Psychological assessments marked the advent of clinical psychologists into clinical work. Though reimbursement for assessments has proven to be increasingly difficult, clinicians still find them quite beneficial and enlightening. Stephen Finn (1996) and Constance Fischer (2000) among others have utilized and promoted collaborative methods to conduct assessments. With the clients as co-evaluators, research suggests that they can leave the assessment with a new sense of self or a better understanding of their feelings(Finn, 2003; Finn & Tonsager, 1992; Finn & Tonsager, 1997; Newman & Greenway,1997). However, except for two studies with college counseling center populations (Finn,1992; Newman & Greenway, 1997), this research has been limited to case studies and unpublished dissertations. In general, research results are mixed concerning therapeutic assessment and special populations. Nevertheless, in all of the studies, the therapeutic assessment group improved; but in some of them the control group improved as well. Furthermore, some of the previous studies had methodological problems (i.e., multipleexaminers, examiners not trained in therapeutic assessment, and hectic data collection sites), especially regarding a study using a population with serious mental illnesses (SMI; Houser, 2000). With SMI clients, research has shown that the quality of social support interactions has been crucial in determining the success of their mental health recovery. Individuals who have a positive view of their social support have better mental health outcomes.
The author of the current study posited that therapeutic assessment, as opposed to
traditional, information gathering assessment, with an SMI population would prove to be more efficacious. Hypotheses were tested using the Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (Benjamin, 1974; 1996) medium form, the Brief Symptoms Inventory
(Derogatis, 1983), and the Picture Projection Test - Revised (Ritzler & Ben-vi, 2005) as therapeutic assessment measures and the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale (Rosenberg,1965), the Mental Health Recovery Measure (Young & Bullock, 2003), and the Assessment Questionnaire – Revised (Finn, Schroeder, & Tonsager, 1994) as the
outcome measures. Each participant was administered the outcome measures three times: before the assessment, immediately after the assessment but still during the first session, and three to five weeks after the assessment at a follow-up appointment. The author hypothesized that individuals in the therapeutic assessment group would demonstrate a larger change on the outcome measures than those in the information gathering group.
Nineteen participants diagnosed with a serious mental illness participated in the
study. Ten participants were in the therapeutic assessment group and nine participants were in the information gathering group. The main hypotheses were not supported: Self-esteem increased in the therapeutic assessment group, but not more so than in the information gathering group. These results are congruent with previous studies that have found therapeutic assessment to be beneficial, but not always more so than the control group. Limitations of the current study are discussed, including the small sample size.