Assessee and Assessor Experiences of Significant Events in Psychological Assessment Feedback

Abstract

Although a growing body of scholarly work explores the unique utility and therapeutic uses of psychological assessment, less work has focused specifically on feedback, with few studies that have explored empirically the underlying processes that may describe the role of feedback in a successful assessment. The purpose of this project was to add to the discourse on this topic by engaging in an empirical study exploring assessee and assessor experiences of significant events in psychological assessment feedback. The methodology is qualitative and modeled after significant events research in the study of psychotherapy process. I analyze the accounts of 6 assessment clients and 6 assessment clinicians regarding key events in their experience of feedback.

Acknowledgments

This article is based on doctoral dissertation research completed at the Institute for Graduate Clinical Psychology at Widener University. An earlier version was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality Assessment in Washington, DC, on March 10, 2007. I acknowledge the helpful contributions of the members of my dissertation committee, Alan Schwartz, Frank Masterpasqua, and Dennis Debiak, with special thanks to the chair of my dissertation committee, Virginia Brabender, for her careful attention and thoughtful suggestions. Robin M. Ward is now at the Student Counseling Center, La Salle University.