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Justin D. Smith - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Introduction to the Special Section on Cultural Considerations in Collaborative and Therapeutic Assessment
Journal of Personality Assessment, 2016Co-Authors: Justin D. SmithAbstract:ABSTRACTIssues of culture abound in the conduct of psychological Assessment. This special section brings together a collection of articles from expert practitioners in the Therapeutic Assessment (TA) model to discuss cultural considerations. The special section is comprised of a conceptual discussion of the cultural influence of the Assessment situation itself, 3 case examples illustrating the way in which culture enters into Assessment, and the ways that the TA paradigm can be useful in mitigating the potential negative effects; and a comment on the 4 articles. In this introduction to the special section, I discuss 2 interrelated concepts that are helpful in framing the articles that will follow: the need to practice Assessment with multicultural competence, and the potential benefits of using an Assessment model (e.g., TA) that is itself culturally responsive. As the world continues to become more culturally diverse through changing demographics and the recognition and evolution of different subcultures...
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The Effectiveness of Therapeutic Assessment with an Adult Client: A Single-Case Study Using a Time-Series Design
Journal of Personality Assessment, 2016Co-Authors: Filippo Aschieri, Justin D. SmithAbstract:This article presents the Therapeutic Assessment (TA; Finn, 2007) of a traumatized young woman named Claire. Claire reported feeling debilitated by academic demands and the expectations of her parents, and was finding it nearly impossible to progress in her studies. She was also finding it difficult to develop and sustain intimate relationships. The emotional aspects of close relationships were extremely difficult for her and she routinely blamed herself for her struggles in this arena. The assessor utilized the TA model for adults, with the exception of not including an optional intervention session. The steps of TA, particularly the extended inquiry and the discussion of test findings along the way, cultivated a supportive and empathic atmosphere with Claire. By employing the single-case time-series experimental design used in previous TA studies (e.g., Smith, Handler, & Nash, 2010; Smith, Wolf, Handler, & Nash, 2009), the authors demonstrated that Claire experienced statistically significant improvement correlated with the onset of TA. Results indicated that participation in TA coincided with a positive shift in the trajectory of her reported symptoms and with recognizing the affection she held for others in her life. This case illustrates the successful application of case-based time-series methodology in the evaluation of an adult TA. The potential implications for future study are discussed.
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Collaborative/Therapeutic Assessment
Oxford Handbooks Online, 2016Co-Authors: Filippo Aschieri, Francesca Fantini, Justin D. SmithAbstract:The Collaborative/Therapeutic Assessment (C/TA) paradigm represents a significant shift from the traditional aims and techniques of psychological Assessment. C/TA deliberately employs a variety of evidence-based techniques intended to maximize the potential that the process of Assessment will result in meaningful Therapeutic benefits for clients. The empirical support for the effectiveness of the C/TA approach is promising and demonstrates direct intervention effects on such indicators as self-esteem and symptomatology, as well as improvements in constructs and processes salient to continued psychological care, including the Therapeutic alliance, treatment readiness, and distress. C/TA has also been shown to increase participation and retention in subsequent indicated mental health services for populations that traditionally are difficult to engage. This chapter describes the history and evidence-based theory behind C/TA approaches; describes the steps and procedures of the semi-stuctured Therapeutic Assessment model, and presents a thorough discussion of the application of a variety of Therapeutic techniques (e.g., circular questioning, scaffolding, psychoeducation, shame modulation, mentalizing) in the context of the C/TA paradigm that increase the likelihood that Assessment will result in clinically relevant outcomes. These techniques are applied in a variety of therapy models in psychology but have only recently been explicitly used in the context of psychological Assessment for adults, couples, and families with children or adolescents.
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Trainee and Client Experiences of Therapeutic Assessment in a Required Graduate Course: A Qualitative Analysis.
Journal of Personality Assessment, 2015Co-Authors: Justin D. Smith, Kaitlyn N. EganAbstract:ABSTRACTSurveys indicate that practice and training in psychological Assessment, and personality Assessment (PA) to a lesser degree, has been stable or increasing over the past quarter-century. However, its future arguably remains threatened due to changes in doctoral training programs and beliefs in the field concerning the utility of PA for treatment success. To increase interest in and use of PA, studies of training methods that include trainees' perspectives are needed. This study evaluated the experiences of 10 graduate trainees and their clients who were trained in and conducted a brief Therapeutic Assessment (TA). Qualitative responses to a self-evaluation administered post-TA were coded using directed content analysis. Results indicated that trainees viewed TA/PA as having clinical utility; they had positive feelings about TA/PA, and they desired or intended to use or continue learning about TA/PA. Clients' responses reflected positive feelings about the TA, having gained new self-awareness or und...
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the effectiveness of collaborative Therapeutic Assessment for psychotherapy consultation a pragmatic replicated single case study
Journal of Personality Assessment, 2015Co-Authors: Justin D. Smith, Wendy C Eichler, Kaila R Norman, Steven R SmithAbstract:This pragmatic study evaluated the effectiveness of a collaborative Assessment intervention as an approach to midtherapy consultation, which has yet to be empirically tested. Ten adult participants in ongoing psychotherapy with a variety of presenting concerns, primarily consisting of general mood and adjustment issues, received a brief Assessment-based intervention based on Finn's (2007) Therapeutic Assessment model. Following the collection of Assessment questions and the administration of a multimethod Assessment battery, clients and therapists participated in a joint feedback session with the assessor. Clients were then followed as their psychotherapy continued. The results of idiographic and aggregate analytic approaches revealed significant reductions in client-reported symptomatic distress, as evidenced by a medium effect size (d = –.50) and a significant change in the trajectory of distress. Client reports of the process of psychotherapy revealed a significant increase in the clients’ ratings of t...
Michael R. Nash - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Examining the potential impact of a family session in Therapeutic Assessment: a single-case experiment.
Journal of Personality Assessment, 2011Co-Authors: Justin D. Smith, Leonard Handler, Christopher R. N. Nicholas, Michael R. NashAbstract:Most clinicians concede the benefits of conceptualizing children in systemic terms. Yet, many child Assessments involve parents only on a limited basis. The Therapeutic Assessment model for children and families (TA–C) emphasizes parental involvement and family-driven collaboration throughout the intervention. Child TA has shown promise as an effective brief intervention (e.g., Smith, Handler, & Nash, 2010; Tharinger et al., 2009). Family intervention sessions (Finn, 2007; Tharinger, Finn, Austin, et al., 2008) are an integral component of the child TA model in facilitating familial changes. However, TA–C research has yet to empirically examine the potential impact of a family session on treatment trajectory. This case study includes an extended presentation of the development and execution of a family session. The authors use a daily measures time-series experiment to empirically examine the clinical effectiveness of the TA–C and the hypothesis that the family session was a tipping point in the trajector...
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Therapeutic Assessment for preadolescent boys with oppositional defiant disorder a replicated single case time series design
Psychological Assessment, 2010Co-Authors: Justin D. Smith, Leonard Handler, Michael R. NashAbstract:The Therapeutic Assessment (TA) model is a relatively new treatment approach that fuses Assessment and psychotherapy. The study examines the efficacy of this model with preadolescent boys with oppositional defiant disorder and their families. A replicated single-case time-series design with daily measures is used to assess the effects of TA and to track the process of change as it unfolds. All 3 families benefitted from participation in TA across multiple domains of functioning, but the way in which change unfolded was unique for each family. These findings are substantiated by the Behavior Assessment System for Children (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2004). The TA model is shown to be an effective treatment for preadolescent boys with oppositional defiant disorder and their families. Further, the time-series design of this study illustrated how this empirically grounded case-based methodology reveals when and how change unfolds during treatment in a way that is usually not possible with other research designs.
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Testing the Effectiveness of Family Therapeutic Assessment: A Case Study Using a Time-Series Design
Journal of Personality Assessment, 2009Co-Authors: Justin D. Smith, Leonard Handler, Nicole J. Wolf, Michael R. NashAbstract:We describe a family Therapeutic Assessment (TA) case study employing 2 assessors, 2 Assessment rooms, and a video link. In the study, we employed a daily measures time-series design with a pretreatment baseline and follow-up period to examine the family TA treatment model. In addition to being an illustrative addition to a number of clinical reports suggesting the efficacy of family TA, this study is the first to apply a case-based time-series design to test whether family TA leads to clinical improvement and also illustrates when that improvement occurs. Results support the trajectory of change proposed by Finn (2007), the TA model's creator, who posits that benefits continue beyond the formal treatment itself.
Dennis Ougrin - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Specialized Therapeutic Assessment-Based Recovery-Focused Treatment for Young People With Self-Harm: Pilot Study.
Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2019Co-Authors: Oliver Jon English, Christy Wellings, Partha Banerjea, Dennis OugrinAbstract:Background: Suicide is the second leading cause of death in young people worldwide. Self-harm is the strongest predictor of death by suicide. There is increasing evidence that psychological therapies are efficacious in treating self-harm in adolescents. However, studies so far have predominantly focused on highly selective groups of adolescents and have investigated interventions that require considerable training and expense. Methods: We conducted a pilot study of a novel psychological therapy package, START that consists of Therapeutic Assessment (TA) followed by treatment in one of three modules, depending on adolescents’ needs and preferences: Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) or Mentalization Based Treatment (MBT). Adolescents (12-17) with at least one self-harm episode in the previous six months referred for community treatment, who had no intellectual disability, psychosis or autism were eligible for START. The primary outcome measure was the number of self-harm episodes 6 months before and 6 months after commencing START. Secondary outcomes included measures of psychopathology, functional impairment and family satisfaction. Results: 21 consecutively referred adolescents were recruited, 18 were thought to require a community intervention and 15 received START: 3 received SFBT, 9 CBT and 3 MBT. There was a statistically significant reduction in the number of self-harm episodes from a mean of 7.93 (SD=12.26) to 1.00 (SD=1.47), p
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randomised controlled trial of Therapeutic Assessment versus usual Assessment in adolescents with self harm 2 year follow up
Archives of Disease in Childhood, 2013Co-Authors: Dennis Ougrin, Reetoo Banarsee, Daniel Stahl, Isabel Boege, Eric TaylorAbstract:Background An earlier randomised controlled trial demonstrated improved treatment engagement in adolescents who received Therapeutic Assessment (TA) versus Assessment As Usual (AAU), following an emergency presentation with self-harm. Objectives To determine 2-year outcomes for the same adolescents focusing on frequency of Accident and Emergency (A&E) self-harm presentations and treatment engagement. Method Patients in the TA groups (n=35) and the AAU group (n=34) were followed up 2 years after the initial Assessment. Their primary and secondary care electronic records were analysed. Results There was no significant difference in the frequency of self-harm resulting in A&E presentations between the two groups (OR 0.69, 95% CI 0.23 to 2.13, p=0.53). Treatment engagement remained higher in the TA group than the AAU group. Conclusions TA is not associated with a lower frequency of A&E self-harm presentations. The effect of TA on engagement is maintained 2 years after the initial Assessment. Interventions to reduce self-harm in adolescents are needed. Trial registration ISRCTN 81605131, http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN81605131/
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adolescents with suicidal and nonsuicidal self harm clinical characteristics and response to Therapeutic Assessment
Psychological Assessment, 2012Co-Authors: Dennis Ougrin, Tobias Zundel, Reetoo Banarsee, Marinos Kyriakopoulos, Daniel Stahl, Eric TaylorAbstract:Self-harm is one of the best predictors of death by suicide, but few studies directly compare adolescents with suicidal versus nonsuicidal self-harm. Seventy adolescents presenting with self-harm (71% young women, ages 12-18 years) who participated in a randomized controlled trial were divided into suicidal and nonsuicidal self-harm categories using the Columbia Classification Algorithm of Suicide Assessment. Adolescents with suicidal self-harm were more likely than those with nonsuicidal self-harm to be young women, 22/23 (96%) versus 34/47 (72%), odds ratio (OR) = 8.33, 95% confidence interval (CI) [1.03, 50.0]; had a later age of onset of self-harm, 15.4 years vs. 13.8 years, mean difference = 1.6, 95% CI [.8, 2.43]; and used self-poisoning more often, 18/23 (78%) versus 11/47 (23%), OR = 3.43, 95% CI [2.00, 5.89]. Only those with nonsuicidal self-harm had an improvement on Children's Global Assessment Scale score following a brief Therapeutic intervention, mean difference = 8.20, 95% CI [.97, 15.42]. However, there was no interaction between treatment and suicidality. There are important differences between adolescents presenting with suicidal and nonsuicidal self-harm. Suicidal self-harm in adolescence may be associated with a less favorable response to Therapeutic Assessment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved). Language: en
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Teaching Therapeutic Assessment for self-harm in adolescents: training outcomes.
Psychology and Psychotherapy-theory Research and Practice, 2011Co-Authors: Dennis Ougrin, Audrey V. Ng, Tobias Zundel, Batsheva Habel, Saqib LatifAbstract:OBJECTIVES: To describe the teaching programme of Therapeutic Assessment (TA), a brief intervention at the point of initial Assessment for adolescents with self-harm; to describe trainees' preferences and choices regarding their use of specific aspects of TA. DESIGN: This is a comparative study investigating the differences in the TA skills before and after training. This design was chosen to establish whether or not TA training is efficacious. METHODS: Twenty-four clinicians volunteered to participate in five half-day TA training sessions. Their scores on the Therapeutic Assessment Quality Assurance Tool (TAQAT, primary outcome measure) were compared before and after training. Satisfaction with training and Therapeutic strategy choices as well as ability to perform TA in an RCT were investigated. RESULTS: Clinicians who participated in TA training had significantly increased scores on TAQAT after training. The clinicians who achieved the required quality of TA post Assessments were likely to be able to carry out TA in an RCT with high fidelity. In addition, prior to training, significant differences in the quality of Assessments as measured by TAQAT were identified depending on the experience of the clinician. This discrepancy was no longer present post training. Therapeutic strategy based on solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) was the option of choice post training. CONCLUSIONS: TA training is feasible and associated with improved quality of self-harm Assessment. PRACTITIONER POINTS: TA is a brief intervention associated with improved treatment engagement. TA training is feasible and is associated with improved quality of self-harm Assessment. SFBT-based exit is the most commonly used strategy in TA.
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trial of Therapeutic Assessment in london randomised controlled trial of Therapeutic Assessment versus standard psychosocial Assessment in adolescents presenting with self harm
Archives of Disease in Childhood, 2011Co-Authors: Dennis Ougrin, Audrey V. Ng, Tobias Zundel, Reetoo Banarsee, Alex Bottle, Eric TaylorAbstract:Objective To determine whether Therapeutic Assessment (TA) versus Assessment as usual (AAU) improves engagement with follow-up in adolescents presenting with self-harm. Design Randomised controlled trial with 3 months naturalistic follow-up. Setting Child and adolescent mental health services in two London National Health Service Trusts. Participants 26 clinicians randomised into TA and AAU groups recruited 70 newly referred adolescents with self-harm. Interventions TA, a manualised procedure including a basic psychosocial Assessment and a 30 min Therapeutic intervention; AAU, standard psychosocial Assessment. Main outcome measures Attendance at the first follow-up session; number of the follow-up sessions attended and changes in Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and Children9s Global Assessment Scale scores. All measures were adjusted for clustering, social class, changes of therapist and previous contact with services. Results Using the data on all participants (n=70), those in the TA group were significantly more likely to attend the first follow-up appointment: 29 (83%) versus 17 (49%), OR 5.12, 95% CI (1.49 to 17.55) and more likely to attend four or more treatment sessions: 14 (40%) versus 4 (11%), OR 5.19, 95% CI (2.22 to 12.10). Three months after the initial Assessment there were no statistically significant differences between the groups on Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire scores: 15.6 versus 16.0, mean difference −0.37, 95% CI (−3.28 to 2.53) or Children9s Global Assessment Scale scores: 64.6 versus 60.1, mean difference 4.49, 95% CI (−0.98 to 9.96). Conclusions TA was associated with statistically significant improvement in engagement. TA could be usefully applied at the point of initial Assessment for adolescents with self-harm. Trial registration ISRCTN 81605131 http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN81605131/.
Leonard Handler - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Collaborative / Therapeutic Assessment: A Casebook and Guide
2012Co-Authors: Stephen E Finn, Constance T. Fischer, Leonard HandlerAbstract:Preface vii About the Contributors xix 1 Collaborative/Therapeutic Assessment: Basic Concepts, History, and Research 1 Stephen E. Finn, Constance T. Fischer, and Leonard Handler PART I: Assessments of Individual Adults 2 Therapeutic Assessment of a Dissociating Client: Learning Internal Navigation 27 Judith Armstrong 3 Therapeutic Assessment of Depression: Love s Labors Lost? 47 Marc J. Diener, Mark J. Hilsenroth, Thomas D. Cromer, Frank P. Pesale, and Jenelle Slavin-Mulford 4 Collaboration in Neuropsychological Assessment: Metaphor as Intervention With a Suicidal Adult 69 Diane H. Engelman and J. B. Allyn 5 Collaboration Throughout the Assessment: A Young Man in Transition 93 Constance T. Fischer 6 Therapeutic Assessment for a Treatment in Crisis Following Multiple Suicide Attempts 113 J. Christopher Fowler 7 Using Therapeutic Assessment to Explore Emotional Constriction: A Creative Professional in Crisis 133 Jan H. Kamphuis and Hilde de Saeger 8 Therapeutic Assessment Involving Multiple Life Issues: Coming to Terms With Problems of Health, Culture, and Learning 157 Hale Martin and Erin Jacklin 9 Collaborative Assessment for Psychotherapy: Witnessing A Woman s Reawakening 179 Patrick J. McElfresh 10 Therapeutic Assessment of Severe Abuse: A Woman Living With Her Past 199 Carol Groves Overton PART II: Assessments of Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults 11 Therapeutic Assessment of an Adolescent: An Adopted Teenager Comes to Feel Understood 225 Marita Frackowiak 12 Collaborative Storytelling With Children: An Unruly Six- Year- Old Boy 243 Leonard Handler 13 Rorschach- Based Psychotherapy: Collaboration With a Suicidal Young Woman 269 Noriko Nakamura 14 Collaborative Assessment of a Child in Foster Care: New Understanding of Bad Behavior 291 Caroline Purves 15 Therapeutic Assessment With a 10- Year- Old Boy and His Parents: The Pain Under the Disrespect 311 Deborah J. Tharinger, Melissa E. Fisher, and Bradley Gerber 16 Collaborative Assessment on an Adolescent Psychiatric Ward: A Psychotic Teenage Girl 335 Heikki Toivakka PART III: Special Applications 17 Therapeutic Assessment Alternative to Custody Evaluation: An Adolescent Whose Parents Could Not Stop Fighting 357 F. Barton Evans 18 Therapeutic Assessment With a Couple in Crisis: Undoing Problematic Projective Identification via the Consensus Rorschach 379 Stephen E. Finn 19 Case Studies in Collaborative Neuropsychology: A Man With Brain Injury and a Child With Learning Problems 401 Tad T. Gorske and Steven R. Smith Afterword: Forward! 421 Constance T. Fischer, Leonard Handler, and Stephen E. Finn Author Index 427 Subject Index 430
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Examining the potential impact of a family session in Therapeutic Assessment: a single-case experiment.
Journal of Personality Assessment, 2011Co-Authors: Justin D. Smith, Leonard Handler, Christopher R. N. Nicholas, Michael R. NashAbstract:Most clinicians concede the benefits of conceptualizing children in systemic terms. Yet, many child Assessments involve parents only on a limited basis. The Therapeutic Assessment model for children and families (TA–C) emphasizes parental involvement and family-driven collaboration throughout the intervention. Child TA has shown promise as an effective brief intervention (e.g., Smith, Handler, & Nash, 2010; Tharinger et al., 2009). Family intervention sessions (Finn, 2007; Tharinger, Finn, Austin, et al., 2008) are an integral component of the child TA model in facilitating familial changes. However, TA–C research has yet to empirically examine the potential impact of a family session on treatment trajectory. This case study includes an extended presentation of the development and execution of a family session. The authors use a daily measures time-series experiment to empirically examine the clinical effectiveness of the TA–C and the hypothesis that the family session was a tipping point in the trajector...
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Therapeutic Assessment of families in healthcare settings: A case presentation of the model's application.
Families Systems & Health, 2010Co-Authors: Justin D. Smith, Stephen E Finn, Nicole F. Swain, Leonard HandlerAbstract:In this article, we present a case study of a Therapeutic Assessment (TA) with an 11year-old boy who had two unexplained behavioral episodes suggesting neurological impairment, which led to two emergency department visits at a children’s hospital. TA is a semistructured approach that blends the extensive conceptualizing benefits of psychological Assessment with the principles and techniques of evidence-based child and family interventions. We use this case to illustrate how TA is an adaptive and flexible approach to child-centered family Assessment that can meet the goals of psychologists working in pediatric and general medical hospitals, primary care clinics, family medicine practices, and other health care settings. With the current case, the clinician was able to use the procedures of TA to clarify for the family their son’s unexplained behaviors, while also providing them with a Therapeutic experience. In addition to addressing the family’s concerns, the clinician also addressed a number of specific questions provided by the referring neurologist that informed ongoing care of the child. This case illustrates the potential utility and effectiveness of the TA model with children and families referred to a typical psychology service in a health care setting. This case is one of the first applications of the TA model with this population and its success suggests further research in this area is warranted.
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Therapeutic Assessment for preadolescent boys with oppositional defiant disorder a replicated single case time series design
Psychological Assessment, 2010Co-Authors: Justin D. Smith, Leonard Handler, Michael R. NashAbstract:The Therapeutic Assessment (TA) model is a relatively new treatment approach that fuses Assessment and psychotherapy. The study examines the efficacy of this model with preadolescent boys with oppositional defiant disorder and their families. A replicated single-case time-series design with daily measures is used to assess the effects of TA and to track the process of change as it unfolds. All 3 families benefitted from participation in TA across multiple domains of functioning, but the way in which change unfolded was unique for each family. These findings are substantiated by the Behavior Assessment System for Children (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2004). The TA model is shown to be an effective treatment for preadolescent boys with oppositional defiant disorder and their families. Further, the time-series design of this study illustrated how this empirically grounded case-based methodology reveals when and how change unfolds during treatment in a way that is usually not possible with other research designs.
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Testing the Effectiveness of Family Therapeutic Assessment: A Case Study Using a Time-Series Design
Journal of Personality Assessment, 2009Co-Authors: Justin D. Smith, Leonard Handler, Nicole J. Wolf, Michael R. NashAbstract:We describe a family Therapeutic Assessment (TA) case study employing 2 assessors, 2 Assessment rooms, and a video link. In the study, we employed a daily measures time-series design with a pretreatment baseline and follow-up period to examine the family TA treatment model. In addition to being an illustrative addition to a number of clinical reports suggesting the efficacy of family TA, this study is the first to apply a case-based time-series design to test whether family TA leads to clinical improvement and also illustrates when that improvement occurs. Results support the trajectory of change proposed by Finn (2007), the TA model's creator, who posits that benefits continue beyond the formal treatment itself.
Filippo Aschieri - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Therapeutic Assessment With a Client With Persistent Complex Bereavement Disorder: A Single-Case Time-Series Design:
Clinical Case Studies, 2017Co-Authors: Ilaria Durosini, Anna Laura Tarocchi, Filippo AschieriAbstract:This article presents the results of a study into the effectiveness of Therapeutic Assessment (TA), a brief form of intervention that incorporates the results of Assessment findings into psychologi...
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The Wiley Handbook of Personality Assessment - Therapeutic Assessment in Clinical and Counseling Psychology Practice
The Wiley Handbook of Personality Assessment, 2016Co-Authors: Radhika Krishnamurthy, Stephen E Finn, Filippo AschieriAbstract:Contemporary psychological testing and Assessment practice is increasingly influenced by scholarly writings on collaborative and Therapeutic Assessment approaches for assessing clients and discussing the findings with them, reflecting a paradigm shift toward active and continual assessor–client collaboration. A formal Therapeutic Assessment (TA) model developed by Finn is supported by a substantial and growing literature of empirical research and published case studies, and numerous applications have also been described in conference presentations and training workshops. This body of work demonstrates the use of TA in assessing adult clients, children, adolescents, and families, and includes applications in neuropsychological and forensic Assessment contexts. This chapter will provide an overview of the core principles and methods of Therapeutic Assessment, review the empirical evidence for it, describe the range of applications, and discuss future directions
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The Effectiveness of Therapeutic Assessment with an Adult Client: A Single-Case Study Using a Time-Series Design
Journal of Personality Assessment, 2016Co-Authors: Filippo Aschieri, Justin D. SmithAbstract:This article presents the Therapeutic Assessment (TA; Finn, 2007) of a traumatized young woman named Claire. Claire reported feeling debilitated by academic demands and the expectations of her parents, and was finding it nearly impossible to progress in her studies. She was also finding it difficult to develop and sustain intimate relationships. The emotional aspects of close relationships were extremely difficult for her and she routinely blamed herself for her struggles in this arena. The assessor utilized the TA model for adults, with the exception of not including an optional intervention session. The steps of TA, particularly the extended inquiry and the discussion of test findings along the way, cultivated a supportive and empathic atmosphere with Claire. By employing the single-case time-series experimental design used in previous TA studies (e.g., Smith, Handler, & Nash, 2010; Smith, Wolf, Handler, & Nash, 2009), the authors demonstrated that Claire experienced statistically significant improvement correlated with the onset of TA. Results indicated that participation in TA coincided with a positive shift in the trajectory of her reported symptoms and with recognizing the affection she held for others in her life. This case illustrates the successful application of case-based time-series methodology in the evaluation of an adult TA. The potential implications for future study are discussed.
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Collaborative/Therapeutic Assessment
Oxford Handbooks Online, 2016Co-Authors: Filippo Aschieri, Francesca Fantini, Justin D. SmithAbstract:The Collaborative/Therapeutic Assessment (C/TA) paradigm represents a significant shift from the traditional aims and techniques of psychological Assessment. C/TA deliberately employs a variety of evidence-based techniques intended to maximize the potential that the process of Assessment will result in meaningful Therapeutic benefits for clients. The empirical support for the effectiveness of the C/TA approach is promising and demonstrates direct intervention effects on such indicators as self-esteem and symptomatology, as well as improvements in constructs and processes salient to continued psychological care, including the Therapeutic alliance, treatment readiness, and distress. C/TA has also been shown to increase participation and retention in subsequent indicated mental health services for populations that traditionally are difficult to engage. This chapter describes the history and evidence-based theory behind C/TA approaches; describes the steps and procedures of the semi-stuctured Therapeutic Assessment model, and presents a thorough discussion of the application of a variety of Therapeutic techniques (e.g., circular questioning, scaffolding, psychoeducation, shame modulation, mentalizing) in the context of the C/TA paradigm that increase the likelihood that Assessment will result in clinically relevant outcomes. These techniques are applied in a variety of therapy models in psychology but have only recently been explicitly used in the context of psychological Assessment for adults, couples, and families with children or adolescents.
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“Is Our Daughter Crazy or Bad?”: A Case Study of Therapeutic Assessment with Children
Contemporary Family Therapy, 2013Co-Authors: Francesca Fantini, Filippo Aschieri, Paolo BertrandoAbstract:In this paper we present a new model of intervention with documented efficacy that combines psychological tests and Assessment methods with Therapeutic techniques to promote change in clients. We will discuss Therapeutic Assessment of Children and their families (TA-C) through the case of a 4-year-old girl, Clara, and her family. Clara’s parents were distressed by her uncontrollable rage outbursts and feared she might be “crazy”. The treatment helped to shift the narrative the parents had about Clara and give new meanings to her behaviors. We describe in detail the steps of the Assessment and provide a theoretical discussion of the Therapeutic processes involved.
