Tele-Assessment of Personality/Psychopathology - Challenges, Roadblocks & Solutions (1.5 CEs)

With the outbreak of COVID-19, in-person evaluations have become increasingly more difficult to accomplish, and the implementation of tele-assessment practices (i.e., psychological assessment using telehealth platforms) has become the new norm in several assessment contexts -- a norm that will likely be a permanent part of psychological assessment even once the present Covid-19 pandemic has subsided. Tele-assessment, however, is not without problems, and different kinds of psychological evaluations and methods pose different and unique challenges to practitioners. In an attempt to identify common roadblocks across different types of assessments and seek collaborative solutions, this roundtable will discuss issues faced by clinical and forensic evaluators working with self-report, cognitive, and typicalperformance tests, with both adults and children. David McCord will start off this session by presenting some considerations on the use of self-report inventory measures in the context of tele-assessment. Joni Mihura will then talk about typical-performance tests, with a focus on the remote administration of the
Rorschach test and its associated challenges. Susie Raiford from Pearson will discuss tele-assessment of cognitive functioning. Jessica Lipkind will continue this conversation by offering her perspectives on the challenges and possible solutions characterizing the remote assessment of children and adolescents. Next, Eric Drogin will examine prospects for eventual legal application of tele-assessment to forensic work and describe considerations for conducting this type of assessment in both institutional and residential settings. Lastly, as the chief discussant of this roundtable, Jordan Wright will offer some conclusive remarks and considerations, and moderate a deeper discussion.

Chair

Luciano Giromini | University of Turin

Discussant

A. Jordan Wright | New York University

Goals & Objectives

1. Describe the major problems and possible solutions associated with using self-report inventory measures in the context of tele-assessment. 
2. Describe the major problems and possible solutions associated with using typical performance tests in the context of tele-assessment. 
3. Describe the major problems and possible solutions associated with remote assessment of children and adolescents. 
4. Describe important legal caveats for conducting forensic assessment in both institutional and residential settings.