Update
Blog
Written by Carla Khalil, Neuropsychologist at The Valens Clinic, Dubai.
The astonishing diversity in a country like the UAE grants mental health professionals with an unforeseeable opportunity to support individuals from many different backgrounds coming from across the globe.
That being said, this unique societal constitution comes with challenges that span beyond traditional clinical work.
Assessments are mainly conducted to measure cognitive abilities, styles of learning, and identify barriers preventing individuals from adequately functioning within their environments. Assessments have the aim to identify any needs and see how best they can be supported in different settings, from school, to work, and to home environments.
They also allow clinicians to discern weather or not additional interventions can be put in place to target any recognized areas of struggle.
The diversity in language and culture in the UAE means that, for clinicians to conduct high quality ethical assessments, one main consideration to be made in our practice, is the validity of the used measures when we are assessing an individual who’s first language is not English.
It is essential to ensure that the assessment is adequately measuring what is intended rather than simply highlighting difficulties that are nothing but a result of a language barrier.
Additionally, the most frequently used psychometric measures are mainly standardized to western cultures, assessments have yet to be standardized for Middle eastern and Asian populations.
However, as of today, since there are no alternative measures available, we as clinicians, need to navigate the delicate balance between using the resources that are available to us, while at the same time, tailoring these to the population within which we are working.
Finally, recent research has shed light on the growth of usage of artificial intelligence and machine learning in assessments; and while this technology allows for more efficient scoring and fewer testing errors, it still comprises the challenges mentioned above.
It is imperative to then underscore the importance of proper clinical training coupled with ethical and deontological practice when considering assessments.
Assessments are and will always remain a process requiring the irreplaceable human skillset of trained professionals.