APPRAISAL I FINAL

Appraisal I Final

[Author Name]

[Institutional Affiliation(s)]

Appraisal I Final

Response 1

Assessments in counseling help in identifying the client’s strengths and weakness that will further help in determining problems that the client is facing. Due to a rise in the use of social media several online sites will serve as a tool to assess patients in the future. Additionally, online counseling is easily accessible, flexible and is relatively affordable. Also, it saves a lot of time. In several online counseling tests, people still have to bubble in an answer sheet. However, with advanced computer technologies pictures and sounds are used in assessing a patient. Additionally, as real-time communication is possible a counselor may assess the patient using online applications using webcams. Previously telephone-based counseling methods were used but due to lack of eye contact patient’s satisfaction level was low. By using video technology client can contact the therapist or counselor directly that may help a lot in assessing (Bögel & Upham, 2018).

Response 2

The practitioners practicing therapeutic assessment must develop a friendly relationship with the client rather than a controlled environment. This will help clients in opening up more about their issues. Counselors must also inform the client about assessment before starting it to gain their trust while establishing a mutually agreed upon aims and implementation plans for a client’s treatment. While providing negative results to the client a counselor must choose sympathetic words that help the client in processing the information. Also, motivating the client that these negative results will not last forever and there is always a chance for betterment. Several things make an assessment experience non-therapeutic for clients. For instance, when practitioners take control of the client’s treatment without involving them in the process or evaluate them without informing them can make an assessment experience non-therapeutic for the client.

Response 3

The nature of interviews depends upon the clinical setting in which it is conducted. For instance, in emergency and crisis settings clients who decide to seek help for their mental condition so structured interview will help a lot (Turner & Hersen, 2003). In settings other than clinical settings the information regarding the environment or the community in which a client is living is very important in conducting interviews. This will help in understanding the culture and living standards of the client. Discussing about school and college settings, unstructured interviews helped a lot as children and adolescents are already in stress. So an open and friendly interview helps them a lot in opening up regarding their problems. In contrast, community mental health agencies often do structured interviews as this will help them in diagnosing the client’s problems. However, semi-structured interviews are best suited for patients in drug abuse treatment facilities. As a counselor needs structured information regarding patients to diagnose their problem also, they need to be friendlier with the patient so that they can share their problems. The main advantages of structured interviews are that gives a better idea of the problem, ensure fairness and legal protection. The disadvantages are that there is a very limited connection between the client and counselor that will create a communication gap. However unstructured interviews are more flexible and comfortable yet very time consuming. Semi-structured interviews depend upon interviewing skills of the counselor and if not interviewed properly the main goal cannot be achieved (Wethington & McDarby, 2015). However, in some situations, they are more beneficial. Thus, it is important to choose a type of interview according to the patient’s requirements.

Response 4

Online assessments tests does not ensure confidentiality that could cause severe consequences if the client’s information is leaked. It is, therefore, important to choose the sites for assessments that are affiliated with several authentic institutes or health care facilities. To access a larger audience the internet is a positive resource for clinicians and researchers. Also, a large amount of data can be collected by using several surveys online that may help researchers in getting more information regarding people’s points of view regarding the research topic. Additionally, internet sources a safe lot of time that researchers used to spend on collecting data for their research (Aniche & Gerosa, 2018).

Response 5

Due to the increase in awareness and invention of new technologies counselors and patients need to be more tolerable in understanding the cultural background of each other. Also, new technologies will make the assessment process easy for both patients and counselors. However, with the rise in technology severe ethical and legal issues also arise. Specifically, new technologies pose a threat to the confidentiality and privacy of the person causing severe consequences (Roberts, 2015).

References

Aniche, M., Treude, C., Steinmacher, I., Wiese, I., Pinto, G., Storey, M. A., & Gerosa, M. A. (2018, May). How modern news aggregators help development communities shape and share knowledge. In 2018 IEEE/ACM 40th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE) (pp. 499-510). IEEE.

Bögel, P. M., & Upham, P. (2018). Role of psychology in sociotechnical transitions studies: Review in relation to consumption and technology acceptance. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 28, 122-136.

Roberts, L. D. (2015). Ethical issues in conducting qualitative research in online communities. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 12(3), 314-325.

Turner, S. M., Heiser, N., & Hersen, M. (2003). The interviewing process. In Diagnostic interviewing (pp. 3-20). Springer, Boston, MA.

Wethington, E., & McDarby, M. L. (2015). Interview methods (structured, semistructured, unstructured). The Encyclopedia of Adulthood and Aging, 1-5.