Psychology: Capacity Assessment

*Please Note: These contents are assembled from several web sites, some of whom are now defunct. Although I have the documents in my records, I've provided the current links to available items. Copies of material from defunct sites, as well as my works, are provided below. Copyright belongs to the authors and/or publishers of the material according to the information contained in the documents. An internet search of the titles or of content from the material should be made for referencing purposes. The owner of this web site only claims authorship where indicated within the material.

25 COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT THE SUBSTITUTE DECISIONS ACT AND HEALTH CARE CONSENT ACT 2008 Ontario. This paper focuses on common misconceptions or misunderstandings about the Substitute Decisions Act (SDA) and the Health Care Consent Act (HCCA). All of these misconceptions have been raised by health professionals, community workers, and seniors and their families at education sessions presented by the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly (ACE) and in the course of representation of clients by ACE staff.

Aid To Capacity Evaluation (ACE) 2003 Capacity is the ability to understand information relevant to a decision and the ability to appreciate the reasonably foreseeable consequences of a decision (or lack of a decision). The purpose of the ACE is to help clinicians systematically evaluate capacity when a patient is facing a medical decision.

Assessing Understanding and Obtaining Consent from Adults with Intellectual Disabilities for a Health Promotion Study 2013 The findings indicate that many people with intellectual disabilities likely can provide their own consent to participate in low risk studies.

Assessment of Older Adults with Diminished Capacity: A Handbook for Psychologists 2006 The specific goal of this handbook is to review psychological assessment of six civil capacities of particular importance to older adults, namely, medical consent capacity, sexual consent capacity, financial capacity, testamentary capacity, capacity to drive, and capacity to live independently. The handbook also addresses the important topic of undue influence and introduces emerging areas of interest, such as the capacity to mediate, the capacity to participate in research, and the capacity to vote.

CAPACITY AND CAPACITY ASSESSMENT IN ONTARIO 2006 A common theme in the client work at the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly, an Ontario community legal clinic, is that of decisional capacity. Capacity may not always be the primary legal issue in the client case, such as in a guardianship application or a hearing to review a finding of incapacity before the Consent and Capacity Board, but often the capacity of an older client to make decisions is questioned by someone as part of the problem or conflict on which the client is seeking help.

Capacity Assessment Protocol for use with adults who have intellectual disabilities 2009 developed by Duncan Blackman. This protocol was developed to assist in the understanding of the assessment for decision-making capacity for those (e.g., caregivers, support providers) who work with adults who have intellectual disabilities. It provides information on the definition of capacity, about capacity assessments, on issues surrounding the assessment of people with intellectual disabilities, and concerning the key facets of capacity assessments.

CONSENT, CAPACITY AND SUBSTITUTE DECISION-MAKING: THE BASICS By: Judith Wahl B.A., L.L.B. 2009 There are three Ontario statutes that are relevant to a discussion of these issues: the Substitute Decisions Act, the Health Care Consent Act and the Mental Health Act.

Decision-Making Capacity First published Tue Jan 15, 2008; substantive revision Fri Aug 14, 2020. In many Western jurisdictions the law presumes that adult persons, and sometimes children that meet certain criteria, are capable of making their own medical decisions; for example, consenting to a particular medical treatment, or consenting to participate in a research trial. But what exactly does it mean to say that a subject has or lacks the requisite capacity to decide? This question has to do with what is commonly called “decisional capacity”, a central concept in health care law and ethics, and increasingly an independent topic of philosophical inquiry.

Decision Making in Health Care of Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: Promoting Capabilities 2019 This tool guides primary care providers in assessing and promoting the decision-making capabilities of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). It promotes health care decision-making capabilities in the context of the patient’s relationships. The tool encourages those who are seeking patient consent to always accommodate patient needs and, if necessary, to involve decision-making supporters.

Guide to Consent & Substitute Decision Making 2012 This Guide is an attempt to provide a simple “how-to” manual for staff who are confronted daily with issues that involve consent (simple or informed) and the potential need for a substitute decision maker for adult clients.

Guide to Capacity Assessment under the Personal Directives Act 2008 Alberta. This guide provides general information about capacity assessments under the Personal Directives Act. The guide is intended for the public, people who write a personal directive, people who are named as decision makers in a personal directive, and those who may have a role in conducting capacity assessments (someone named to assess capacity in a personal directive, physicians and psychologists, and service providers).

Guidelines for Interviewing People with Disabilities: Supports Intensity Scale 2005 Suggestions for interviewer behavior when interviewing people with developmental disabilities are provided

HENRICO AREA MENTAL HEALTH & RETARDATION SERVICES: AID TO CAPACITY EVALUATION 2018 The Aid to Capacity Evaluation is conducted to determine a person’s ability to make informed decisions regarding his/her treatment and/or authorization to release confidential information.

Informed Consent in Adults with Developmental Disabilities (DD) 2011 Surrey Place Centre. Capacity refers to the mental ability to make a particular decision at a particular time; it is question- and decision-specific and should be documented relative to each decision. Assess capacity to consent for each treatment or plan of treatment. Even when a Power of Attorney (POA) for Personal Care exists, capacity for consent to the particular treatment at this time should be assessed.

Pitfalls in Assessment of Decision-Making Capacity 2003 The results suggest that additional education is needed to improve clinicians’ ability to evaluate patients’ decision-making capacity

Practice Guideline: Consent 2017 College of Nurses of Ontario. This practice guideline provides an overview of the major features of the legislation, pertinent definitions and the steps nurses need to take to obtain consent.