English to Greek Medical Psychology Clinical Psychology

Administration of this battery and interpretation of the test results is not a substitute for a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation. It is not intended to be used for forensic purposes or formal clinical evaluation to support a diagnosis necessitating measurement of the scope and severity of cognitive impairment (e.g., dementia). Instead, this battery is intended to provide a relatively brief evaluation of key cognitive domains that are relevant to schizophrenia and related disorders.

It was designed for the following purposes:
• As an outcome measure for clinical trials of cognition-enhancing drugs for schizophrenia
• As an outcome measure for studies of cognitive remediation
• As a sensitive measure of cognitive change in other repeated testing applications
• As a cognitive reference point for non-intervention studies of schizophrenia and other severe psychiatric disorders

User Qualifications
Use of this test should be governed by the most recent edition of the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing and the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, as well as by local statutes and regulations.

Part 1 of the test is a brief, timed test of visual scanning and visuomotor tracking that is included as an index of speed of processing. Part 1 involves connecting consecutive numbers that are arranged in irregular locations on a sheet of paper. Part 1 does not involve switching between two sets of consecutive stimuli and, therefore, does not emphasize working memory and set shifting.
The person administering and scoring the test should have training and experience with standardized, clinical instruments and be supervised by a qualified psychologist.
In the context of clinical trials, ongoing supervision sometimes occurs from a central quality assurance site.
Administrators should also have experience in testing clinical samples, especially individuals whose ages and cultural and educational histories are similar to those of the respondents for this battery.
The administration, scoring, and recording procedures described in this manual should be carefully studied and mastered by the administrator before the tests are used in a research or clinical setting.

The order of test administration is based on two factors:
• The battery begins with less challenging measures to ease respondents into the testing process.
• Verbal and nonverbal measures are alternated as much as possible, thus reducing the interfering effects of having successive language-based or visual-processing-based measures in succession.
Spatial Span is a visual analogue to the familiar digit span test. The board features 10 cubes, with numbers (1–10) printed on the sides of the cubes facing the administrator. For the Forward exercise, the administrator taps the cubes in a specified sequence and asks the respondent to tap the same sequence. For the Backward exercise, the administrator taps the cubes in a specified sequence and asks the respondent to tap them in reverse order. Two trials for each sequence length are administered. As with digit span tests, sequences of increasing length are administered in both forward and backward conditions. Both trials of an item are administered even if the respondent passes the first trial.