Using Personality Assessment to Inform Comorbid Addiction Diagnosis

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Standards for Multicultural Assessment

Fourth Revision, 2012

The Association for Assessment in Counseling and Education (AACE) is an organization

of counselors, educators, and other professionals that advances the counseling profession by

providing leadership, training, and research in the creation, development, production, and use of

assessment and diagnostic techniques. The mission and vision of AACE drives the continuing

effort to create awareness of the importance of assessment and diagnostic techniques for an

increasingly diverse population, to promote better training in the uses and development of

assessments and to advocate for social justice concerns in counseling and educational

assessment.

In 1992, the Committee on Diversity in Assessment under the direction of the

Association for Assessment in Counseling (now AACE) Executive Council created the first set

of standards addressing cultural diversity and the impact on assessment in counseling and

education. In 2003, the Executive Council of the Association for Assessment in Counseling

(AAC) appointed a committee to expand and update the original set of standards.

During the past decade, the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related

Educational Programs (CACREP) emphasized the centrality of diversity in our profession by

including language regarding diversity and advocacy throughout every aspect of the 2009

CACREP Standards. The Council on Rehabilitation Education (CORE) has also acknowledged

in its 2010 Standards the importance of cultural and individual diversity and has incorporated

cultural competence into standards for rehabilitation counseling programs.

This revision of the Multicultural Assessment Standards addresses more specifically the

role of social advocacy in assessment. Further, they speak to the importance of effectively

selecting, administering, and interpreting assessments and diagnostic techniques while providing

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training standards in multicultural assessment. The intent of the revision is to enhance counseling

professionals’ knowledge of as well as the public’s awareness and support for culturally-

appropriate assessment. This is particularly salient as assessment is an individual and system

interventions useful for client/student and community empowerment, advocacy, collaboration, to

change systems, and inform public opinion and policy.

Definition of Multicultural and Diverse Populations

We define multicultural populations broadly to recognize persons who differ by race,

ethnicity, culture, language, age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and ability. Today

counselors consider during the assessment process the impact of age, color, culture, ability,

ethnic group, gender, gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation, linguistic background,

socioeconomic status or other personal characteristics. Counselors are also challenged to

advocate for culturally diverse individuals from marginalized populations. To this end, this

revision of the Multicultural Assessment Standards offers an introductory section on Advocacy,

however, we assert that advocacy be infused throughout the Standards.

The Standards

ADVOCACY

Culturally competent professional counselors recognize the importance of social justice

advocacy; they integrate understanding of age, gender, ability, race, ethnic group, national

origin, religion, sexual orientation, linguistic background, and other personal characteristics

in order to provide appropriate assessment and diagnostic techniques.

Professional counselors should:

● Recognize in themselves and others, subtle biases and the way these biases influence and impact the assessment process for marginalized populations.

● Seek opportunities for learning by immersion into marginalized populations in order to gain understanding of clients’ worldview and the impact on the assessment process.

● Support use of assessments with psychometric properties appropriate for individuals and vulnerable groups and create awareness about assessment of culturally diverse clients.

● Provide culturally competent and effective practices in all areas of counseling and assessment in individual, family, school, and community settings.

● Work collaboratively with community leaders to understand and address the needs of diverse clients providing opportunities to access services if needed.

● Address systemic barriers and consider how these barriers impact the interpretation and use of assessment results.

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● Be knowledgeable of potential bias in assessment instruments and use procedures that comply with ethical guidelines when assessing marginalized populations.

● Are responsible for the appropriate applications, scoring, interpretations, and use of assessment instruments relevant to the needs of clients, whether they score and interpret

such assessments themselves or use technology or other services.

● Take reasonable measures to ensure the proper use of psychological and assessment techniques by persons under their supervision, that results are kept confidential and that

results are not misused by others.

SELECTION OF ASSESSMENTS: CONTENT AND PURPOSE, NORMING,

RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY

Culturally competent professional counselors select assessments and diagnostic techniques

that are appropriate and effective for diverse client populations.

Professional counselors should:

● Understand and follow the standard development procedures utilizing accepted research

methods when developing new instruments to ensure technical quality of the content

domains evaluated.

● Be knowledgeable of the technical aspects of assessments, including the importance of

reliability, validity, measurement error and scores and norms when selecting assessments.

● Evaluate representative samples of test questions or practice tests, directions, answer

sheets, manuals, and score reports before selecting a test.

● Understand how to review information on the performance of test takers of diverse

subgroups, using appropriate norming information to ensure adequate subgroup analyses.

● Understand how to select and utilize appropriate modified forms of tests for test takers

with disabilities who need special accommodations.

● Select assessments that help identify client needs, strengths and resources for client

empowerment and self-advocacy.

● Select instruments with which they are trained and are competent to use and adhere to the

ethical standards for the administration, scoring, interpretation, or reporting procedures

and ensure that persons under their supervision are aware of these standards.

● Recognize the impact of cultural identity on test administration and interpretation, and

place test results in proper perspective with other relevant factors.

ADMINISTRATION AND SCORING OF ASSESSMENTS

Culturally competent professional counselors recognize challenges inherent in assessment of

persons and seek to provide administration and scoring of assessment to clients respecting

age, gender, ability, race, ethnic group, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, linguistic

background, and other personal characteristics.

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Professional counselors should:

● Obtain, understand and follow all established protocol for administering standardized test

instruments to clients with diverse linguistic backgrounds utilizing a competent and

bilingual translator to address cultural identity throughout the assessment process

including informed consent or other procedural directives.

● Become familiar with test question format and procedures for answering test questions as

well as understand additional materials or needed equipment.

● Understand the nature and importance of test security, copyright, and ramifications of

cheating and maintain confidentiality of scores using adequate security procedures.

● Be knowledgeable with procedures, materials and directions for scoring tests and/or

monitoring scoring process to ensure accuracy of test scores, promptly reporting any

errors and communicating corrected results promptly.

● Administer assessments only within the context of a defined professional relationship and

utilize tests for their recommended purpose only

● Obtain informed consent from clients regarding the nature and purpose of assessment

methods to be used and ensure that the test taker has the opportunity to become familiar

with test question format.

INTERPRETATION AND APPLICATION OF ASSESSMENT RESULTS

Culturally competent professional counselors acknowledge the importance of social justice

advocacy in interpretation and communication of assessment results with diverse populations.

Professional counselors should:

● Understand the normative groups, technical information, benefits and limitations of

assessments and potential for bias in scoring and interpretation of assessment

instruments.

● Provide a holistic appraisal of clients by creating a strong foundational evaluation

respecting the influence of culture, background and individual characteristics.

● Understand the influence of culture, background, and individual characteristics when

designing and implementing interventions to achieve effective counseling outcomes.

● Recognize how the effects of stigma, oppression, and discrimination impact the

interpretation and application of assessment results for culturally diverse clients.

● Recognize and collaborate with others to eliminate biases, prejudices, and discriminatory

contexts in conducting evaluations, interpretations and providing interventions.

● Explain the nature and purpose of assessment and specific use of results in an

understandable, developmental level of the client or the client’s legally authorized

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representative providing information about the impact of culture on assessment results

and interpretation.

● Consider other factors present in the client’s situation (e.g., disability or cultural factors

or systematic or internalized oppressing) before making any recommendations, when

relevant.

● Do not use data or results from assessments that are obsolete or outdated and make every

effort to prevent the misuse of obsolete measures and assessment data by others.

● Release assessment data in which clients are identified only with the consent of clients or

their legal representatives, or court order and only released to professionals recognized as

qualified to interpret the data.

TRAINING IN THE USES OF ASSESSMENTS

Culturally competent professional counselors seek training and supervised experience to

ensure they provide appropriate assessment and diagnostic techniques for diverse client

populations.

Professional counselors should:

● Understand the tests characteristics and receive guidance on the levels of skills,

knowledge and training required to administer.

● Understand individual and group approaches to multicultural assessment.

● Receive training in how assessment data can be used to develop client action plans to

make systemic changes that benefit disadvantaged individuals and vulnerable groups.

● Gain knowledge in how to collaborate with allies and policy makers to develop

assessment practices that empower clients and educate the general public about culturally

appropriate assessment of culturally diverse individuals and groups.

● Engage in continuous education to increase knowledge of assessment and enhance job

performance.

● Have training and expertise in the use of traditional assessment and testing instruments

including technical aspects of the instruments as well as cultural limitations to use test

instruments for the welfare of culturally different clients.

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References

American Art Therapy Association (2011). Art Therapy Multicultural/Diversity Competencies.

Retrieved from http://www.arttherapy.org/upload/multiculturalcompetencies2011.pdf

American Counseling Association (2005). Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice of the

American Counseling Association. Retrieved from

http://www.counseling.org/resources/codeofethics/TP/home/ct2.aspx

Association for Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender Issues in Counseling (2010).

Competencies for Counseling LGBTQ Clients and Competencies for Counseling

Transgender Clients. Retrieved from http://www.algbtic.org/resources/competencies.

Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development (1996). AMCD Multicultural

Counseling Competencies. Retrieved from http://www.multiculturalcounseling.org/.

American Psychological Association (2004). Code of Fair Testing Practices in Education.

Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/science/programs/testing/fair-testing.pdf.

Council on Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (2009). 2009

Standards. Retrieved from

http://www.cacrep.org/doc/2009%20Standards%20with%20cover.pdf.

Counselors for Social Justice Position Statement on Academic Achievement Gap and Equity on

Educational Services (2008). Retrieved from

http://counselorsforsocialjustice.com/CSJ_Position_-_Academic_Achievement_Gap.pdf.

Council on Rehabilitation Education (2012). Accreditation Manual for Masters’ Level

Rehabilitation Counselor Education Programs. Retrieved from http://www.core-

rehab.org/Files/Doc/PDF/COREStandardsPrograms.pdf.

AACE Standards for Multicultural Assessment (4 th

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Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification (2009). Code of Professional Ethics for

Rehabilitation Counselors. Retrieved from

http://www.crccertification.com/filebin/pdf/CRCCodeOfEthics.pdf.

Lewis, Arnold, House, and Toporek (2003). ACA Advocacy Competencies. Retrieved from

http://www.counseling.org/resources/competencies/advocacy_competencies.pdf.

National Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors (2011). Code of Ethics.

Retrieved from http://www.naadac.org/membership/code-of-ethics.

National Association of School Psychologists (2010). National Association of School

Psychologists’ Model for Comprehensive and Integrated School Psychological Services.

Retrieve from http://www.nasponline.org/standards/2010standards/2_PracticeModel.pdf.

National Board for Certified Counselors (2005). Code of Ethics. Retrieved from

http://nbcc.org/Assets/Ethics/nbcc-codeofethics.pdf.

National Career Development Association (2010). Career Counselor Assessment and

Evaluation Competencies Retrieved from

http://associationdatabase.com/aws/NCDA/asset_manager/get_file/18143/aace-

ncda_assmt_eval_competencies.

Association for Assessment and Counseling (2003). Responsibilities of Users of Standardized

Tests. Retrieved from http://www.theaaceonline.com/rust.pdf.

Texas Professional Educational Diagnosticians Board of Registry (2010). Best Practice

Guidelines. Retrieved from http://regped.com/pdf/TPEDBestPract.pdf.

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2011-12 Executive Council

● President: Danica G. Hays, Old Dominion University, [email protected]

● President-Elect: Carl Sheperis, Lamar University, [email protected]

● Past President: Joshua Watson, Mississippi State University-Meridian,

[email protected]

● Secretary: Casey Barrio-Minton, University of North Texas, [email protected]

● Treasurer: Stephanie Crockett, Oakland University

● Governing Council Representative: Joshua Watson, Mississippi State University-

Meridian, [email protected]

● MAL Publications: Dale Pietzrak, University of South Dakota, [email protected]

● MAL Awards: Susan Carmichael, [email protected]

● MAL Membership: Amy McLeod, Argosy University- Atlanta, [email protected]

● Graduate Student Representative: Jayne Smith, Old Dominion University,

[email protected]

Multicultural Assessment Standards Revision Task Force: Dr. Linda Foster, Chair

([email protected], Mercer University); Members: Dr. Gabriel Lomas ([email protected]),

Danica Hays ([email protected]), Michael Becerra ([email protected]), and Anita Neuer

Colburn ([email protected])