Psychological Examination and Consultancy of Adults

Presentation

This curricular unit is very relevant in the master of clinical and health psychology, because it encompasses all the aspects of the clinical assessment process, from the initial contact with the client/patient, until the communication of the psychological assessment results and the clinical formulation, which represents the understanding of etiology and meaning of the problems presented by the adult client. Therefore, this unit aims at teach the students the required skills to the clinical psychologist practice, from the first contact with the client and building the link with the future clinical intervention, in different contexts.

Part of this Programme

Clinical and Health Psychology

Level of Qualification|Semesters|ECTS

| Semestral | 5

Year | Type of course unit | Language

1 |Mandatory |Português

Code

ULHT65-14819

Recommended complementary curricular units

Psychology of Personality

Prerequisites and co-requisites

n/a

Professional Internship

Não

Syllabus

Structure of the psychological consultation:Individual,couple and group consultation; Establishing the therapeutic relationship(informed consent and contract);Intervention phases(screening, assessment, intervention, discharge, follow up)and consultation structure. 
Technologically mediated psychological consultation(online, by phone)
Clinical psychological assessment and evidence based practice 
Clinical and psychopathological assessment in adult age: Clinical assessment instruments:Instruments selection(statistical validity vs. clinical validity);Administration and interpretation procedures. Structured Interview.Dimensional Assessment.Behavioral observation.Cognitive/intelectual development.Psychophysiological assessment(peripheral and central).Neuropsychological assessment.Assessment of problems intensity and interference
Clínical conceptualization:Integrative case formulation; Defining the intervention protocol 
Communicating the clinical assessment results 
Treatment assesment

Objectives

By the end of the semester, the students are expected to: 
¿ Identify the structure and sequence of psychological consultation 
¿ Integrate the role of the psychological exam and specifically of the evidence based clinical assessment as essential part of evidence based practice

   Characterize psychopathological assessment and data gathering methods 
¿ Select, apply, score and interpret clinical assessment instruments
¿ Analyze and integrate the clinical and psychometric data with empirically based theoretical knowledge, in order to make integrative clinical case formulations
¿ Appropriately communicate the clinical assessment results, orally and in a written report. 
¿ Understand the need of continuous intervention assessment throughout the process

Teaching methodologies and assessment

The contents are transmitted through continuous reflection and questions that aim to stimulate content integration and critical reasoning, supported by a strong practical component, using case studies, modeling and role-play as main strategies.
 

Continuous assessment has three modalities, all of them mandatory, with the following weighting: 
 Written test (60%); 
 A work performed by a pair/small group of students, consisting in an integrative clinical formulation about a case, and a clinical assessment report (40%). This work has written and oral presentation. The written part is of group assessment (20%) and the oral part is individual (20%), assed through a role-play of communicating the case formulation and assessment results to the adult client,  
combined in a final grade.

The classes attendance is mandatory.
 

Final assessment: a written exam, integrating all theoretical and practical contents (100%). The students must have a minimum final score of 10.  

References

Anthony, M. M. & Barlow, D. H. (2011). Handbook of assessment and treatment planning for psychological disorders. New York: Guilford Press.

Butler, G. (2000). Clinical formulation. In A. S. Bellack, & M. Hersen (Eds.). Comprehensive Clinical Psychology, pp 1-24. U.S.A.: Pergamon.

Corcoran, K. & Fischer, J. (Eds.). (2013). Measures for clinical practice and research: A sourcebook (5^th Ed.). New York: Free Press.

Graham, J., & Naglieri, J. (Eds.). (2010) Handbook of psychology (Vol. 10) (2^\ ed.). New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

Groth-Marnat, G. (2009). Handbook of psychological assessment (5th ed.). New Jersey: Wiley.

Lichtenberg, E., Mather, N., Kaufman, N., & Kaufman, A. (2004). Essentials of assessment report writing. New Jersey: Wiley.

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