M5A1 Due Feb 4

12 pages (No More than)

 will upload M1A3

 

Complete the following:

• Improve your interview and referral questions for the case vignette you selected in M1 Assignment 3. Using this case vignette, add to your referral questions by integrating the feedback that you received from your instructor in M4 Assignment 2 on your mock interview questions and formulated hypothesis on why the individual needs the referral.
   

Example Referral Questions:

 

• As a forensic mental health professional, what factors do you need  to consider in your psychological testing for the forensic assessment  report?
• What are the pertinent multicultural consideration?
• 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 standard and accepted psychological  tests might you apply to your client in a forensic setting? 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 that 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 their significance 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?
• Revise your copy of Forensic Mental Health Professional Individual Assessment Report on the basis of your instructor’s feedback. Using the Forensic Mental Health Professional Individual Assessment Report template that you downloaded for M4 Assignment 2,  revise your evaluation and interpretation of the information provided  to you in the case vignette that you selected. 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.  To support the mental status of your client, provide data 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 and multicultural characteristics 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? According to 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 to this section.
• Provide your diagnostic impressions based  on DSM-5 criteria. What is your principal diagnosis? What is your  secondary diagnosis? Are there other conditions that may be the focus of  clinical attention to consider?
• Conclusion and Recommendations:  What is your hypothesis after taking into account the mental status  examination, the interview, personality tests, and the symptom analysis?  Explain your hypothesis and substantiate it using instances from your  case study. Discuss your results with conclusions and recommendations. The final version of Forensic Mental Health Professional Individual Assessment Report  should contain all the assigned components and the corresponding  information and include revisions and improvements based on your  feedback from M4 Assignment 2.
   
• Synthesize the data and write a reflection statement in 2–3 pages. In a separate document, address the following:
   

• Describe your professional role and relationship with the court and the third party requesting the assessment or evaluation.
• Explain the hypothesis you have formulated.
• Explain why you chose the tests for the assessment of the client.
• Discuss potential ethical dilemmas that might arise in your assessment of the client.
• Discuss the pertinent multicultural perspectives you considered.
• Explain how you would prepare yourself to  defend your evaluation in the court setting or to relevant third  parties. Be sure to support your explanation with professional  literature.
• If you recommended treatment for your client, discuss the evidence-based approaches used with the disorder you diagnosed.
• Discuss the influence of cultural factors on the assessment process.

The final version of Forensic Mental Health Professional Individual Assessment Report  should contain all the assigned components and the corresponding  information and include revisions and improvements based on your  feedback from M4 Assignment 2.
 

Synthesize the data and write a reflection statement in 2–3 pages. In a separate document, address the following:
 

 

Describe your professional role and relationship with the court and the third party requesting the assessment or evaluation.
Explain the hypothesis you have formulated.
Explain why you chose the tests for the assessment of the client.
Discuss potential ethical dilemmas that might arise in your assessment of the client.
Discuss the pertinent multicultural perspectives you considered.
Explain how you would prepare yourself to  defend your evaluation in the court setting or to relevant third  parties. Be sure to support your explanation with professional  literature.
If you recommended treatment for your client, discuss the evidence-based approaches used with the disorder you diagnosed.
Discuss the influence of cultural factors on the assessment process.

Your final deliverables are:

    

• A selected case vignette
• A list of interview and referral questions
• The assessment template
• The final assessment report
• A reflection statement

Your report and reflection statement combined should be  approximately 12–15 pages. You are to utilize outside resources in your  reflection statement only.

All written assignments and responses should follow APA rules for attributing sources.

Running Head: ASSESSMENTS 1

ASSESSMENTS 4

Forensic assessments

Phyllis Lovering

Argosy Online

Jan.10,2018

Forensic assessments
The case scenario selected

In Case 1, police arrested Ms. G and charged her with burglary after finding her with a property belonging to a neighbor. The arresting officers revealed that she was in possession of drug and intoxicated, as well as turned combative in defense that she had committed a crime. They also reported that Ms. G portrayed hostile, belligerent, hyperactive, irritable assaultive and irrational behavior when they approached to arrest her. While incarcerated, she made several claims included that the police planted the drug on her and they wanted to kill her and her brother, and she also initiated a hunger strike among the inmates. Furthermore, she refused any conversation as well as defense counsel and a plea bargain when they were offered to her.

Reasons for a referral

The most appropriate forensic assessment for this case is the competency to stand trial. This evaluation allows a forensic mental health professional to determine if a client understands the charges against him or her, the available options and potential sentences (Reed, & Zapf, 2017). In particular, a referral is important to ascertain whether Ms. G really understands the consequences of waiving the right to a defense counsel and refusing plea negotiations.

The purpose of the forensic assessment and report

If the forensic mental health professional reports that Ms. G is competent, the court will continue with the trial. Otherwise, he or she should make recommendations regarding the measure that need to be taken so that the defendant can regain competency (Stafford & Sellbom, 2013). For instance, Ms. G may be admitted to a psychiatric hospital until she regains competency.

Forensic assessments
My impressions of the client

My impressions of Ms. G are that she is irrational and have no factual understanding of the legal process or the charges against her. It is not logic for her to deny having committed a crime with police finding stolen property in her possession. Accepting a plea bargain may have also helped her reduce the risk of a harsher punishment and avoid costs of defending herself at trial (Reed, & Zapf, 2017).

My professional role and relationship with the court and the third party

The prosecution or the defense may call upon a forensic psychologist to do psychological assessment and evaluation to determine the mental state of a defendant before conviction or sentencing (Reed, & Zapf, 2017). Depending on the result of the evaluation, the psychologist may be needed to testify in court on whether impaired mental abilities have any impact on the case.

Explanation of the hypotheses formulated

The hypotheses for the assessment include that Ms. G unknowingly refused the right to a counsel. A forensic psychiatrist needs to evaluate her competency to self-representation as she may be having some mental illnesses that bar her from rational thinking (Stafford & Sellbom, 2013). Another hypothesis is that Ms. G does not understand the merits and demerits of each of her options, which made her refuse plea bargaining. An expert needs examine whether she knows her options as it is a necessary component for legally declaring client’s competency to plea.

Forensic assessments

References

Reed, A. L., & Zapf, P. A. (2017). Criminal forensic assessment. Handbook of Forensic Mental Health Services, 79.

Stafford, K. P., & Sellbom, M. O. (2013). Assessment of competence to stand trial. Forensic psychology, 11, 412-439.