Date of Award

7-10-2017

Document Type

Undergraduate Capstone Project

Degree Name

Psy.D.

Organizational Unit

Graduate School of Professional Psychology

First Advisor

Hale Martin

Second Advisor

Lynett Henderson Metzger

Third Advisor

Megan Twomey

Keywords

Personality assessment, Children and adolescents, Cognitive capacity

Abstract

Personality assessment can be an important part of diagnosis and treatment planning with children and adolescents. Consequently, research in personality assessment with children and adolescents has received attention; however, there is still limited research in this area with children of below average cognitive capacity. In order to gain better understanding of the current practice of personality assessment of children with below average IQ, this interpretative phenomenological study explores expert psychologists' experience and recommendations for future practice. Structured interviews were conducted with four clinical psychologists with an expertise in personality assessment with children, including children with below average intelligence. Five themes emerged from participant interviews, including: difficulties with and subsequent adjustments to typical administration of personality tests with children of low IQ, special considerations and adjustments to interpretation of personality assessment with children with low IQ, an added emphasis on multi-method assessment, the importance of developing specific training with this population, and the need for more research with this population. Limitations and suggestions for further research are discussed.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Extent

33 pages

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