Evaluation of Clinical Assessment Instrument

Clinical assessment is a term used to refer to the collection of information and generating conclusions in a clinical setting. When conducting a clinical assessment, clinicians use various methods including observation, neurological tests, psychological tests, and interviews. Information collected through clinical assessment is used to draw conclusions regarding a client or patients problem and to identify a suitable way of helping him/her (Bridley & Daffin Jr., 2018). Clinical assessment is critical in the field of psychology and mental health as it is the premise with which these professionals obtain a clear account of a persons condition and determine what treatment works best. As a result, there are various types of clinical assessment instruments used by clinicians and psychologists. This paper evaluates two clinical assessment instruments i.e. Caregiver-Teacher Report Form and Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL).

Caregiver-Teacher Report Form and Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL)

Caregiver-Teacher Report Form and CBCL are two clinical assessment instruments used for behavior rating. As behavioral rating scales, Caregiver-Teacher Report Form and CBCL are used for the measurement of a target behavior. According to Bridley & Daffin Jr. (2018), behavioral assessment is carried out within the realm of behavior modification. When conducting this assessment, the target behavior is the specific behavior to be changed. The target behavior can either be in excess, which implies it needs to be reduced, or deficient, which means it needs to be increased. Behavioral assessment incorporates the evaluation of three key components of behavior i.e. antecedents, behaviors, and consequences. Antecedents refer to the environmental stimuli or events that generate the behavior while behaviors refer to an individuals thoughts, actions, and speech. On the other hand, consequences refer to the outcome or implications of that behavior.

CBCL and Caregiver-Teacher Report Form are examples of the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA). This system has gained international interest by influencing the global standard for multi-informant evaluation of emotional, behavioral, and social function across different age groups (Kristensen, Henriksen & Bilenberg, 2010). As clinical assessment instruments under ASEBA, Caregiver-Teacher Report Form and CBCL are designed to evaluate how children and youngsters function and behave in different situations in different social settings. These clinical assessment instruments were developed following decades of research and the practical experience of Achenbach and his colleagues. Kristensen, Henriksen & Bilenberg (2010) contend that Caregiver-Teacher Report Form and CBCL have been standardized and validated in several countries worldwide.

Review of the Two Instruments

As previously indicated, Caregiver-Teacher Report Form and CBCL are some of the clinical assessment instruments under ASEBA. These instruments are similarly designed to address an empirical series of emotional, behavioral, and social function problems. They comprise 100 problem items that serve as the premise for the assessment. 99 of these problem items are closed-ended while the remaining one is open-ended. The open-ended item requests respondents to provide any additional problem items that are not listed (Kristensen, Henriksen & Bilenberg, 2010). Since the two instruments are developed under ASEBA, they have some similarities and differences.

Similarities Between Caregiver-Teacher Report Form and CBCL

One of the similarities between the Caregiver-Teacher Report Form and CBCL is their design. These two designs are similarly designed to address a wide range of empirical items relating to emotional, behavioral, and social function problems (Kristensen, Henriksen & Bilenberg, 2010; Liu, Cheng & Leung, 2011). As a result, they form the few available clinical assessment instruments targeting preschoolers. Given the similarity in their designs, Caregiver-Teacher Report Form and CBCL provide a foundational way for evaluating childhood behavior problems in different ways. Insights obtained from these two instruments are used to prevent the development of problem behaviors later in life through the identification of problem behaviors during early childhood. This implies that the similarity in design contributes to their effectiveness in the evaluation of childhood behavior problems....…Henriksen & Bilenberg, 2010). Caregiver-Teacher Report Form replaces these items with group situation items since the test is completed by an adult or others providing care to the child during daytime or outside the home setting. By replacing the family situation items with group situations, Caregiver-Teacher Report Form enables the clinician to obtain a holistic view of how the child behaves or acts when interacting with other people. The inclusion of group situation items is critical in the behavioral assessment process because a family-like setting is essentially a confined environment with significant influences on childrens behavior. Therefore, this setting would not be appropriate to generate insights into how a child would act or behave in other settings where he/she interacts with people other than his/her family members. However, CBCL requests additional information regarding the health of the child. Despite requesting such information, CBCL is still seemingly weaker than Caregiver-Teacher Report Form since the latter requests supplementary information that directly relates to behavioral assessment. Caregiver-Teacher Report Form requests supplementary information regarding the role of the respondent in the childs life, kind of daycare, how well the respondent knows the child, and the context in which the child is assessed (Kristensen, Henriksen & Bilenberg, 2010).

In conclusion, Caregiver-Teacher Report Form and CBCL are ASEBA forms of behavioral assessment targeting preschoolers aged between 1.5 5 years. These tests are suitable for the behavioral assessment of this population as they are standardized and incorporate problem items that are consistent with DSM diagnostic categories. As a result, they are widely recommended for evaluating the behaviors of preschoolers through using informants. As noted by Frizzo et al. (2015), these instruments have been adapted into different ethic and cultural contexts making them multicultural. The wide use of both instruments to evaluate behavior problems in children is attributable to the adaptation into different contexts. However, the use of these instruments is limited on grounds that they…