Psychological Testing

Being asked to see a psychologist and undertake an assessment can be a new experience for many people. The assessment is designed to assist you in considering the issues you might face on the mission field, what settings and positions would be best for you to work in, and whether there are possible plans and ideas for ensuring that you reach your maximum potential. If the assessment highlights any areas of concern these will be discussed openly with you and Servants with the aim of finding solutions.

What happens in an assessment?

The assessment has two main components, the completion of psychometric tests, and attendance at an interview. Two tests are generally recommended, (though your psychologist may wish to suggest an alternative test, in which case please discuss this with Servants):

• The Tennessee Self-concept Inventory measures self esteem using a matrix of three measures of the person’s overall satisfaction with themselves and then more specific measures about how confident they are in six areas of their life.  This inventory also provides a screening for past and current emotional problems (including mental health disorders such as depression or anxiety).  
• The NEO Personality Inventory is a concise measure of the five major dimensions or domains, of personality and some of the more important traits or facets that define each domain. Together, the 5 domain scales and 30 facet scales of the NEO PI-R allow a comprehensive assessment of adult personality.  

The test forms will normally be sent by e-mail to you, and will take about 2 hours to complete. Don’t be surprised if some of the questions seem unusual to you, or if you are not completely happy with the answer you needed to supply on any given question. The tests are designed to be quite robust, in that your answers on an individual item will not change the outcome of the test dramatically. The tests look for overall patterns. On the NEO-PIR, if there are one or two questions which include a word which you cannot understand, it will not harm if you leave that blank.

Please note that personality tests are designed to detect if a person has answered so as to make themselves appear ’better’. If a ‘fake-good’ result is obtained, the results will be invalid and we will ask you to redo the test(s).

The material from the tests will be combined with information from an interview. If you are single then the interview will take about an hour and a half. For married couples the process will take about 2 hours, and may involve individual interviews and time spent with you as a couple. Some interviewers will not interview a couple separately.

During the interview expect to be asked questions about a wide variety of areas such your family background, your relationships with others, your emotional wellbeing and your Christian experience. Near the end of the interview, your test results will be discussed with you to hear your perspective on what they have suggested.

When the assessment is completed a report will be written which will summarise relevant life history information, the test results, and recommendations This will be sent to you to verify and when finalised, this will be sent to the mission agency/contact person.

Arranging an assessment:

You are responsible for arranging and paying for your own psychological testing. Ideally, find a Christian psychologist that you know or has been recommended to you. Servants may also be able to recommend a psychologist nearby so check with us first. Your psychologist may find this Sample Psych Report helpful to know what kind of report is expected.

The written results will be given to you first and then, with your agreement, should be sent to your local Servants office coordinator or your mentor, who will also share them with the appropriate field team leader. Together, we will discuss the recommendations and make any appropriate changes or plans to support you.