This document summarizes a survey of 926 U.S. counselors about their use of assessments. It finds that clinical mental health counselors most frequently use clinical/behavioral tests, school counselors use career and educational assessments most, and personality tests are used more by other counselors than school counselors. The top 12 most commonly used assessments are listed, including the Beck Depression Inventory, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Strong Interest Inventory, and various intelligence and cognitive ability tests. The survey had some limitations like clinical mental health counselors being overrepresented and how assessments are actually used in sessions remaining unknown.

1. ASSESSMENT USE BY COUNSELORS IN THE
UNITED STATES:
IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY AND PRACTICE
PETERSON, C. H., LOMAS, G.I., NEUKRUG, E.S., & BONNER, M.W.
CGPS 736 Randy Wilhelm

2. PURPOSE OF THE SURVEY
• Which tests are used most frequently by counselors overall and within counseling
specialty areas
• Which test categories (e.g., personality, projective, career) are the most heavily
used
• How usage of the test categories and of tests overall differs by type of counselor
(school, clinical mental health, and all other counselors combined).
926 respondents from a random national sample

3. DEMOGRAPHICS OF RESPONDENTS
• Women-79.4%
• Caucasian/white-86.6%; African American-8%; Hispanic-3.7%; Native American-
1.1%; Asian-0.7%
• 82.6%-had a minimum of a Masters Degree
• Average age of 47.4 years with an average of practicing-13.43 years
• Average of assessments used when in sessions-13.98%
• 68.1%-clinical mental health; school-17%; Other-14.9%
• Top population served-Adults 66.7%; Adolescents 42%; Families 24.1%

4. TYPES MOSTLY USED
• Clinical Mental Health-clinical/behavioral tests
• School Counselors-Career and educational/achievement tests
• Personality tests were used more by all other counselors than School Counselors

5. MOST COMMONLY USED ASSESSMENTS
TOP 12
• 1. Beck Depression Inventory
• 2. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
• 3. Strong Interest Inventory
• 4.ACT
• 5. SAT/PSAT
• 6. Self-Directed Search
• 7.Wechsler Intelligence Scale for
Children
• 8. Conners’ Rating Scales
• 9. Beck Anxiety Inventory
• 10. Substance Abuse Subtle Screening
Inventory
• 11. Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
• 12. Woodcock-Johnson Tests for
Cognitive Abilities

6. THOUGHTS ON THE SURVEY
• Clinical Mental Health Counselors were overrepresented
• Level C overly used and suggested counselors merely reviewed the results
• How assessments are used is unknown
• Even with the most popular assessments, counselors reported: rarely or never.

7. REFERENCES
Peterson, C.H., Lomas, G.I., Neukrug, E.S., & Bonner, M.W. (2014). Assessment Use
by Counselors in the United States: Implications for Policy and Practice. Journal
of Counseling & Development, 92(1), 90-98.