared to the other so that she can make a judgment on which test is more accurate and effective i n diagnosing her clients (Arbisi & Farmer, 2012 Faxlanger, 2009 Kung, Alarcon, Williams, Poppe, & Frye, 2012). synopsisIn conclusion, the BDI-II seems to be the most effective assessment tool in diagnosing clinical depression. The American Mental Health Counselors Association computer code of Ethics (2000) reports that the counselor is responsible for ensuring that each client is assessed appropriately including using the most appropriate test for the clients presenting issues for diagnosis. The Code of Ethics also cautions the counselor in privacy, interpretation of the results, and to be trained for the assessments in which he or she will use in practice. As before stated, Julia will explore all options for testing for diagnosing clients as well as continued training in testing and interpretation of the results of each test used in practice.ReferencesAmerican Mental Health Counselors Association (2000). Code of ethics. Retrieved parade 9, 2014 from www.amhca.org/assets/con tent/CodeofEthics1.pdfArbisi, P. A., and Farmer, R. F. (2012). Beck depression inventory-ii. Mental Measurements Yearbook and Tests in Print. Accession Number TIP07000275. Mental Measurements Review Number 14122148. Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Garbin, M. G. (1988). psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory Twenty-five years of evaluation. Clinical Psychology Review, 8, 77-100. Cappeliez, P. (1989). societal desirability response set and self-report depression inventories in the elderly. Clinical Gerontologist, 9(2), 45-52. Dahlstrom, W. G., Brooks, J. D., & Peterson, C. D. (1990). The Beck Depression Inventory Item order and the impact of response sets. daybook of Personality Assessment, 55, 224-233. Gatewood-Colwell, G., Kaczmarek, M., & Ames, M. H. (1989). Reliability and validity of the Beck Depression Inventory for a White and Mexican-American gerontic population. Psychological Reports, 65, 1163-1166. Joe, S., Woolley, Ghahramanlou-Holloway, M., Brown, G. K., Beek, A. T. (2008). Psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory-II in low-income, African American suicide attempters. Journal of Personality Assessment Volume 90, Issue 5, 2008. Retrieved run into 8, 2014 from http//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2729713/ Kung, S., Alarcon, R. D., Williams, M. D., Poppe, K. A., Moore, M. J., Frye, M. A. (2012). Comparing the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) depression measures in an integrate mood disorders practice. Journal of Affective Disorders, Volume 145, Issue 3, Pages 341-343, 5 March 2013. 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