Abstract
To appropriately evaluate people in their communities requires careful consideration of a panoply of contextual parameters. These are composed of a welcoming and safe ambience; physical plant characteristics; the clinical setting (e.g., inpatient, outpatient, emergency room, homeless shelter or under a bridge, correctional setting); whether the assessment is routine, urgent, emergent, or investigatory; the nature of the evaluation’s expected product; and the cultural attributes of people, their communities, and the evaluator. Consideration of all these contextual issues will expand the evaluator’s capacity to establish a therapeutic alliance, and to engage the patient in the assessment, and possibly treatment. Awareness of and responses to these contextual concerns will improve both the evaluative process and the evaluation product.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Alegria, M., Nakash, O., Lapatin, S., Oddo, V., Gao, S., Lin, J., Normand, S.L (2008). How missing information in diagnoses can lead to disparities in the clinical encounter. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 14, 26–35.
Andrews, L. B. (2008). The psychiatric interview and mental status examination. In R. E. Hales, S. C. Yudofsky, & G. O. Gabbard (Eds.), The American Âpsychiatric publishing textbook of psychiatry (5th ed., pp. 3–18). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishers.
Diamond, R. (2002). Psychiatric presentation of medical illnesses. International Guide to the World of Alternative Mental Health. Retrieved July 10, 2011, from http://www.alternativementalhealth.com/articles/diamond.htm.
Hendricks, J. E., McKean, J., & Hendricks, C. G. (2010). Crisis intervention skills. In J. E. Hendricks & J. McKean (Eds.), Crisis intervention: Contemporary issues for on-site interveners (4th ed., pp. 32–68). Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.
Hook, J. N., Hodges, E. K., Segal, D. L., & Coolidge, F. L. (2009). Clinical interviews with adults. In J. C. Thomas & M. Hersen (Eds.), Handbook of clinical psychology competencies (pp. 195–208). New York, NY: Springer.
Lindsey, M. L., & Cuellar, I. (2000). Mental health assessments and treatment of African-Americans: A multicultural perspective. In I. Cuellar & F. A. Paniagua (Eds.), Handbook if multicultural mental health (pp. 195–208). San Diego, CA: Academic.
Nakash, O., Rosen, D., & Alegria, M. (2010). The culturally sensitive evaluation. In P. Ruiz & A. B. Primm (Eds.), Disparities in psychiatric care: Clinical and cross-cultural perspectives (pp. 225–235). Baltimore, MD: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Ross, J., & Gholston, J. R. (2006). We’ll meet you on your bench: Developing a therapeutic alliance with the homeless mentally ill patient. In J. Rosenberg & S. Rosenberg (Eds.), Community mental health: Challenges for the 21st century (pp. 195–206). New York, NY: Routledge.
Ruiz, P., & Primm, A. B. (Eds.). (2010). Disparities in psychiatric care: Clinical and cross-cultural perspectives. Baltimore, MD: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Surgeon General. (1999). Overview of cultural diversity and mental health services. Mental health: A report of the Surgeon General. Retrieved June 30, 2011, from http://www.surgeongeneral.gov.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Goldfinger, S.M., Feldman, J.M. (2012). Context-Specific Assessment. In: McQuistion, H., Sowers, W., Ranz, J., Feldman, J. (eds) Handbook of Community Psychiatry. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3149-7_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3149-7_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-3148-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-3149-7
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)