What behavioral observations do you make about the client by reading the case vignette?

Create a mock forensic assessment report based on a patient in a selected vignette. Provide your diagnostic impressions based on the DSM criteria.

For this assignment you are to:

• Improve your interview and referral questions for the case vignette you selected in M1 Assignment 3.
• Here is the vignette:
  
• The following are factors to consider in psychological testing: the validity of the information, its reliability and its objectivity. The behavioral observations made are that the client is abnormally cooperative and gives information freely an unlikely characteristic of drunkards. The forensic assessment options available are oral testing as well as carrying out laboratory tests for blood samples. To recognize the client’s deception behavior I would observe the clients facial expressions and noticing contradicting statements while answering some questions during oral assessment (Wrightsman, 2001).

  In this case, Mr. P was arrested for driving under influence of alcohol he discloses that his family has had a drinking history not to mention that some other factors as stress drove him to drinking. His long sentence at court threatens him with losing his job and he too believes that he is a victim of police mannerisms of arrest in the said town. The reason for referral was that Mr. P proved to have mental problem caused by stress. Forensic assessment is necessary because there was need to prove to the client that the alcohol blow was actually correct and did not actually make a mistake in convicting the client with driving under influence (American College of Forensic Psychology. (1983).

  My impression of the client was that he seems to have resigned himself to alcohol due to his preceding circumstances: stress and history of drinking in his family. My role as a professional is that of establishing whether the client had mental problem before, which could actually make him be confined in a correction facility. The hypothesis I formed will assist me in building testing parameters and standards for my case (Wrightsman, 2001).

  I will be using the Substance abuse evaluation with Mr. P. A Substance Abuse evaluation will include Integrated Screening and Assessment. The Integrated screening will occur for both of Mr. P’s disorders and it will be a brief process that will occur when he starts services with me. This will indicate whether Mr. P does indeed have a substance abuse disorder and at least one co-occurring mental disorder. If he screens positive for co-occurring disorders, then he will receive an in depth assessment. This integrated assessment will mean that Mr. P has both a substance abuse disorder as well as a mental disorder and it will be assessed in context of each other. This will consist of getting information and engaging in the process with Mr. P that will enable me to either rule out or establish the presence of or absence of a co-occurring disorder and to determine if Mr. P is ready for change. The Integrated assessment will help in identifying the strengths as well as the problem areas that could affect his treatment as well as a successful recovery.

  An in depth assessment will give me the information of Mr. P to create a treatment plan and will be helpful in establishing symptoms, and a baseline of signs as well as behaviors that will be used to monitor his progress over a period of time in order to determine if he has co-occurring disorders. If Mr. P shows positive after the screening for co-occurring disorders the referral will be sent to the court.

Assignment 2: Mock Individual Assessment (Rough Draft)

Create a mock forensic assessment report based on a patient in a selected vignette. Provide your diagnostic impressions based on the DSM criteria. Name the file M4_A2_LastName_LASA_Draft.doc and submit the paper to the M4 Assignment 2 Dropbox.

Your instructor will provide feedback by critiquing the rough draft so that you can make corrections and additions to your final submission due in M5 Assignment 1 LASA.

For this assignment you are to:

· Improve your interview and referral questions for the case vignette you selected in M1 Assignment 3.

Use the case vignette you selected in M1 Assignment 3 for this assignment.

The following are factors to consider in psychological testing: the validity of the information, its reliability and its objectivity. The behavioral observations made are that the client is abnormally cooperative and gives information freely an unlikely characteristic of drunkards. The forensic assessment options available are oral testing as well as carrying out laboratory tests for blood samples. To recognize the client’s deception behavior I would observe the clients facial expressions and noticing contradicting statements while answering some questions during oral assessment (Wrightsman, 2001).

In this case, Mr. P was arrested for driving under influence of alcohol he discloses that his family has had a drinking history not to mention that some other factors as stress drove him to drinking. His long sentence at court threatens him with losing his job and he too believes that he is a victim of police mannerisms of arrest in the said town. The reason for referral was that Mr. P proved to have mental problem caused by stress. Forensic assessment is necessary because there was need to prove to the client that the alcohol blow was actually correct and did not actually make a mistake in convicting the client with driving under influence (American College of Forensic Psychology. (1983).

My impression of the client was that he seems to have resigned himself to alcohol due to his preceding circumstances: stress and history of drinking in his family. My role as a professional is that of establishing whether the client had mental problem before, which could actually make him be confined in a correction facility. The hypothesis I formed will assist me in building testing parameters and standards for my case (Wrightsman, 2001).

I will be using the Substance abuse evaluation with Mr. P. A Substance Abuse evaluation will include Integrated Screening and Assessment. The Integrated screening will occur for both of Mr. P’s disorders and it will be a brief process that will occur when he starts services with me. This will indicate whether Mr. P does indeed have a substance abuse disorder and at least one co-occurring mental disorder. If he screens positive for co-occurring disorders, then he will receive an in depth assessment. This integrated assessment will mean that Mr. P has both a substance abuse disorder as well as a mental disorder and it will be assessed in context of each other. This will consist of getting information and engaging in the process with Mr. P that will enable me to either rule out or establish the presence of or absence of a co-occurring disorder and to determine if Mr. P is ready for change. The Integrated assessment will help in identifying the strengths as well as the problem areas that could affect his treatment as well as a successful recovery.

An in depth assessment will give me the information of Mr. P to create a treatment plan and will be helpful in establishing symptoms, and a baseline of signs as well as behaviors that will be used to monitor his progress over a period of time in order to determine if he has co-occurring disorders. If Mr. P shows positive after the screening for co-occurring disorders the referral will be sent to the court.

Next, create and document a set of mock interview questions and potential referral questions to ask your client and yourself. You can determine the questions in relation to the case vignette that you choose.

You might also want to consider some of the example referral questions listed below.

Analyze all the information provided in the case vignette and begin to formulate a hypothesis as to why the individual needs referral.

Example Referral Questions:

· As a forensic mental health professional, what factors need to be considered in your psychological testing for the forensic assessment report?

· What behavioral observations do you make about the client by reading the case vignette?

· What are your assessment options in working with the client?

· What standards and accepted psychological tests might you apply to your client in forensic settings? Select from the instruments you researched in M3 Assignment 2 RA.

· How will you recognize and evaluate your client’s offender behaviors associated with malingering and deception?

· What theoretical orientation do you want to use in this case for your treatment recommendations?

· What is the case scenario you have selected?

· What is the reason for referral?

· What is the purpose of the forensic assessment and report?

· What is the nature of the problem presented in your selected case vignette?

· What is the context in which the forensic assessment report will be used?

· What is the background of your client? What are the symptoms displayed by your client and the significance they have in this case?

· What is the mental status of your client? Be sure to elaborate on every major component addressed in the mental status examination.

· What interview type and approach did you use with your client?

· What tests are appropriate to use in your forensic assessment report? Identify one intelligence test, one objective personality test, and one projective test.

· What collateral information will you use in the process of the evaluation?

· How will you present your impressions of the client?

· Write a Forensic Mental Health Professional Individual Assessment Report.

Use the Forensic Mental Health Professional Individual Assessment Report template (you can download the template from ).

Evaluate and interpret the information provided to you in the case vignette that you have selected in M1 Assignment 3. Synthesize the information you collected to create a Forensic Mental Health Professional Individual Assessment Report. Your findings should be in a report format.

In a 10- to 12-page report, include only the following components:

· Reason for Referral: Explain the objective of your case vignette analysis, clearly bringing out the aspects or reasons that motivated you to carry out the study.

· Presentation: Create mock interview data and collateral information (you are to identify the questions to ask in the interview). Provide a synopsis of the interview. Provide data to support the mental status of your client, based on your forensic assessment report and the mental status components you have identified.

· Current Life Situation and Background Information: Explain the problem provided in your selected case vignette using the interview and mental status data. How does the data relate to the background of your client and your behavioral observations?

· Objective Testing: Identify the assessment instruments you would recommend to evaluate the client and explain the rationale for your recommendations. Describe the objective tests you have selected and their use. How did you apply these tests to your selected case vignette? Based on your study, what is your analysis of the symptoms displayed by your client? What ethical and multicultural issues do you need to address? You will apply what you have learned from M3 Assignment 2 RA into this section.

· Conclusion and Recommendations: What is your hypothesis based on the mental status examination, the interview, personality tests, and symptoms analysis? Explain your hypothesis and substantiate it, using instances from your case study. Discuss your results with conclusions and recommendations. Provide your diagnostic impressions based on DSM criteria.

The final Forensic Mental Health Professional Individual Assessment Report should contain all the assigned components and the corresponding information.

Your final deliverables for this module are:

· Selected case vignette

· List of interview/referral questions

· Assessment template

· Final assessment report

Your report should be approximately of 12–15 pages.

Submission Details:

· By Wednesday, February 19, 2014, compile your report in a Microsoft Word document, save it as M4_A2_Lastname_Firstname.doc, and submit it to the M4 Assignment 2 Dropbox.

Assignment 2 Grading Criteria	Maximum Points
Created a set of mock interview questions appropriate to the selected case vignette.	12
Created a set of referral questions appropriate to the selected case vignette.	12
Formulated a hypothesis on why the individual needs referral.	8
Included all the appropriate and necessary information in the Reason for Referral section.	12
Included all the appropriate and necessary information in the Presentation section.	12
Included all the appropriate and necessary information in the Current Life Situation and Background Information section.	12
Included all the appropriate and necessary information in the Objective Testing section.	12
Included all the appropriate and necessary information in the Conclusion and Recommendations section.