The Theory and Practice of Assessment in Counseling

Richard S. Balkin, Ph.D., LPC is an associate professor and Addictions Program Coordinator for the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.  He is a Past President of the Association for Assessment in Counseling and Education, a division of the American Counseling Association. Dr. Balkin is Editor of the Journal of Counseling & Development, the flagship journal for the American Counseling Association, and a former Editor of Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development and Counseling and Values, Journal of Professional Counseling: Practice, Theory, and Research. He has received counseling awards including the 2011 Counseling Vision and Innovation Award by the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision in recognition for his development of online resources and tutorials for teaching students assessment, measurement, and research, and the 2012 Best Practices Research Award by the American Counseling Association.  Dr. Balkin’s clinical and research experience span over 20 years and encompasses over 30 refereed journal articles, and 9 book chapters or refereed proceedings, many of which are related to assessment, research methods, and statistics.  Additionally, Dr. Balkin has authored or co-authored the Goal Attainment Scale of Stabilization (Mind Garden, Inc.), the Forgiveness Reconciliation Inventory, and the Juhnke-Balkin Life Balance Inventory.   Gerald A. Juhnke, Ed.D. is a Professor and former Doctoral Program Director in the Department of Counseling at The University of Texas at San Antonio.  He is a Past President of two professional counseling associations, The Association for Assessment in Counseling and The International Association for Addictions and Offender Counseling.  Dr. Juhnke is a former Editor and Chief of The Journal of Addictions and Offender Counseling and a former Co-Chair of the American Counseling Association’s Council of Journal Editors.  He has received numerous counseling awards including the 2009 American Counseling Association’s Fellow Award, the 2008 International Association for Addictions and Offender Counseling Addictions/Offender Educator Excellence Award, the Journal of Addictions and Offender Counseling Research Award, and the American Counseling Association’s Ralph F. Berdie Research Award.  Dr. Juhnke’s clinical and research experiences span 25-plus years, and include the intertwined professional topic of “life-threatening behaviors” that encompasses suicide, violence, addictions, and trauma.  During that time, he has authored more than 45 international or national refereed journal articles, and eight published or in-press books.  Dr. Juhnke’s best-selling counseling textbooks include: Suicide, Self-injury, and Violence in the Schools: Assessment, Prevention, and Intervention Strategies (Wiley & Sons, 2010); Counseling Addicted Families: An Integrated Assessment and Treatment (Brunner-Routledge, 2006); and Substance Abuse Assessment and Diagnosis (Brunner-Routledge, 2002).  Additionally, Juhnke’s co-edited book, Case Studies in Suicide: Experiences of Mental Health Professionals (Merrill-Pearson, 2009) and his first violence response textbook for counselors, Addressing School Violence: Practical Strategies, and Interventions, have received favorable reviews by mental health clinicians from various professions.  Dr. Juhnke has also authored or co-authored several assessment instruments including the Juhnke-Balkin Life Balance Inventory; the Juhnke, Henderson, Juhnke, Child Abuse and Neglect Risk Assessment Scale; the Homework Identification Plan; the VIOLENTSTUdent Scale; the DANGERTOME Personal Risk Assessment Scale; the Adapted – SAD PERSONS Suicide Assessment Scale; the SCATTT Suicide Response Instrument; and the SUBSTANCE-Q Adolescent Substance Abuse Instrument.  One of his recent instruments, EL SUICIDIO, written in Spanish, is a suicide assessment scale with correlating clinical guidelines specifically created for Mexican school counselors assessing Mexican students’ potential suicide risk.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1 THE ROLE OF ASSESSMENT IN COUNSELING 1



What Is Assessment? 1

History of Assessment 2

The Development of Counselors as Assessment

Professionals 6

The Association for Assessment in Counseling and

Education (AACE) 6

The ACA Code of Ethics (2005) 7

Fair Access to Tests 8

Test Publisher Qualifications of Test Users 9

Legal Issues 9

Health Care Legislation 9

Civil Rights Legislation 10

Educational Legislation 10

An Overview of Assessment in Mental Health Settings,

Schools, Rehabilitation Counseling, and Higher Education

Settings 11



Chapter 2 CASE STUDIES AND PROGRESS NOTES 13



Overview 13

Case Studies 14

Case Study: Ms. Eva Marie Garza 15

Case Study: Mr. Robert Jones 21

Progress Notes 27

Standardized Progress Note Formats 28

Discussion 34

Chapter 3 THE FUNDAMENTALS OF ASSESSMENT RESULTS 35

The Meanings of Test Scores 35

Criterion-Referenced Tests 35

Norm-Referenced Tests 36

Scales of Measurement 36

Understanding Assessment Scores: Frequency Distributions

and Percentiles 38

Measures of Central Tendency 41

The Mean 42

The Median 44

The Mode 44

What Is the Best Measure of Central Tendency? 44

Measures of Variability 45

The Range 46

The Standard Deviation and Variance 47

The Normal Curve 49

Confidence Intervals 50

Standard Scores 52



Z Scores 52



T Scores 52 Other Types of Standard Scores 53

Understanding Correlation Coefficients 53

Calculating a Person55

What Types of Scores are Reported 56



Chapter 4 CURRENT STANDARDS OF RELIABILITY 58



Defining Reliability 58

True Score 59

Error 60

Estimating Reliability 64

Reliability Coefficient 64

Types of Reliability Measurement 67

Consistency Over Time: Test-Retest Reliability 67

Estimates of Equivalency: Parallel or Alternate Forms 68

Internal Consistency 68

Interscorer Reliability 70

Interpretation of Reliability 70

What Are the Implications for Reliability? 72



Chapter 5 CURRENT STANDARDS FOR VALIDITY 74



Defining Validity: A Brief History 74

A Present View of Validity 76

Evidence Based on Test Content 76

How Is Evidence Based on Test Content Evaluated? 77

Evidence Based on Response Processes 78

How Is Evidence Based on Response Processes Evaluated? 78

Evidence Based on Internal Structure 78

How Is Evidence Based on Internal Structure Evaluated? 79

Evidence Based on Relations to Other Variables 80



How Is Evidence Based on Relations to Other Variables

Evaluated? 81

Evidence Based on Consequences of Testing 81

What Are the Implications for Test Validity? 82



Chapter 6 HOW TO CHOOSE AN ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENT 84



Defining the Purpose of the Assessment Instrument 84

Reviewing Assessment Instruments 87

Details of a Mental Measurements Review 88

AACE Critiques 90

Understanding the Technical Quality of an Instrument 91

Evaluating the Normative Sample 91

Evaluating Reliability Evidence of an Instrument 92

Evaluating Validity Evidence of an Instrument 93

Understanding Factors That May Affect Performance 94

Factors in Criterion-Referenced Tests: The Item Analysis 95

Item Difficulty 95

Item Discrimination 95

Review of the Assessments in This Text 96



Chapter 7 CONDUCTING AN INITIAL INTERVIEW 98



Purposes of the Initial Interview 98

Scope of the Initial Interview 99

Essential Elements of a Psychosocial History 101

Determining Mental Status 103

Factors Affecting Mental Status 106

Types of Intake Data 106

Substance Abuse/Abuse Intake 107

Applying Counseling Skills to the Interview Process 108

Types of Information Derived From Our Case Studies 109

Summary 111

Chapter 8 MULTICULTURAL AND SPECIAL POPULATION

ASSESSMENT ISSUES IN COUNSELING 113

Bias in Assessment 113

The Achievement Gap: An Heuristic Example of Test

Bias Versus Test Fairness 115

Assessment With Special Populations 116

Comparing Special Populations to Normative Samples 117

Adapting Assessment Instruments and Procedures 118

Developing Multicultural Competence as an Assessment

Professional 120

Awareness of Perceptions of Counseling and Assessment

Among Various Cultures 121

Case Study Application: Eva Marie Garza 123



Chapter 9 FUNDAMENTALS OF INTELLIGENCE ASSESSMENT 125



Defining Intelligence: Theories and Models 125



g Theory 126 Hierarchical Models 127

Contemporary Models of Intelligence 128

Emotional Intelligence 129

Three Common Intelligence Measures 130

WAIS-IV 132

SB5 133

KBIT-2 133

Types of Information Derived From Our Case Study

With Eva Marie 135



Chapter 10 FUNDAMENTALS OF ACHIEVEMENT AND APTITUDE



ASSESSMENT: ISSUES OF ABILITY 138

The Context of Achievement and Aptitude Testing 138

Defining Achievement and Aptitude Testing 139

Characteristics of Achievement Instruments 140

Teacher-Created Examinations 141

Types of Ability Testing 144

Common Characteristics in Ability Assessment Instruments 145

What to Report 146

Group-Administered Ability Assessment 149

High-Stakes Testing 149

Common Group-Administered Ability Assessments 150

Types of Information Derived From Our Case Study

With Eva Marie 152





Chapter 11 THE THE MULTIAXIAL SYSTEM, COMMON AXIS I AND II

DISORDERS, AND THE MMPI AND MMPI-2-RF 155



Overview 155

The DSM 156

Potential DSM Benefits 156

The DSM Multiaxial Assessment 157

The MMPI-2 and MMPI-2-RF: Why Describe the MMPI-2 and

MMP-2-RF? 160

General MMPI-2 Overview 160

MMPI-2 Reliability and Validity 161

MMPI-2 Scales 161

Validity and Clinical Scales 161

Clinical Scales 163

Code Types 166

PSY-5 and Supplementary Scales 167

Restructured Clinical Scales 168

Robert's MMPI-2 Profile 168

General MMPI-2-RF Overview 172

MMPI-2-RF Reliability and Validity 173

MMPI-2-RF Scales 173

Eva Marie's MMPI-2-RF Profile 174

Higher Order Scales 175

Restructured Clinical Scales 176

PSY-5 178

Internalizing, Externalizing, and Interpersonal Scales 178

Discussion 181



Chapter 12 FUNDAMENTALS OF CAREER ASSESSMENT 183



What Is Career Assessment? 183

Elements of Career Assessment 184

Interests and Personality 185

Values 188

Issues in Computerized Career Assessment 190

Types of Information Derived From Our Case Study

With Eva Marie Garza 191

Chapter 13 MARRIAGE, SUBSTANCE ABUSE, AND SUICIDE

ASSESSMENT 195

Overview 195

Marital Satisfaction Inventory-Revised (MSI-R) 196

General MSI-R Overview 196

MSI-R Reliability and Validity 196

Scales 197

Eva Marie's MSI-R 199

Validity Scores 199

Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory-3 202

General SASSI-3 Overview 203

SASSI-3 Reliability and Validity 203

Scales 203

Robert's SASSI-3 205

Validity Scores 206

Clinical Scores 206

Alcohol Use Inventory (AUI) 206

General AUI Overview 207

AUI Reliability and Validity 207

Validity Scales 207

Clinical Scales 208

Robert's AUI 208

Validity Scores 211

Clinical Scores 211

Suicide Probability Scale (SPS) 212

General SPS Overview 212

SPS Reliability and Validity 212

Validity Scales 213

Clinical Scales 214

Eva's SPS 215

The Suicide SCATTT Mnemonic 217

General SCATTT Overview 217

Validity Scales 217

Eva Marie's SCATTT 220

Discussion 223



Chapter 14 FUNDAMENTALS OF INTERPRETATION IN



ASSESSMENT 225 Developing a Written Report 225

Reporting Scores for Standardized Instruments 226

Writing in Professional Language 230

Making Recommendations 231

Conducting an Interpretation Session With a Client 233

Reviewing Informed Consent Procedures 233

Reviewing the Instruments Used 234

Summarizing the Data in Client Language 234

Types of Information Derived From Our Case Study 235



Chapter 15 ACCOUNTABILITY ISSUES IN COUNSELING AND

ASSESSMENT 238



Counseling in an Era of Accountability 238

Barriers to Assessing Accountability in Counseling 240

Nonstandardized and Standardized Assessment

of Accountability 242

Nonstandardized Assessment-Goal Attainment Scaling 243

Standardized Assessment 245

Evaluating Client Progress and Improvement 247

Applying Goal Attainment Scaling to Eva Marie 248

Going Beyond the Client: Using Assessment in Program

Evaluation 250



Appendix A Area Under the Normal Curve 253

Appendix B Competencies in Assessment and Evaluation for School

Counselors 256

Appendix C Standards for Assessment in Mental Health Counseling 259

Appendix D Standards for Assessment in Substance Abuse Counseling 263

Appendix E Marriage, Couple and Family Counseling Assessment

Competencies 266

Appendix F Career Counselor Assessment and Evaluation Competencies 269

Appendix G Rights and Responsibilities of Test Takers: Guidelines and

Expectations Preamble 272

Appendix H Responsibilities of Users of Standardized Tests (RUST) 279

Appendix I Standards for Multicultural Assessment (2 nd Ed.) 284

Index 292