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Patient Assessment & Clinical Evaluation Flashcards

7 cards from real HSP practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.

Read the first 7 Patient Assessment & Clinical Evaluation flashcards as text

  1. A psychologist administers the MMPI-2 to a patient but notices an unusually high L (Lie) scale score. What is the most clinically appropriate next step?

    Answer: Interpret the profile with caution, noting possible impression management or limited self-awareness

    Elevated L scale scores suggest defensiveness or impression management, warranting cautious interpretation rather than automatic invalidation.

  2. Which standardized tool is specifically designed to assess functional impairment in activities of daily living for patients with neurological conditions?

    Answer: Functional Independence Measure (FIM)

    The FIM measures functional status and degree of disability, rating independence in motor and cognitive tasks.

  3. During a clinical interview, a patient exhibits tangential thinking and loosening of associations. These symptoms are most consistent with which diagnostic category?

    Answer: Psychotic spectrum disorder

    Tangentiality and loose associations are hallmark formal thought disorder symptoms associated with psychotic spectrum conditions.

  4. A health psychologist is assessing a patient's readiness to change unhealthy eating behaviors. Which model provides a stage-based framework for this evaluation?

    Answer: Transtheoretical Model (TTM)

    The TTM describes stages of change (precontemplation through maintenance) and is widely used to assess behavioral readiness.

  5. When assessing for somatization in a medical patient, which instrument is best validated for identifying functional somatic symptoms?

    Answer: Patient Health Questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15)

    The PHQ-15 is specifically designed to screen for somatic symptom severity and is validated in primary care and medical populations.

  6. A psychologist evaluating chronic pain patients wants to assess pain catastrophizing. Which scale is the gold standard for this construct?

    Answer: Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS)

    The PCS directly measures rumination, magnification, and helplessness related to pain and is the most widely validated catastrophizing instrument.

  7. In a neuropsychological evaluation, a patient scores in the impaired range on the Trail Making Test Part B but performs adequately on Part A. What does this pattern suggest?

    Answer: Impaired executive function and cognitive flexibility

    Part B requires set-shifting and cognitive flexibility; impairment relative to Part A isolates executive dysfunction from basic processing speed.