Chapter 12 Scenarios

12.1 Psychometric consultancy at Birley House

12.1.1 The Situation

You are acting as a psychometrics consultant who has been asked to develop a free-to-use screening tool to help identify the suitability of individuals for enrollment on a group treatment programme at a forensic service in the community called Birley House.

The manager of Birley House wants to make the assignment of resources more efficient by identifying individuals who would immediately benefit from group treatment, and those for whom additional assessment or specialist support is required.

The manager of Birley House is concerned with the service users’ attendance and engagement in the group treatment programme and has also noticed increased levels of staff sickness and turnover.

The manager has asked you, as a consultant, to produce a tool that:

May be administered and reported by Psychology graduates but provide sufficient information to screen for referral to a qualified test user such as a Clinical or Forensic Psychologist.
Can be administered on paper or on a device such as a computer or tablet.
Is free to use but is consistent with gold-standard measures.
Is self-contained so that no additional information is required for it to be used, interpreted, and reported.
Provides a report of the limitations of the tool to inform future development of the scheme.

To assist in your task, you have been provided with a letter from the manager, Nicole Burns, providing more detail about Birley House and the programme which you should carefully consider in writing your report

12.1.2 Manager’s Letter

Dear Psychologist,

RE: Screening assessment pilot

The report that your colleague provided on the group treatment programme was very helpful and we have started implementing some of the suggestions.

As you may already know we are a service that provides offence-focused group work for females. These females are either on licence, or are serving a community sentence. The women currently travel from the community to Birley House to receive services.

As we informed your colleague, the programme is delivered to six females three times a week over two months, and so non-attendance is both costly and disruptive. Now that we have a better idea of why some women do not attend, our main concern is with ensuring that this kind of treatment is provided to those who would currently benefit most. However, we have limited time and financial resources. Having discussed with the forensic psychologist, we have decided that we should pilot screening prior to enrolment to the group treatment programme.

As such, I would like to commission you to produce a short, free-to-use screening tool that may be administered by our junior staff rather than their senior colleagues. The tool should identify females who are likely to have fewer issues with engaging with the programme, and those that need additional assessment and referral to more senior staff.

Because we cannot be sure that all women who approach Birley House will have access to digital devices the tool needs to be both printable and deliverable on digital devices. Because the tool may be used off site, the scoring information and interpretation details should be separable from the items if needed.

Although many of our staff are psychology graduates, it is possible that some of them have produce psychometric reports, so it is essential that you provide a sample report for them to follow.

Finally, I would like you to prepare a separate document that highlights the limitations of the tool and some suggestions for improvements should the pilot be successful and rolled out to the wider prison population.

The females we will be screening have all been imprisoned at some point in HMP Fosby, a female prison establishment. Their offences are mainly acquisitive in nature (such as theft, robbery or shoplifting), although some of the women have committed violent offences as well. The background of our service users is quite mixed, but they typically present with a history of trauma, such as child sexual abuse, and are (or were) in volatile relationships with partners. Some of the women a diagnosis of mild personality disorder with a borderline pattern qualifier, and some show intellectual or learning impairment

You colleague informs me that they have already identified a possible set of tests. Please can you ensure that there are no more than four measures in the final version; that it does not exceed 3000 words; and that it is delivered no later than 25th May 2025 (unless there are mitigating factors).

We are keen to work with you to help plan a way forward so that we can improve our services.

Kind regards,

Ms Nicole Burns

Manager

Birley House

12.2 Psychometric consultancy at HMP Birley

12.2.1 The Situation

You are acting as a psychometrics consultant who has been asked to develop a free-to-use screening tool to help identify the suitability of individuals for enrolment on a group rehabilitation programme at HMP Birley, a category C male prison.

The governor at HMP Birley wants to make the assignment of resources more efficient by identifying individuals who are likely to immediately benefit from group rehabilitation, and those for whom additional assessment or specialist support is required. The governor has asked you, as a consultant, to produce a tool that:

May be administered and reported by Psychology graduates but provide sufficient information to screen for referral to a qualified test user such as a Clinical or Forensic Psychologist.
Can be administered on paper or on a device such as a computer or tablet.
Is free to use but is consistent with gold-standard measures.
Is self-contained so that no additional information is required for it to be used, interpreted, and reported.
Provides a report of the limitations of the tool to inform future development of the scheme.

To assist in your task, you have been provided with a letter from the prison governor, Darren Johnson, providing more detail about HMP Birley and its rehabilitation programme. Please familiarise yourself with the assignment brief and assignment video presentation on the Moodle page for more information about the requirements of the report.

12.2.2 Letter from the Governor

Dear Psychologist,

RE: Commission for a pilot screening tool

The staff in our Assessment & Interventions unit have informed me that the report that your colleague provided on the group rehabilitation treatment was very helpful and they have started implementing some of the suggestions.

As we informed your colleague, the programme is delivered to eight men a minimum of six hours a week over six, and non-attendance is costly and disruptive. Now that we have a better idea of why some men do not attend, our concern is with ensuring the men at HMP Birley receive appropriate support to reduce risk and prepare them for release. However, we have limited time and financial resources. Having discussed with the forensic psychologist, we have decided that we should pilot screening the men on B wing prior to enrolment to the group rehabilitation programme.

As such, I would like to commission you to produce a short, free-to-use screening tool that may be administered by our intervention facilitators rather than their senior colleagues. The tool should identify men who will likely have minimal engaging with the programme, and those that need additional assessment and referral to more senior staff.

As you will understand, the men in HMP Birley have limited access to digital technology, and so the tool needs to be both printable, and deliverable on digital devices. Moreover, staff are not permitted to bring devices into the prison, and so the tool needs to provide all information for delivering, scoring, and interpreting the findings in a single document.

Although our facilitators are currently all psychology graduates, it is possible that some of them have yet to gain experience in writing reports, so it is essential that you provide a sample report for them to follow.

The men who we will be screening have a history of violent and/or acquisitive offences and are diverse in terms of their life experiences, offending, abilities, and other characteristics. For instance, some of the men show signs of mild to moderate intellectual or learning impairment. In addition, some of the men are neurodivergent, such as having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or autism spectrum disorder.

We are keen to work with you to help plan a way forward so that we can make our programmes more efficient.

Kind regards,

Darren Johnson

Governor

HMP Birley