Clinical Psychometrics is an introduction to the long-term attempt to measure the psychiatric dimension of dementia, schizophrenia, mania, depression, anxiety, neuroticism, extraversion/introversion and health-related quality of life.
The two psychometric procedures, classical factor analysis and modern item-response models, are presented for readers without any requirement for particular mathematical or statistical knowledge. The book is unique in this attempt and provides helpful background information for the dimensional approach that is being used in the forthcoming updates to the diagnostic classification systems, ICD-11 and DSM-5.
The book is written for everyone who is interested in the origins and development of modern psychiatry, and who wants to be familiar with its practical possibilities; how it is possible to compare different individuals with each other, how one may determine the boundary between what is normal and what is disease, or how one may assess the clinical effect of the various forms of treatment, available to present day psychiatry.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“…with his book clinical psychometrics, Dr. Bech is able to provide us with this easy understandable, philosophical and historical well outlined short book that gives the clinician an idea of the backgrounds of psychometrics and its relative application to – and implication for – psychiatry.” (Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 2013)
“In a thoughtful way, Per Bech takes a thoughtful stance on the use of rating scales in daily psychiatric practice.
Clinical Psychometrics should be a ‘must read’ for psychiatrists (in training) with interest in the clinical, mathematical and philosophical underpinnings of evidence-based psychiatry. For some readers, it will be a pleasurable self-limiting ‘Aha-Erlebnis’. For some readers, it will be the start of a different, more psychometric approach in diagnosis and treatment. For some readers, it could be the beginning of a further quest or participation in the aforementioned relay race, which cannot be run without clinically experienced psychiatrists.” (Acta Neuropsychiatrica, 2013)
“Clinical Psychometrics represents a highly relevant contribution to the psychiatric field. It is well written, kept in a sound and plain medical language and enriched by an appendix containing the rating scales discussed in the text. I strongly recommend this book to all healthcare professionals with an interest in the measurement of psychological phenomena.” Read the full review here. [Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 2012]
From the Inside Flap
Clinical Psychometrics is an introduction to the long-term attempt to measure the psychiatric dimension of dementia, schizophrenia, mania, depression, anxiety, neuroticism, extraversion/introversion and health-related quality of life.
The two psychometric procedures, classical factor analysis and modern item-response models, are presented for readers without any requirement for particular mathematical or statistical knowledge. The book is unique in this attempt and provides helpful background information for the dimensional approach that is being used in the forthcoming updates to the diagnostic classification systems, ICD-11 and DSM-5.
The book is written for everyone who is interested in the origins and development of modern psychiatry, and who wants to be familiar with its practical possibilities; how it is possible to compare different individuals with each other, how one may determine the boundary between what is normal and what is disease, or how one may assess the clinical effect of the various forms of treatment, available to present day psychiatry.
About the Author
Per Bech is the author of Clinical Psychometrics, published by Wiley.
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