Clinical Assessment

This unit of study provides students with training in the principles and practice of evidence-based psychological assessment in professional psychology. It provides the opportunity to develop competence in the assessment skills required to practice as a registered psychologist in Australia (PsyBA/AHPRA). Students will be introduced to case formulation that includes significant cognitive assessment, history-taking and the selection and administration of standardised psychological assessment tools. Tools include intelligence, memory, executive function and achievement tests, and personality assessment. Students will acquire professional report-writing skills and develop capacity to consider interprofessional perspectives. Successful completion of this unit prepares students for clinical placements both within the VU Psychology Clinic and community-based organisations.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:

1. Exhibit competence in clinical assessment skills commensurate with level of training;
2. Administer, score and interpret core cognitive and personality assessment measures;
3. Appraise and analyse the findings of a clinical assessment including client history and the results of intelligence, achievement, memory and executive functioning tests;
4. Synthesise and explicate clinical assessment results for a variety of interprofessional audiences and purposes; and
5. Evaluate and critically reflect upon psychological assessment and how it is used in a variety of settings and for different purposes, including the role of culture in the administration, scoring, interpretation and feedback of psychometric testing.