How to Give Feedback on Psychological Tests

Test interpretation is part science and part art. You should only interpret tests if you are a mental health professional trained to do so. Unless you have told your client in advance that results cannot be interpreted to him, such as in special testing circumstances like court-ordered tests, you must offer to explain test findings. The explanation should be in a way he can understand, allowing for questions. Feedback should be sensitive to his needs, and the goal is to have him learn more about the problems that caused him to schedule the initial appointment with you.

Instructions

• 1

  Account for test-taking attitude. Standardized psychological tests have validity scales -- scales that measure a test taker's attitude toward the test. If he is seeing you because his wife is nagging him to do so, for example, he may be defensive or guarded and not admit symptoms everyone should have. He may endorse as true, for example, a test item such as, "I never feel sad," which is unrealistic. Similarly, if he is trying to get worker's compensation he may exaggerate symptoms. An example would be reporting contradictory symptoms such as crying all the time and being unrealistically happy all the time.

• 2

  Explain significant clinical score elevations. Clinical scores are an assessment of what mental health issues a client may be experiencing, such as depression, anxiety or paranoia. Interpretations are generally only offered if the scales of the test are elevated significantly when compared with the normative group -- the large group to which the test was originally given. Interpretations should be relevant to the assessment situation. If, for example, he is being evaluated for depression, talking about his antisocial tendencies may not be relevant. Interpretations should take into account the cultural beliefs of the person taking the test. If his spiritual beliefs include mysticism, endorsing as true an item such as "I see spirits" would mean something different than a person who does not have these beliefs.

• 3

  Report how certain you are about your findings. Interpretations of intelligence tests, for example, typically do not involve reporting just a "raw score" but instead will give a range of scores and, even better, a description of the range of scores. You should not say the subject scored 100 on an intelligence test. Instead, say that testing suggests her true score is somewhere between 85 and 115. A better approach is to tell her she appears to function within the average range of estimated intelligence.

• 4

  Answer questions. Make sure your subject understands what you are telling her. It is important to look for verbal and non-verbal queues when determining comprehension. If she is nodding her head but her brow is furrowed, you should ask what she thinks. Pause after explaining each test and ask her what she got out of the interpretation and how "true" she feels it is for her.

• 5

  Give recommendations. Also answer the "so what" question. If the test results suggest your client is depressed, suggest psychotherapy and referral for medications. Make sure he understands the recommendations and is leaving the testing situation with something he can use, otherwise his time will have been wasted.