Collaborative Therapeutic Neuropsychological Assessment

Invited workshop:

Collaborative Therapeutic Neuropsychological Assessment - Tad Gorske

One of the challenges Clinical Neuropsychology faces is to develop an assessment process that is relevant and responsive to patient’s needs. Neuropsychology has typically followed an “Information Gathering/Medical Model” of assessment guided by the premise that tests are used to isolate a disease process and initiate treatment. More recently, neuropsychologists have taken a holistic perspective of practice.  A holistic neuropsychological perspective reflects patient-centered care models which emphasize empowering patients and families to improve their health and well being. Patient centered care views illness from a biopsychosocial perspective and emphasizes an egalitarian relationship with a strong working alliance between patient and practitioner (Mead and Bower, 2000). Collaborative Therapeutic Neuropsychological Assessment (CTNA) is a patient centered method for conducting a neuropsychological assessment feedback session that enlists patients and family members as collaborators and empowers them to take charge of their cognitive health (Gorske and Smith, 2009).  Evidence suggests neuropsychologists are frequently providing feedback and that the process is viewed as a positive experience by practitioners, patients, and family members (Bennett-Levy, et al., 1994; Donofrio, Piatt, and DiCarlo, 1999; Smith, Wiggins, and Gorske, 2007). Furthermore, patient centered interventions can potentially enhance the working alliance between practitioner and client which has been shown to enhance neuropsychological rehabilitation outcomes (Shonberger, Humle, Zeeman, and Teasdale, 2006). While authors have stated the importance and provided recommendations for providing neuropsychological test feedback, no agreed upon model exists (Gass & Brown, 1992; Malla et al., 1997).  CTNA hopes to fill this gap by providing a framework and methods for giving feedback from neuropsychological test results in a way that is understandable, patient centered, and empowers patients to take an active role in treatment. This workshop will provide the following: a) conceptual foundations of the CTNA approach; b) methods for providing neuropsychological test feedback based on CTNA principles; c) case examples of CTNA sessions; and d) suggestions for further work and research on CTNA applications.  This workshop will not discuss basic methods of neuropsychological interviewing, assessment, and interpretation as it is assumed attendees will be well versed in these procedures.

Learning Objectives:

1.    Participants will understand the value of a holistic CTNA approach for enhancing patient care.

2.    Participants will learn principles and methods of CTNA and be able to incorporate them into practice.

3.    Participants will understand the applications of CTNA in the rehabilitation of different patient populations.