A Survey of the Assessment Practices of Child and Adolescent Clinicians.

Practicing child and adolescent clinicians (N = 309) completed a survey regarding their actual and preferred child and adolescent assessment practices. Most reported using the following tools: family interview, individual child/teen interview, and a review of previous treatment records. The majority reported interviewing the identified child/teen patient and the adults in the home with a parental role. Clinicians reported they would also prefer to use parent rating scales, teacher rating scales, child/teen self-report scales, naturalistic observation, and a review of recent report cards and previous educational testing. The top 3 factors reported to influence assessment practice were ethics, organizational pressures, and theoretical orientation. Twenty- one percent of the sample reported that research findings are unimportant in their assessment decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]