Recorded: 18 August 2016
Presenter: Dr Matthew Sunderland

Assessment in the field of mental health and substance use plays a critical role in clinical and research settings. Instruments that purport to measure mental and substance use disorders need to accurately represent how these disorders occur in nature (i.e. possess good validity), generate scores using as few items as possible (i.e. reduce respondent burden), and facilitate the communication of results in a standardised way (i.e. clinical utility). Recent advances in modern psychometrics, particularly item response theory and computerised testing have unlocked the possibility of creating tests that measure mental and substance use disorders in a more valid, highly efficient, and useful way. This webinar will summarise new approaches to the measurement of mental and substance use disorders, describe how tests can be developed and administered adaptively to maximise precision while minimising response burden, and discuss new ways that scores on different scales and screening instruments of mental and substance use disorders can be standardised using common metrics. It will be particularly relevant to researchers and service providers who regularly assess and monitor disorder severity using self-report scales.

This webinar will lead to:
- Learn about theories of measurement that describe mental and substance use disorders as broad dimensions
- Learn about new computerised adaptive approaches that assess a comprehensive range of psychopathology in a highly efficient way
- Learn about the latest developments in standardising assessments in mental health and substance use


https://sydney.edu.au/matilda-centre