The main role of psychological assessments in society is to ensure the following. An individual’s strengths and weaknesses are better understood, emotional and cognition reactivity is identified, and remediation or treatment is recommended (Harrast, 2020). As such, psychological assessments are significant since the information collected through them empowers individuals to establish growth. Moreover, the assessments are critical since they help one to be more informed based on how people proceed to utilize emotional or cognitive strengths responsible for mental health improvement (Hays, 2017). The psychological assessment presents a series of tests that counselors perform to collect information based on how people feel, react, think, and behave (Harrast, 2020). Therefore, the purpose of the evaluations is the same, which is to measure a patient’s behavior to determine the appropriate diagnosis while guiding their treatment. From an ethical perspective, since psychological assessments are conducted on humans, protecting the integrity of the whole process is very important.
The significance of safeguarding integrity lies in establishing value, which results in the participant’s willingness to contribute to the tests. From a professional perspective, ensuring a psychologist’s competence is critical since it helps determine the appropriate theoretical issues to apply to achieve the right prediction, which contributes to the treatment administered to the patient (Hays, 2017). One ethical issue with psychological assessments is informed consent, which entails the need for the counselor to notify their patients about a specific procedure or test applied. Moreover, the psychologist must ensure the patients are fully informed in terms of the process, duration, and purpose of the assessment (Hays, 2017). Discrimination is a legal issue with psychological tests where the main concern is observing the fine line on aspects such as religion, sexuality, race, and gender policies (Harrast, 2020). Likewise, accommodating people with disabilities is another legal issue facing psychological testing where the assessments must ensure to deal with the needs of every individual regardless of their physical appearance.
References
Harrast, M. A. (2020). Clinical care of the runner: Assessment, biomechanical principles, and injury management. Elsevier.
Hays, D. G. (2017). Assessment in counseling: A guide to the use of psychological assessment procedures. 6th edition. American Counseling Association.