Understanding Barriers to Evidence-Based Assessment: Clinician Attitudes Toward Standardized Assessment Tools

Abstract

In an era of evidence-based practice, why are clinicians not typically engaged in evidence-based assessment? To begin to understand this issue, a national multidisciplinary survey was conducted to examine clinician attitudes toward standardized assessment tools. There were 1,442 child clinicians who provided opinions about the psychometric qualities of these tools, their benefit over clinical judgment alone, and their practicality. Doctoral-level clinicians and psychologists expressed more positive ratings in all three domains than master's-level clinicians and nonpsychologists, respectively, although only the disciplinary differences remained significant when predictors were examined simultaneously. All three attitude scales were predictive of standardized assessment tool use, although practical concerns were the strongest and only independent predictor of use.

This project was supported in part through R03 MH077752 from the National Institute of Mental Health to Kristin Hawley. We thank Jonathan Cook, Brian Doss Marcia Kearns, and Leticia Osterberg for their assistance with this project and helpful feedback on previous drafts of this manuscript.

Notes

^a n = 1,441.

^b n = 1,417.

^c n = 1,438.

^d n = 1,442.

^e Percentages for practice setting do not sum to 100 because providers could choose more than one.

^f n = 1,421.

^g n = 1,529.

^a Cohen's d effect size, comparing each mean to the neutral value of 3.

^b Item was reverse scored before it was included in the scale score.

Note: MFT = marriage and family therapist.

*p < .001.

Note: OR = odds ratio.

^a Values presented for the multivariate analysis were obtained from models controlling for therapist personal and professional characteristics.

*p < .001.