Evidence-based practice has become the benchmark for quality in healthcare and builds on rules of evidence that have been developed in psychology and other health-care disciplines over many decades. This volume aims to provide clinical neuropsychologists with a practical and approachable reference for skills in evidence-based practice to improve the scientific status of patient care. The core skills involve techniques in critical appraisal of published diagnostic-validity or treatment studies. Critical appraisal skills assist any clinician to evaluate the scientific status of any published study, to identify the patient-relevance of studies with good scientific status, and to calculate individual patient-probability estimates of diagnosis or treatment outcome to guide practice. Initial chapters in this volume review fundamental concepts of construct validity relevant to the assessment of psychopathology and cognitive abilities in neuropsychological populations. These chapters also summarize exciting contemporary development in the theories of personality and psychopathology, and cognitive ability, showing a convergence of theoretical and clinical research to guide clinical practice. Conceptual skills in interpreting construct validity of neuropsychological tests are described in detail in this volume. In addition, a non-mathematical description of the concepts of test score reliability and the neglected topic of interval estimation for individual assessment is provided. As an extension of the concepts of reliability, reliable change indexes are reviewed and the implication of impact on evidence-based practice of test scores reliability and reliable change are described to guide clinicians in their interpretation of test results on single or repeated assessments. Written by some of the foremost experts in the field of clinical neuropsychology and with practical and concrete examples throughout, this volume shows how evidence-based practice is enhanced by reference to good theory, strong construct validity, and better test score reliability.

Stephen Bowden is a Clinical Neuropsychologist and Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society. He is a Professor in the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne where he teaches psychological assessment, and evidence-based practice in clinical neuropsychology. He is also Consultant Neuropsychologist in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at St. Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne. He is currently co-Editor-in-Chief of Neuropsychology Review.

Contributors:

David T. R. Berry, Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, USA.

Erin Bigler Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Center, Brigham Young University, USA.

Stephen Bowden, Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia.

Martin Bunnage, Institute of Clinical Neuroscience, North Bristol NHS Trust, Bristol, United Kingdom.

Gordon Chelune, University of Utah. School of Medicine, USA.

Hannah L. Combs, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, USA.

Heather A. Davis, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, USA.

Sue Finch, Statistical Consulting Centre, University of Melbourne, Australia.

Jordan P. Harp, Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, USA.

Anton D. Hinton-Bayre, School of Surgery, Ear Sciences Centre, The University of Western Australia, Australia.

Christopher J. Hopwood, Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, USA.

Paul A. Jewsbury, Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia.

Lisa Mason Koehl, Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, USA.

Karleigh Kwapil, Department of Psychology, University of Queensland, Australia.

Tayla T.C. Lee, Department of Psychological Science, Ball State University, USA.

Justin B. Miller, Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Elizabeth N. Riley, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, USA.

Mike Schoenberg, Dept. of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair, University of Southern Florida, Morsani College of Medicine, USA.

Martin Sellbom, Research School of Psychology, The Australian National University, Australia.

Gregory T. Smith, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, USA.