Imagine you were a clinician with a need to use a comprehensive, clinically oriented self-report test. Explain why you would need such a test and discuss two comprehensive, clinically oriented self-report tests you might consider using.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

• Comprehensive, clinically oriented self-report tests are powerful tools for gathering information about personality and emotional functioning, as well as about symptoms and diagnostic concerns.
o They are most typically used for planning treatment and for consultation and less likely to be used for monitoring progress or outcome.
o Such tests include The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2 (MMPI-2), the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI), and the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory–III (MCMI-III).
• MMPI-2
o In clinical practice, the MMPI-2 is used to understand the personality characteristics of a client and how they might influence treatment, as well as in formulating diagnostic impressions, anticipating response to treatment, and making treatment plans.
o The MMPI-2 requires the test taker to respond to over 500 true/false questions, many of which are empirically but not obviously related to a clinical diagnosis.
o The most basic interpretation of the test yields scores on 10 clinical scales and 5 validity scales, scales that are relevant to how consistently, honestly, and openly the test taker responded to questions.
• PAI
o As with the MMPI-2, test scores have some relevance to personality variables as well as clinical concerns, and the PAI incorporates validity scales to determine if the test taker is over- or underreporting symptoms and responding consistently.
o The PAI has more than 300 items (fewer than the MMPI-2), and individuals taking the test rate the items on a four-point scale (false, not at all true; slightly true; mainly true; and very true).
o The PAI has scales specifically relevant to treatment concerns, such as attitude toward treatment, level of stress and social support, and suicidal ideation. Clinicians can use the PAI to assist in diagnosis and for treatment planning. The assessment of personality traits is less comprehensive than that of the MMPI-2.
o MCMI-III
? Although like the MMPI-2 and PAI, it is a comprehensive self-report measure of personality and clinical problems, the MCMI-III focuses on personality disorders and symptoms related to personality disorders, a subset of mental disorders.
? A personality disorder is an enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the expectations of the individual’s culture, is pervasive and inflexible, has an onset in adolescence or early adult- hood, is stable over time, and leads to distress or impairment.
? The MCMI-III is much shorter than the MMPI-2, with only 175 true/false questions leading to scores on clinical scales corresponding to several personality disorders and clinical syndromes.
? Like the MMPI-2 and PAI, the MCMI-III includes validity scales and has a large body of research supporting its reliability/ precision and validity for intended use differentiating among diagnostic groups.