Virtual Delivery of Therapeutic Assessment: An Empirical Case Study

Abstract

The Therapeutic Assessment (TA) model of psychological assessment has grown in use due to the demonstrated benefits to clients. However, to date, there have been no published articles on how conducting TA virtually may impact the process and experience. The COVID-19 global pandemic led to a rapid increase in virtual delivery of psychological services, including assessments. Assessors adapted procedures to ensure that clients were served ethically, the assessor-client relationship was considered, and the results were deemed valid. This empirical case study was conducted to evaluate test validity, therapeutic alliance, and the clinician’s and client’s experience of a TA conducted virtually. The validity of test administration was evaluated by experts, who reviewed video of the administration and test results; no concerns regarding integrity and interpretability of the results were identified. Therapeutic alliance, session process, and virtual presence were measured after each session. Both clinician and client reported positive experiences. The overall impact of the TA was evaluated through quantitative assessment of the client’s experience and qualitative analysis of interviews. Collectively, this research demonstrates the feasibility of conducting a TA virtually, in an efficacious manner, that leads to positive client outcomes.

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Cam for participating in this TA, completing measures, and their willingness to share their story. Furthermore, we are grateful to Drs. Carol George, Seth Grossman, Alessandro Crisi and Jacob Palm for their time and contributions to this research. Additionally, our thanks to Stephen Finn, who provided some initial consultation on this research and helped with the interpretation of the Assessment Questionnaire data.

Disclosure statement

Raja M. David and Allison J. Carroll have no conflicts of interest to declare. Justin D. Smith is a member of the Board of Directors of the Therapeutic Assessment Institute for which he is not compensated. He is also Editor of the Institute’s newsletter, for which he receives a stipend.

Data availability statement

Study data are available by request to the corresponding author [RMD].

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