A Review of Psychological Assessment Practice in the Philippines: What Do Some Practitioners Say?

Abstract

This paper reviews the practice of psychological assessment in the Philippines guided by Bornstein’s (2017) framework of evidencebased psychological assessment (EBPA). One hundred fifty-one (N =151) respondents, majority of whom are registered psychometricians, answered a survey on their current practices, knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Part 1 of the study presented practitioners’ training and practice, and their knowledge, skills, and perceptions about psychological assessment. Part 2 considered current assessment practices, from test selection to delivering test results. Thematic analysis was conducted on respondents’ answers to open-ended questions in the survey to explore the challenges, best practices, and needs of practitioners. Despite the limitations of the sample, the initial findings of this survey provide baseline data on how some assessment practitioners perceive the state of the practice in the country. Given limited experiences in assessment, majority of the respondents acknowledged the need for a supervisor, continuous training and development, standardization of the assessment process, and development of local tools. Both the quantitative and qualitative data show that some of the current practices in assessment are aligned with EBPA components although there is still a need for practitioners to adhere more consistently to an evidence based practice in assessment.