Eight Best Practices to Improve Forensic Psychological Assessments

4 Hours | 4 CEs

This on-demand professional training program on Eight Best Practices to Improve Forensic Psychological Assessments is presented by Tess M.S. Neal, PhD.

This training focuses on the state of forensic mental health assessment. It begins with a discussion of the rationale and development of the project; Eight Best Practices to Improve Forensic Psychological Assessments. Dr. Neal provides an overview of forensic psychology’s history and discusses its possible future with multiple audiences in mind. This program distills decades of scholarship from and about fundamental basic science and forensic science, clinical and forensic psychology, and the law of expert evidence into eight best practices for the validity of a forensic psychological assessment. There is further discussion on the best practices to apply when a psychological assessment relies on science's norms, values, and esteem to inform legal processes.

The presentation is based on a free article recently published in the Annual Review of Law and Social Science. Portions of this original synthesis were prepared simultaneously for this article and for a report commissioned by the independent public inquiry by the Government of Canada and the Province of Nova Scotia called the Mass Casualty Commission. Drs. Martire and Neal served as expert consultants in the inquiry process. Our reports and testimony are publicly available.

The eight key considerations include:

1. foundational validity of the assessment;
2. validity of the assessment as applied;
3. management and mitigation of bias;
4. attention to quality assurance;
5. appropriate communication of data, results, and opinions;
6. explicit consideration of limitations and assumptions;
7. weighing of alternative views or disagreements; and
8. adherence to ethical obligations, professional guidelines, codes of conduct, and rules of evidence.

Dr. Neal introduces a free resource developed and posted online on the open science framework with 117 specific questions that practitioners (psychologists, lawyers, judges) can ask as they read through any particular psychological assessment: these questions make concrete the 8 best practices as they would apply to any given case.

This program discusses how the authors used this framework in a specific high-profile case to date: as part of our expert testimony in the Mass Casualty Commission in Canada to evaluate the quality of a psychological autopsy that was used by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the aftermath of Canada's deadliest mass shooting. That expert testimony is publicly available if people are interested in the content - we'll share information about how to access more information about the case, this particular psychological assessment of interest, and our analysis of its quality through this framework.

This program is intended for all career stages, specialty areas, and environments involving mental health & law.