Assessing the Values of Psychological Assessment

The struggle to understand and account for values in the clinical enterprise has already begun in psychotherapy and needs to begin in psychological assessment. The ignoring or avoidance of values does nothing to neutralize the influence they have in the clinical work we do, whether in therapy or in assessment. In both the content and methods, all instruments have inherent values. This book explicates the values inherent in the content and methods of three popular psychotherapy outcome measures. Contrasting values are provided for each value to help clarify the definition and boundaries of each value. Not only are all psychotherapy outcome instruments value-laden, these values have practical implications for the work of assessment. Avoiding values (or even being unaware of them) can lead to the serious possibilities of misleading or incorrect data and false decisions made on such data.

Autorentext

Matthew Whoolery has a Ph.D. in Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology and is a psychology professor at Brigham Young University-Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho.