Introducing ‘Tools of the Trade’
Assessment is a complex process that uses many different types of tools and processes to answer complex questions. This can leave patients and important stakeholders in the assessment confused and overwhelmed. In this Tools of the Trade series, I’ll introduce you to the different types of tools assessors use. I believe that educating colleagues and the public about assessment produces better outcomes for all.
A Stronger Alliance Creates Better Outcomes
Most assessors provide a report of the assessment findings. The report outlines findings, discusses results, offers conclusions, assigns diagnoses (when indicated), and offers recommendations. There is a very alive conversation in the field of assessment about how we can write more effective reports. What makes a report more effective? Well, for starters, whether people actually read it. Too often, we assessors can stick to jargon, rely heavily on reporting scores, and overwhelm readers with information and data. I see this as a problem of alliance. Assessors need to build alliance with patients and families by helping them to understand what we are doing, why we are doing it, and how it works.
Treatment outcomes research shows that a strong alliance between the provider and patient produces a better outcome. A mutual understanding of the tasks of treatment helps to strengthen the alliance. Assessments include many different types of tasks. These are often novel and unfamiliar. By learning more about the tasks of assessment, patients and families will have a better experience. Understanding the how and why builds confidence in the assessment and its findings.
Transparency Builds Trust
Patients and families are often concerned that an assessment will misrepresent them. This can (understandably) leave them reluctant to share sensitive experiences, challenges, and areas of need. But those are often the very things that an assessment needs to consider. These vulnerable fears and experiences are the heart of an assessment. They are the reason patients and families are investing in the assessment process - hoping to find clarity about what concerns them most.
The psychologist and assessor Steve Finn uses the term 'epistemic trust’ to alert assessors to the importance of trust in the assessment relationship. Epistemic trust refers to mutual trust in our shared knowledge and its validity. Put more simply, it asks the question: can the psychologist trust patients and families to be experts in their experience and can patients and families trusts that the psychologist’s tools and process will produce valid findings. Psychologists hold power in our roles and have had access to deep education about our tools. We cannot hope to teach the public everything there is to know about assessment. We also have an ethical duty to protect the security of tests so that they are not misused. But we can help people understand our tools at a high level - that’s what I intend to do in this series.
High Engagement Leads to Meaningful Findings
One of the most challenging experiences as an assessor is an assessment that produces little data. Getting quality data from an assessment requires investment and engagement from patients and families. Without that engagement, stakeholders may provide rushed, flat, and sparse information. Motivation is important in any task. I hope that sharing information about the tools of the assessment trade will help to motivate patients and families to engage fully in the assessment. That may be a high bar - I’m not sure anyone really enjoys filling out long questionnaires. Still, they are an essential part of the process.
Assessment is complex, impactful, and dynamic. I find it an incredibly rewarding experience to think through complex questions and to help patients and families to build insight and confidence. I hope that learning more about the tools we use will help patients and families to feel more engaged in the process and, ultimately, lead to more meaningful findings from their assessment.
