O ensino de avaliação psicológica no estado de São Paulo: análise dos programas das disciplinas

Abstract

Psychological Assessment (PA) is a fundamental tool for psychologists and its teaching has been historically neglected. For this reason, this study aimed to characterize PA teaching in the state of São Paulo. For this purpose, the course hours’ load, course name, semester of occurrence, number of courses offered and the course contents of this psychological knowledge area were considered. 121 syllabus belonging to 33 undergraduate programs of 31 universities were analyzed. These programs offer an average of 3.7 PA courses and 249 hours’ load. The results revealed insufficient time to minimally treat the basic subjects of this knowledge field. A plurality of the courses names was also observed, a factor that indicates the lack of a common language in the area. Regarding the course contents, 18 categories of analysis were created. Psychological Tests was the most recurrent one and covered the theoretical aspects of these instruments, including psychometric characteristics. Ethics and Legislation was the second category with the highest incidence, indicating an advance. However, the results indicated the persistence of an essentially technicist training, emphasizing the application and interpretation of tests procedures that mostly investigate personality and intelligence. The research found a wide variety of psychological tests, 82 in total, in the syllabuses. The Wechsler scales and the Thematic Apperception Tests collection in PA teaching were two of those that stands out. In conclusion, many aspects of PA teaching could be transformed to achieve minimum quality criteria, conforming to the scientific guidelines of this field.