Assessment of decision-making capacity: Exploration of common practices among neuropsychologists

Assessing patient capacity to consent to treatment: an integrative review of instruments and tools

“…There are a large number of standardised instruments, structured and semi-structured interviews, vignettes and specific question sets that are designed to improve the reliability of assessing treatment capacity (Mullaly et al 2007). Ultimately, comparing findings from studies that have tested diversely different instruments in a variety of populations presents problems .…”

“…Increased attention to patient rights and autonomy arguably places a considerable burden on HCPs to facilitate capacity assessments across a continuum of health care (Mullaly et al 2007). Despite a plethora of capacity assessment instruments and tools being available to HCPs, a comprehensive assessment requires time and is often difficult in the acute care setting (Chow et al 2010).…”

“…Healthcare professionals should also be mindful of any relevant geographical customs or laws which guide capacity determinations (Sturman 2005). A strictly formulaic approach to the assessment of capacity is unlikely to capture specific individual nuances (Mullaly et al 2007); therefore, capacity assessment instruments should support, but not replace, experienced clinical judgement (Moye & Marson 2007, Mullaly et al 2007). This is further highlighted in that capacity assessment instruments provide quantitative scores, but not the dichotomous yes/no determination which is often requested or indeed required (Applebaum 2010).…”

“…Mental capacity has been researched from within the disciplines of bioethics, medicine and law (Kahn et al 2009), and the field of capacity assessment is dominated by tension between the principles of autonomy (self-determination) and beneficence (protection) (Schneider & Bramstedt 2006, Mullaly et al 2007). Mental capacity evaluations determine a person's legal right to consent to or refuse procedures, investigations and interventions (Kornfeld et al 2009).…”

Occupational therapy and decision‐making capacity assessment: A survey of practice in Ireland

“…Following a review of literature examining health and social care professionals practice in the area of decision-making capacity, a questionnaire was developed. The survey questions were informed by surveys used in previous studies that had investigated the assessment of decision-making capacity by lawyers (Helmes, Lewis, & Allan, 2004), neuropsychologists (Mullaly et al, 2007), speech-language pathologists (Aldous, Tolmie, Worrall, & Ferguson, 2014;Jayes et al, 2017;McCormick, Bose, & Marinis, 2017) and non-specified health-care practitioners (Lamont et al, 2017). These items were contextualised to fit within occupational therapy practice and addressed the domains of DMC assessment defined by Moye and Marson (2007…”