Book Description

As managed care evolves, the movement toward the integration of behavioral healthcare services into primary medical practices has begun to gain momentum. Primary care providers, in general, are not professionally equipped to identify and monitor mental health and substance abuse problems. Thus, behavioral health care professionals have a new opportunity to make the skills and training they bring to primary care practitioners part of the solution of the health care crisis. Only recently has the value of the services they have been performing for decades and the need to make them available through formal programs been recognized. Addressing opportunity, value, and need, this volume offers a comprehensive overview of the application of psychological screening and assessment instruments in primary care settings. It will be an indispensable reference for psychologists and trainees, as well as for primary care providers who may want to add to their professional armamentarium the techniques and instruments presented herein. The authors: * provide a context for the use of psychological assessment instruments and consultation; * discuss issues related to integrating psychological testing into primary care settings; * describe in detail several brief, disease-specific, and general instruments that those practicing in an integrated delivery system should find useful; * present three in-depth case studies of primary care organizations in which psychological assessment has been implemented; and * take a look at how technology will likely affect and facilitate the use of psychological assessment instruments in primary care settings in the future.