PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS IN THE SELECTION AND PLACEMENT OF PSYCHIATRIC AIDES

This paper describes the utilization of 2 psychological tests (Revised Beta Examination and Multiple Choice Rorschach) in the prediction of successful psychiatric aides. Psychiatric aides, 113 in number, were first classified into good and poor employees. Psychological tests were unsuccessful in discriminating between these 2 groups. However, when these 2 groups were refined into a definitely good group and a definitely poor group by eliminating marginal employees, psychological tests selected 32% of these very poor employees while only 5% of the very good employees were falsely identified. An attempt was also made to identify the charge attendant group but this was unsuccessful. Present findings indicate that further research utilizing a more extensive battery of psychological tests should lead to even more fruitful results in the problem of selection and placement of psychiatric aides.