국내 정신의학 연구에 사용된 심리검사도구에 대한 검토( I )

A Review on the Psychological Test Instruments Used for Psychiatric Research in Korea

The purpose of this article is to delineate the trends of the use of the psychological test instruments in psychiatric research. The subjects for the study were 125 scientific articles published in MNeuropsychiatry” (Journal of the Korean Neuropsychiatric Association) from 1985 through 1987. The results were as follows; 1) Psychological test instruments were used in 125 articles among 205 articles which were published in the journal “Neuropsychiatry” for 3 years. The number of psychological test instruments used in 125 articles was 214 ; only one instrument was used in 75 articles and more than 2 instruments in 50 articles. 2 All psychological tests instruments were classified into projective technique, self-report inventory, observation method, intelligence test and unknown. The most commonly used type was the selfreport inventory (57.0%). 3) 27.1% of the psychological test instruments were made by the authors themselves; 48.1%, already-existing; 24.8% unclassified. 4) The most common purpose of using the psychological test, was for the psychodiagnostic tool. Through this study the following problems or questions were raised. 1) Defects in methodology of assessment in psychiatric research (especially when using psychological test instruments) 2) Absent or insufficient explanation about the reason why the psychological test instruments were selected and used in the article 3) Uncertainty in validity and reliability, especially in cases of the psychological test instruments of the author’s self-made 4) Insufficient coping method to overcome the weakpoint of the self-report type 5) Various problems resulted from the absence of the clinical psychological in the process of psychiatric research using the psychological test 6) Does the content of the article not depend upon the peculiar psychological test so much ? 7) It might be necessary to establish the criteria for classification of psychological test instruments 8) Further study would be necessary to assess the appropriateness and quality of the psychological test instruments used in psychiatric research.