PSYC 3339 Chapter 8: The Clinical Interview
29 Sep 2019
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Chapter 8: The Clinical Interview
Introduction to Assessment
• No other mental health professionals incorporate assessment into their training and
their work to the extent clinical psychologists do
• Assessment techniques should have…
o Validity: it measures what it claims to measure
▪ Content validity: it has content appropriate for what is being measured
▪ Convergent validity: it correlates with other techniques that measure the
same thing
▪ Discriminant validity: it does not correlate with techniques that measure
something else
o Reliability: it yields consistent, repeatable results
▪ Test-retest reliability: it yields similar results across multiple
administrations at different times
▪ Interrater reliability: it yields similar results across different
administrators
▪ Internal reliability: it consists of items that are consistent with one
another
o Clinical utility: it benefits the clinician and the client in some meaningful way
• Feedback can come in the form of a face-to-face meeting, a written report, or other
forms
• The clinical interview is the most frequently used assessment procedure
o Few assessments are conducted without an interview of some kind
The Interviewer
General Skills
• Quieting your internal thoughts
• Being self-aware of looks, voice, mannerisms, body language accents, etc. and how they
evoke certain responses from clients
• Developing positive working relationships
o An interview client is likely to become a psychotherapy client
o Attentive listening
o Appropriate empathy
o Genuine respect
o Cultural sensitivity
Specific Behaviors
• Listening can be broken down into the fundamental building blocks of attending
behaviors
Eye Contact
• Facilitates listening
• Communicates listening to the client
• Requires cultural knowledge and sensitivity
Body Language
• Face the client
• Appear attentive
• Minimize restlessness
• Display appropriate facial expressions
• Subject to cultural interpretation
Vocal Qualities
• Pitch, tone, volume, and fluctuation
Verbal Tracking
• Repeating key words and phrases back to clients to assure the clients they have been
accurately heard
• Weaving the clients’ language into their own
• Monitoring the train of thought implied by clients’ patterns of statements
Referring to the Client by the Proper Name
• Misuse of names can be disrespectful and may be received as a microaggression
o Inappropriately using nicknames or shortening names
o Omitting a “middle” name that is an essential part of the first name (“John Paul”)
o Addressing a client by first name rather than a title followed by surname
Components of the Interview
Rapport
• A positive, comfortable relationship between interviewer and client
o Connectedness, empathy
o Clients tend to disclose more information and invest themselves further
• Make an effort to put the client at ease, especially early in the session
o Engage in small talk about innocuous topics
• Acknowledge the unique, unusual situation of the clinical interview
o Let client know that you recognize their position and appreciate their willingness
to participate
o Invite client to ask questions about the interview process
• Notice how the client uses language and then follow their lead
o When a client uses a metaphor, extend it
Technique
• What an interviewer does with clients; the tools in the interviewer’s toolbox
Directive vs. Nondirective Styles
• Directive questions tend to be targeted toward specific pieces of information
o Client responses are typically brief
o Can provide crucial data that clients may not otherwise choose to discuss
▪ Important historical information
▪ Presence or absence of a particular symptom of a disorder
