6.2 - Psychological Testing Assignment: Instructions
The final written assessment for this unit is the Psychological Testing Assignment, worth 30% of your overall final mark. This assignment presents you with anauthentic investigative challenge. It is a capstone experience that will require you to draw from all that you have learnt throughout the unit. The scenario underlying this assessment is as follows.
Imagine you are now a postgraduate student. You have been assigned to your first placement as a clinical neuropsychologist and are working under the close supervision of Dr Sam Wilson. As you have been working together for some time now, Dr Wilson believes you are ready for a greater level of autonomy. So he asks you to write up the report for a neuropsychological assessment that you observed him administer to a client, in response to a referral from a local General Practitioner. To construct your report you are provided with the followingcase documents:
·
Referral letter(includingAppendix) ATTACHED
· Current assessment results:
o
Mental Status Examination
o
Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale(DASS)
o
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Fourth Edition(WAIS-IV)
Your supervisor also provides you with the following resources to help you with scoring and interpreting the test results: 1) theDASS scoring chart, 2) adescription of the WAIS-IV standardisation samplefrom the technical manual and 3) the relevantWAIS-IV normsfrom the scoring and administration manual. You will need to score the DASS and WAIS-IV, using these resources provided.
In practice, there is no standard layout or format for a neuropsychological evaluation report. However, for the purposes of this assessment, you should write up your report using the following template:
Click here to access the report template for this assignment
ATTACHED
Sections of the report
The following table provides a brief description of each section of the report. You should also refer to themarking criteriafor further details on what to include in each section. ATTACHED
Section*
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Description
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Suggested Word Count
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1. Details of the assessment
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Fill in the patient demographics, date of assessment, list of assessments used, etc.
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As required (not included in the word count)
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2. Reason for referral
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Briefly outline why the patient was referred to you and what the referral question was.
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50 words (not included in the word count)
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3. Justification of assessments
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For each test state why the test was chosen, evidence of the reliability/validity of the test and the appropriateness of the test for this client (i.e., is it suitable to this demographic, condition, etc.). Note that the list of tests is prescriptive. You can only report on the assessment results that have been provided to you. Also, any reliability and validity statistics you present must be referenced.
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400 words
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4. Behavioural observations
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Include relevant information about the patient’s presentation during the assessment as recorded in the MSE.
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100 words
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5. Assessment results
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Present the scores for each assessment (excluding the MSE). Assessment scores should be presented along with an insightful commentary explaining the patient’s level of performance as it relates to the referral question.
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600 words
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6. Evaluation of change over time
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Using the appendix provided with the referral letter, comment on any change in performance over time. Clarify which specific functions (if any) have changed and what this means in terms of the patient’s overall functioning.
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200 words
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7. Summary and conclusions
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Recap the key parts of the report including the reason for referral, the key test results and the patient’s overall performance and functioning. This section should directly and explicitly address the referral question.
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200 words
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8. References
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You must provide APA formatted citations and references wherever you report psychometric properties of the tests used.
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As required (not included in word count)
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9. Appendix
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Full scores for the DASS and WAIS-IV should be included using the template provided.
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As required (not included in word count)
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*Note: Normally the report would also include a Patient History section, where you would discuss background information that you had gleaned through the interview. For the purposes of this report we will focus on the psychological testing elements of the process. If you go on to further studies in psychology you will have the opportunity to explore the process of collecting and reporting patient history in more detail.
Useful Resources
To fulfil the requirements for this assignment you will need to use your discretion in drawing from all of what you have learned in the unit. Note, in particular, there is anactivity in Module 4that will give you an opportunity to practice scoring and interpreting the WAIS-IV. We also recommend you search the internet for example neuropsychological reports to get a few different perspectives on how best to write this kind of document. Just be aware that, while you can draw inspiration from template reports in terms of how to approach this assignment, all work you submit for marking must be written in your own words, with all sources appropriately acknowledged. Review the TURNITIN | Academic integrity module on the unit homepage to ensure you fully understand your obligations in relation to this matter.
Format
You must submit your assignment as a single Microsoft Word file using the template provided. Do not alter the format of the template. Note that the overall format of the template does not conform to APA formatting standards, as this is not required for this type of report. However, you should use APA formatting as per usual for all in-text citations and references in your reference list.
Word Limit
There is a strict overall word limit of1500 wordsfor this assessment. Refer to the table above for rules on which sections are and are not included in the word count and also for suggested word counts per section. Word limits ensure equality across students. If you exceed the upper limit you obtain an unfair advantage over others. Furthermore, saying what you need to while staying under the word limit demonstrates your ability to write concisely. For these reasons, a penalty will be applied for word limit violations. The penalty applied will be proportional to the amount of words over, such that 5% (of the total possible mark) will be deductedfor every additional 10% over the word limit. For example:
500 word limit example
Example: 10% of 500 words = 50 words
- 501 - 550 =- 5%
- 551 - 600 =- 10%
- 601 - 650 =- 15%
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1000 word limit example
10% of 1000 words = 100 words
- 1001 - 1100 =- 5%
- 1101 - 1200 =- 10%
- 1201 - 1300 =- 15%
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If you submit more than 10% under the word limit you will not be penalised directly, but may lose marks indirectly for not providing as much scope and/or depth as other students who provided a report closer to the word limit. So aim to get as close to the overall word limit as you can without going over.In determining your word count, doNOTinclude the section headings or the reference list.Everything else, including in-text citations, should be included in the word count though.
Submission
Refer to thesubmission dropboxfor detailed instructions on how to submit your assignment.
Upon submission of your assignment to the dropbox, your file will also be uploaded to Turnitin to check the originality of the work.Be sure to review the resources in theTURNITIN | Academic Integrity moduleprior to submission. This module includes information and tutorials on:
· correct paraphrasing
· citing and referencing technique
· common misunderstandings
· strategies for how to improve your technique
· instructions on how to interpret your Turnitin originality report
Approach your instructor if you have any further questions or concerns about academic integrity.