Assessment occurs whenever a person has to find a solution to a problem or make a judgment. However, this process might be performed professionally by means of various tools that include interviews, tests, and evaluations. Assessment takes place in different settings such as schools, workplace, and neighborhoods. Therefore, it has become a significant part in counseling. There are different assessment tools, but they all should abide by principles of ethics. The stress assessment questionnaire (SAQ) is a very effective assessment tool that is applied worldwide. The main goal of this paper is to discuss the SAQ, taking into consideration the ethical use of this type of assessment.
Evolution and Purpose of Assessment
Assessment is an important practice that is necessary to identify, discuss, and deal with the existing problems of a client during a counseling session. This practice helps to build a foundation for diagnosing and further interventions. Therefore, assessment is crucial for all aspects of counseling. Regardless of counseling settings, this practice plays a significant role. Assessment involves not only measuring but also specific procedures aimed at helping a person or different groups. However, counselors’ involvement is limited with respect to methods, concepts, and types of clients. Therefore, a counselor has to perform with the understanding of appropriate procedures of assessment.
Many scholars differentiate between testing and assessment. While testing is necessary to measure psychological constructs by means of different tools, assessment is focused on collecting information. However, these both processes are very important to understand the client’s problems. Hence, assessment and testing are interrelated activities. Sometimes they can be even interchangeable because testing always goes together with an evaluating process.
Therefore, one may suggest that these are parts of a single procedure. Also, there are two different types of assessment: standardized and non-standardized. The first one is linked to formal processes that abide by different guidelines. Such guidelines provide tools for administration, scoring, and interpretation that might be applied to a wide segment of a population. Standardized assessment demonstrates accurate results because instruments such as achievement, aptitude, and personality tests are very effective. The second type of assessment is applied when it is necessary to collect information without abiding by strict rules. For example, such assessment might involve clinical interviews. The nature of personal communication helps to address individual problems.
In order to understand the importance of counseling, it is necessary to discuss the evolution of assessment. The history of this practice helps to demonstrate why some procedures are widely applied nowadays. Moreover, it underlines the ineffectiveness of specific assessment tools that were used in the past. Therefore, the history review can ensure more successful assessment practices in the future. The problems of testing are quite new to the current social sciences.
The modern testing methods appeared in the nineteenth century. They were designed by various scientists. For example, Charles Darwin described the connection between human development and animals (Desmond, 2017). In addition, he suggested the idea that there are individual differences related to the relationships between parents and children. These two factors were significant contributions to the modern assessment tools.
His works demonstrated that anything could be measured and there is no connection between physical characteristics and mental abilities. Subsequently, it resulted in standardized methods for collecting information and recording results. They had a considerable impact on the existing assessment approaches. In the mid twentieth century, assessment methods were designed to address different psychological constructs, for example, stress and depression. Nowadays, counselors use a wide range of tools to measure such conditions. Many of these instruments are applied to identify problems and rely on self-reports.
Theoretical Basis for the Choice of the Stress Assessment Questionnaire
The SAQ is an effective standardized assessment tool that helps to identify causes and symptoms of stress. It is also used to implement strategies aimed at reducing stress, taking into consideration personal traits of a client. Therefore, the tool improves mental health and alleviates consequences of stress (Carlson, Geisinger, & Jonson, 2017). The SAQ is used for guidance and designed to enhance the understanding of problems related to stress.
The SAQ helps to determine whether a client needs professional help or not. This type of assessment is provided to the general public, companies, or patients of psychologists. The target population is mostly adult people aged 16 to 65. It is an online questionnaire, thus it requires sufficient English language skills, literacy, and the ability to work with online systems. The SAQ provides a profound and accurate assessment of reasons for stress, which involves a deep background inspection. It helps people to understand causes of their stressful conditions. Participants rate their feelings to various irritants on a five-point scale.
It does not require a formal scoring procedure because the results are calculated automatically. There are sixteen dimensions that are divided into four groups depending on causes, symptoms, strategies, and stability. The theory on which the SAQ is based describes four main areas of stress that include sixteen characteristics. Stress is a complicated construct. It leads to various unfavorable outcomes such as emotional problems. The main advantages of this assessment tool are that it provides an easy way to evaluate causes and symptoms related to stress and suggests strategies to enhance emotional stability. It is also a very timesaving method that is why it might be applied to big groups of people.
Ethical Considerations to the Administration of the SAQ
The ethical aspect of the administration of the SAQ is also very important. There are different responsibilities that counselors who applied this tool should take into account. Every client should be treated with respect regardless of their origin, age, social status, sexual orientation, gender, and personal beliefs and values. Also, every client should obtain full information that is necessary to self-development.
In addition, all possible options should be explained to participants, so that they could see the whole picture. Another important ethical aspect is privacy (Hendricks, Bradley, Southern, Oliver, & Birdsall, 2011). The online questionnaire evaluates issues related to stress, taking into consideration the existing ethical rules. There are several ethical principles on which the SAQ is based. First, it promotes the client’s interests (ASCA, 2016). Second, it honors the clients’ dignity and provides fair treatment to all of them. Third, the SAQ is not intended to harm any clients or put them at risk.
Ethics in the questionnaire contribute to clear and objective questions. There are no leading questions that can prompt an answer due to specific word choice or an inappropriate range of response. Also, there are no questions that can be considered to be embarrassing or rude. The purpose of the SAQ is clearly explained to all responders. Therefore, clients have adequate expectations. In addition, all personal information is protected, which ensures clients’ confidentiality.
Assessment Concept for Ethnic and Culturally Diverse Populations
Cultural and ethnic aspects are necessary to take into account when it comes to assessment. They are essential in the process of analyzing the client’s problems. Minorities often require different attitude, and thus, assessment procedures should be designed with the close consideration of the background of such people (Lu, Lim, & Mezzich, n.d.). Counselors have to increase their cultural awareness and competent skills.
The knowledge about the client’s cultural identity is very important for such specialists. In addition, counselors should clearly understand their personal attitudes toward different ethnic groups. The SAQ is designed to avoid biased cultural perceptions that often lead to ineffective assistance. The non-discrimination section of the ACA Code of Ethics forbids “discrimination based on age, culture, disability, ethnicity, race,” thus complying with these principles allows the SAQ to make fair, ethical judgments considering diverse groups of clients (American Counseling Association, 2005, p. 10). The questionnaire underwent certain modification regarding specificities of different cultures.
Conclusion
Assessment plays a significant role in counseling practice. Counselors use different methods to address the problems of their clients. However, they need to apply tools that comply with the principles of ethics. One of the most successful instruments is the SAQ, which is an online questionnaire. The SAQ is used to determine the causes of stress, and it offers effective strategies to deal with such a condition. The SAQ ensures confidentiality and abides by other ethical norms. Therefore, it might be applied in various settings and to culturally diverse populations.
References
American Counseling Association (2005). Code of Ethics. Web.
ASCA (2016). ASCA ethical standards for school counselors. Web.
Carlson, J., Geisinger, K., & Jonson, J. (Eds.). (2017). The twentieth mental measurements yearbook. Lincoln, NE: Buros Center for Testing.
Desmond, A. (2017). Charles Darwin. Web.
Hendricks, B., Bradley, L. J., Southern, S., Oliver, M., & Birdsall, B. (2011). Ethical code for the international association of marriage and family counselors. The Family Journal, 19(2), 217-224.
Lu, G., Lim, R., & Mezzich, J. (n.d.) Issues in the assessment and diagnosis of culturally diverse individuals. Web.