Routledge Assessing Common Mental Health and Addiction Issues With Free-Access Instruments

As healthcare costs rise, so too do the costs of assessment instruments, critical tools for mental health professionals. While some traditional assessment instruments have become prohibitively expensive, as with many other fields, the Internet offers a host of more affordable and equitable alternative assessment tools at little or no cost. The pitfall of this alternative, thus far, has been the lack of vetting and quality assessment. Assessing Common Mental Health and Addiction Issues With Free-Access Instruments fills this gap by providing the first analysis and assessment of these tools, provided by some of the leading names in mental health assessment instruments. This resource identifies the most efficient free access instruments and provides summary information about administration, scoring, interpretation, psychometric integrity, and strengths and weaknesses. The book is organized around the most common broad range issues encountered by helping professionals, and whenever possible, a link to the instrument itself is provided. This is an essential text for all mental health professionals looking to expand the scope and range of their assessment instruments. Review "To those who have tried sorting through the plethora of free-access assessments available on the Internet, Assessing Common Mental Health and Addiction Issues With Free-Access Instruments is a real treasure! Covering a wide range of free-access assessments addressing a broad array of mental health disorders, Sandberg, Richards, and Erford provide concise, relevant, and helpful reviews of these instruments. These reviews will allow counseling practitioners to make efficient determinations as to which free-access assessments will be useful in their clinical practice." ―Spencer G. Niles, editor, Journal of Counseling & Development and professor and department head of educational psychology, counseling, and special education, Penn State University "Sandberg, Richards, and Erford offer a comprehensive review of the most efficient free-access instruments for mental health assessment across common diagnostic categories. The description of each instrument provides concise, yet complete, information about its purpose, administration, targeted symptoms, scales and scoring, interpretation, psychometric quality, strengths, and weaknesses. This book is a valuable reference for mental health professionals and can also be used to complement textbooks in graduate courses on assessment in counseling." ―Dimiter M. Dimitrov, PhD, professor, George Mason University "Assessing Common Mental Health and Addiction Issues With Free-Access Instruments is a wonderful resource for clinicians and social science researchers. In an era where reimbursement for assessment is challenged more by third-party payers and instruments are more costly, Sandberg, Richards, and Erford provide an overview of free instruments with strong psychometric properties to facilitate the counseling process and improve the quality of care for clients." ―Richard S. Balkin, PhD, associate professor and addictions program coordinator, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi, and editor-elect, Journal of Counseling & Development About the Author Katie M. Sandberg, MA, is a national certified counselor, mobile mental health counselor, and a member of both Psi Chi, the International Honor Society in Psychology, and Chi Sigma Iota, the International Honor Society in Counseling. She has authored numerous textbook chapters, supplemental instructional materials, and a professional journal article currently undergoing publication in the fields of lifespan, and human development and assessment. Taryn E. Richards, MEd, is a national certified counselor and a professional secondary school counselor in Maryland. She has authored textbook chapters, supplemental instructional materials, and a professional journal article currently undergoing publication in the fields of lifespan, and human develop