ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview and insight into how psychologists and psychological assessment has become a significant part of the primary care mission. It explains the implementation and integration of behavioral health specialists in the primary care setting; the implications, advantages, and use of psychological assessments and screeners in the primary care clinic; and the effects of managed care on selection and choice of psychological assessment measures. Psychologists working in primary care need to be knowledgeable and have the interviewing skills to screen and assess a wide range of behavioral and psychiatric symptoms and disorders. Psychologists can contribute to the development and ongoing validation of new measures that assess constructs that are important to primary care providers. The chapter concludes that assessment procedure data collected from an integrated primary care clinic, and a description of a proposed mini-battery of measures that has been found to be useful in this setting.
