Clinical Consultation in the Workplace: Are There Implications for Response Attitudes?
2025

Response Attitudes in Workplace Psychological Assessments

Sample size: 510 publication Evidence: moderate

Author Information

Author(s): Bárbara Gonzalez, Rosa F. Novo, Maria João Afonso, Matilde Fernandes, Ana Vieira

Primary Institution: Lusófona University, CICPSI (Research Centre in Psychological Science), Portugal

Hypothesis

Patients assessed in the workplace context will present higher levels of under-reporting due to implications for their professional context.

Conclusion

Patients assessed in a clinical-organizational context show significant differences in response attitudes compared to those assessed in traditional clinical settings, particularly in under-reporting psychological symptoms.

Supporting Evidence

  • Under-reporting is five times more frequent in the clinical-organizational sample compared to the traditional clinical sample.
  • 33% of the clinical-organizational sample presented biased response attitudes.
  • Defensiveness was the most common form of under-reporting in the clinical-organizational sample.

Takeaway

When people get psychological help at work, they might not be honest about their problems because they worry about how it will affect their job.

Methodology

The study compared two samples of patients assessed with the MMPI-2-RF in clinical-organizational and traditional clinical settings.

Potential Biases

Participants may under-report symptoms due to fear of stigma and job loss.

Limitations

The study's findings may not be generalizable to women due to the male-dominated sample and the heterogeneity of disorders within each sample.

Participant Demographics

The sample included 510 adult participants, predominantly male, with a mix of clinical conditions.

Statistical Information

P-Value

p<0.001

Statistical Significance

p<0.001

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.5334/pb.1346

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