6-7 page, paper will comprise Part 1 of the toolkit; you may use tables for diagnostic criteria or measures and a quick reference lists of questions, to make your paper easy to read and easy to access the information. The tool kit will include useful and practical assessment methods
I. Abstract (150 words)
II. Brief history and prevalence of the problem, current diagnostic criteria (a paragraph or two). You can put the key diagnostic criteria in a table. Information from DSM-5-TR and epidemiological studies are good resources to use.
III. Assessment methods and tools available to assess and diagnose the problem (4-5 pages)
a. Interview outline. Describe the process for how you should proceed in an interview and the key questions to ask in the assessment and arriving at a differential diagnosis. List 8-10 questions you would ask the client. A search of literature should lead to relevant questions to ask. Standardized measures have useful questions and those questions can be adapted for your use in an interview and will help you arrive at an accurate assessment and differential diagnosis for the chosen disorder.
b. How to adapt questions to different populations considering age, race, ethnicity, cultures, religion, and sexual orientation, etc. DSM-5-TR, Culture and Psychiatric Diagnosis can be helpful in Section III of the manual.
c. Standardized Measures. Identify and report on at least one standardized measure. Preferably should be from the public domain so you can access it and explore the practical use of the measure. Include screening measures and/or diagnostic measures such as rating scales and self-report instruments that can be useful to you in your clinical assessments with your clients. Brief description of measures identified for your use. Include in your write-up of your selected measure: Description (i.e., This is a 33-item standardized self-report instrument measuring …).
d. Incorporate the impact of trauma on the diagnosis, and include a trauma screening into your assessment.
e. Validity and reliability of the measures based on studies that are recommended for use in clinical assessment and practice.
f. Clinical Utility. Include how useful the measure is with your clients. Include Usefulness of measures with BIPOC, diverse, and low-income populations as a subheading and cover any limitations the measure may have for use with different populations. For example, consider if the measure has been normed appropriately on different age groups, races, cultures, SES and translated into appropriate languages for use? DSM 5-TR Culture and Psychiatric Diagnosis is a useful resource.
g. Other useful assessment tools such as biological measures, observations, examination of past records? Include a brief summary if relevant to clinical practice here. You can explore these methods in more depth if they are relevant to your diagnosis and for use in clinical assessment.
IV. Summary and References
a. Summary of key points you learned. (half a page)
APA reference list. You are expected to use a minimum of five journal articles or scholarly resources to support your work (e.g. reviews, meta-analysis, published or on-line practice guidelines from professional organizations such as, APA, NASW, SAMHSA, etc. ).
