Assessment of children’s main contexts: Family, school, and social relationships.

Abstract

Scientific, technological, social, and cultural changes mean that child and adolescent psychological assessment is facing new challenges and opportunities. This book showcases state-of-the-art methods, instruments, and processes in the clinical assessment of children and adolescents. Written by leading experts, the contributions highlight skills and specific procedures that are relevant and distinctive for the assessment of different age groups and that can be used in different contexts so professionals can plan interventions more effectively. After an introduction to the basic concepts and approaches to the clinical assessment of children and adolescents, four additional sections explore the diagnosis of psychological problems, the conceptualization of clinical problems and interventions, the assessment of intervention progress and outcomes, and the assessment of specific groups and in special contexts. The volume is full of practical examples to address issues such as clinical judgment and bias, results integration, multi-informant data collection, and incremental validity. This book is essential reading for child and adolescent psychologists, psychotherapists, and psychiatrists.