Welcome to Psychological Assessment .org, an Interactive, Online Professional Community

PsychologicalAssessment.org is a resource for psychological testing professionals (both those in practice and still learning as students) to discuss test interpretation, construction and any other issues involved in psychological evaluations. It is not simply an online journal, but it is also not just another static collection of links or another basic mailing list or discussion forum. While it is important to protect test items and content and uphold APA ethics code standards and priciples, this can be done in the public setting (such as information available in a public library).

Using simple blogging software which allows users to create a community blog, anyone who can read and type on a keyboard can post messages, articles, or respond to "published" opinions in the blog through comments or posts of their own. Keep in mind there are multiple categories so you can read the most recent posts, but also click on the categories you may be interested in to read and comment on posts related to those topics (also choose relevant categories when you post). Feel free to add your link to your website or offer relevant link suggestions, print published article suggestions, book or book chapter suggestions, etc. Though the commenting feature isn't exactly peer review, please try to communicate politely and professionaly when possible- its not generally intended or expected that posts would replace a published journal article such as from the American Psychological Association's "Psychological Assessment," nor should you consider the discussions necessarily peer-reviewed or having cleared any peer review process other than submitting opinions, original "articles," questions, concerns and issues for public comment. Once submitted your blog posts become public domain and this site gives permission to distribute them freely as long as the original source is cited. No copyright material can be posted unless you're clearly the owner with permission to post it. Psychologist Dr. Todd Finnerty will moderate the posts if any get too far in to the crazy spam world, but otherwise please feel free to express yourself. Psychologists, Psychometricians, counselors and anyone else interested in psychologhical testing are welcome to join us.

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Psychological Assessment - Vol 22, Iss 2 Updated : Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:00:09 EST Description and psychometric evaluation of the Youth Counseling Impact Scale. The present article describes and evaluates the Youth Counseling Impact Scale (YCIS; L. Bickman et al., 2007), a recently developed therapeutic process measure that assesses youths' perceptions of the impact individual mental health counseling sessions have on their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. This measure is intended for frequent use in the mental health treatment of youths aged 11–18. It provides a general Impact score as well as two subscale scores: Insight and Change. Five hundred youths receiving mental health services participated in this investigation. Classical test theory, item response theory, confirmatory factor nalysis, and analyses of the relationship of the YCIS with other scales were used to evaluate the research questions. The results suggest that, overall, the YCIS is a well-functioning scale with good psychometric properties. The proposed model for 1 primary general factor of impact and 2 secondary factors (Insight and Change) fit the data well. Specific weaknesses of the scale are discussed, and possible improvements are suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) Validity of the WISC–IV Spanish for a clinically referred sample of Hispanic children. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) is the most commonly used intelligence test for children. Five years ago, a Spanish version of the WISC–IV was published (WISC-IV Spanish; Wechsler, 2005), but a limited amount of published information is available regarding its utility when assessing clinical samples. The current study included 107 children who were Spanish speaking and of Puerto Rican descent that had been administered the WISC–IV Spanish. They were subdivided into a clinical sample of 35 children with diagnoses of various forms of brain dysfunction (primarily learning disability, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and epilepsy) and a comparison group made up of 72 normal children who were part of the WISC–IV Spanish version standardization sample. Comparisons between these groups and the standardization sample were performed for the WISC–IV Spanish index and subtest scores. Results indicated that the clinical sample performed worse than the comparison samples on the Working Memory and Processing Speed Indexes, although findings varied to some extent depending on whether the clinical group was compared with the normal comparison group or the standardization sample. These findings provide support for the criterion validity of the WISC–IV Spanish when it is used to assess a clinically referred sample with brain dysfunction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) Understanding the heterogeneity of BPD symptoms through latent class analysis: Initial results and clinical correlates among inner-city substance users. The current study investigated the heterogeneity of borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms in a sample of 382 inner-city, predominantly African American male substance users through the use of latent class analysis. A 4-class model was statistically preferred, with 1 class interpreted to be a baseline class, 1 class interpreted to be a high-BPD class, and 2 classes interpreted as intermediate classes. As a secondary goal, we examined the resulting BPD classes with respect to relevant clinical correlates, including temperamental vulnerabilities (affective instability, impulsivity, and interpersonal instability), childhood emotional abuse, drug choice, and co-occurring mood and anxiety disorders. The high-BPD class evidenced the highest levels of the temperamental vulnerabilities and environmental stressors, the baseline class evidenced the lowest levels, and the 2 intermediate classes fell in between. In addition, the high-BPD class had a higher probability of cocaine and alcohol dependence, as well as mood and anxiety disorders, than did the baseline class. Rates of alcohol use and mood disorders for the intermediate classes fell in between the high-BPD and the baseline classes. Results are discussed in relation to the current diagnostic conceptualization of BPD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) Development and psychometric evaluation of the Index of Dental Anxiety and Fear (IDAF-4C+). The measurement of dental fear is important due to its high prevalence and appreciable individual, clinical, and public health consequences. However, existing measures of dental anxiety and fear (DAF) have theoretical or practical limitations. This study describes the development and subsequent assessment of the reliability and validity of test scores of a new DAF scale for adults. The Index of Dental Anxiety and Fear (IDAF-4C+) contains 3 modules that measure DAF, dental phobia, and feared dental stimuli. The final 8-item DAF module (IDAF-4C) assesses emotional, behavioral, physiological, and cognitive components of the anxiety and fear response. The proposed scale dimensionality received support from exploratory factor analysis. IDAF-4C items showed good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = .94) and test–retest reliability at 4 months (r = .82), and the scale was strongly associated with other dental fear scales as well as with dental visiting patterns, avoidance of the dentist, and dental phobia diagnosis. The convergent and predictive validity of the IDAF-4C compared positively to Corah's (1969; Corah, Gale, & Illig, 1978) Dental Anxiety Scale and a single-item measure of dental fear, and the scale predicted future dental visiting and visit perceptions. Both phobia and stimulus modules showed strong and statistically significant associations with DAF ratings. In all, sufficient evidence is provided to demonstrate that the new scale would be a useful tool to assess DAF in an adult population. The IDAF-4C+ is based on strong theoretical underpinnings, yet the scale is practical enough for application across a variety of potential uses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) WISC–III index score profiles of 520 Swedish children with pervasive developmental disorders. WISC–III (Wechsler, 1991) index score profiles and their characteristics were examined with traditional statistics in a large Swedish sample consisting of children with autistic disorder (n = 85), Asperger's disorder (n = 341), or pervasive developmental disorders not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS; n = 94). There was a clear and significant difference in level between children with Asperger's disorder, who performed in the average range according to the Swedish standardization, and children with either autistic disorder or PDD-NOS, who performed below the average range (almost 2 standard deviations below the mean), but few other differences between the diagnostic groups were found. The variation in this sample, compared with the Swedish standardization, was generally larger in regard to the size of standard deviations and to the proportion of individuals who exhibited significant differences between indices. The result implied that a WISC–III profile could not be used to discriminate between the different PDDs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) RSS to HTML Increase Online Traffic

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Try this site for information on finding a particular psychological test, including New Psychological tests recently introduced or coming out soon like the WAIS-IV, WMS-IV and MMPI-2-RF. There is also a nice selection of books featured including a number focused on the assessment of malingering and somatization (check out the slideshow).

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