A guide to feedback in forensic mental health assessment.

Abstract

Feedback to evaluees in forensic mental health assessment (FMHA) is an understudied and underdiscussed topic in the professional literature. In other psychological disciplines, feedback is a traditional part of the psychological assessment process, though there are potential reasons that feedback in FMHA might or should be treated differently. Because feedback will often be a matter of evaluator discretion, we determined that reviewing relevant factors for carefully considered practice could be useful to the forensic evaluator community. Thus, based on the results of three focus groups with forensic evaluators, this article offers guidance and a decision tree to help guide decision making about feedback in FMHA. Although feedback will not be appropriate in every situation, thoughtful consideration of the issue—and providing feedback when appropriate—is one way of respecting the rights and dignity of forensic evaluees.