Remote Forensic Psychological Assessment in Civil Cases: Considerations for Experts Assessing Harms from Early Life Abuse

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the fore the question of whether psycho-legal assessments can be executed remotely in a manner that adheres to the rigorous standards applied during in-person assessments. General guidelines have evolved, but to date, there are no explicit directives about whether and how to proceed. This paper reviews professional, ethical, and legal challenges that experts should consider before conducting such an evaluation remotely. Although the discussion is more widely applicable, remote forensic psychological assessment of adults alleging childhood abuse is used as an example throughout, due to the complexity of these cases, the ethical dilemmas they can present, and the need to carefully assess non-verbal trauma-related symptoms. The use of videoconferencing technology is considered in terms of potential benefits of this medium, as well as challenges this method could pose to aspects of interviewing and psychometric testing. The global pandemic is also considered with respect to its effects on functioning and mental health and the confounding impact such a crisis has on assessing the relationship between childhood abuse and current psychological functioning. Finally, for those evaluators who want to engage in remote assessment, practice considerations are discussed.

Conducting remote medical asylum evaluations in the United States during COVID-19: Clinicians’ perspectives on acceptability, challenges and opportunities

“…With this practice clearly on the rise, US and international organizations working with torture survivors, asylum seekers and other justice-affected individuals have begun publishing best practices for practitioners 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 but such guidance is limited to expert advice. A more systematic and multi-sectoral approach to the creation of practice guidelines is necessary.…”

Child and adolescent forensic evaluations: Challenges amid scientific and technological advancements.

“…The current instruments admissible under Daubert have standardized administration procedures with an accepted track record of reliability and validity, and even so, are not without concerns; these concerns are exacerbated by the recent need for test publishers to modify their service delivery options, along with APA providing somewhat subjective ways to address associated issues with teleassessment (e.g., widening "confidence intervals" when making conclusions and clinical decisions). When conducting forensic psychological assessments via remote services, the evaluator should remain vigilantly aware of the ever-changing professional standards, ethical principles, professional literature, and case law as well as evolving recommendations set forth by test developers (Goldenson & Josefowitz, 2021). Additionally, limitations to conducting remote assessments (e.g., zoom fatigue, distractions, inability to monitor nonverbal behaviors) should be documented to determine the adequacy of the assessment.…”

Trauma-informed forensic mental health assessment: Practical implications, ethical tensions, and alignment with therapeutic jurisprudence principles.

“…In addition to noticing potential changes in presentation and behavior, it could serve the FMHE well to ask about the examinee's somatic experiences and accompanying emotions (Goldenson & Josefowitz, 2021). Doing so allows the FMHE to document the examinee's experience, and again provides important data about the degree to which the examinee is sufficiently regulated to engage in the assessment.…”

“…It would be meaningful for FMHEs to pay keen attention to nonverbal trauma symptoms (Brand, Schiekle, Brams, et al, 2017; Goldenson & Josefowitz, 2021) as documenting changes in arousal can provide further support for diagnostic conclusions. Hyperarousal is often accompanied by fragmentation of perceptual experiences into emotional or sensory elements and flashbacks (Ogden et al, 2006).…”