Rorschach Performance Assessment System em Crianças

Abstract

Rorschach Performance Assessment System – R-PAS – was developed based on recent empirical evidence, as a solution for limitations identified in the Rorscharch Method. In this Doctorate thesis, divided in four sections, it was approached the psychometric basis of Rorschach and R-PAS, and provided an adaptation of this new system for the Brazilian society. In Section I, it was analyzed national and international scientific productions from the past eleven years (2006-2016) about the norms of Rorscharch for children, from the databases Scielo, Pepsic, PsycNet, Clinical Key, Science Direct, and the online platform Taylor & Francis. It was identified a total of 14 studies which results showed a prevalence of international researchs about the standard performance in children from various cultures. Section II is an empirical reliability study between two raters from the same research group and between two different groups considering protocols applied by R-PAS. It was randomly selected 86 protocols of children aged between 7-14 years old, from public and private schools. Results were based on the calculation of the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) for 60 variables of the test and the Development Index (DI). The correlation indexes were considered excelent for 100% of the intragrupe analysis and 86,7% for the extragrupe analysis. The results are in agreement with studies that showed that the reliability of raters of the same group are generally higher than that of raters from different groups. Section III is an empirical study dedicated to the investigation of the differences in the performance due to gender in Rorschach, using the R-PAS from 170 girls and 183 boys aged between 7-14 years old, in public and private schools, utilizing 60 variables from the new system. The results showed similar performance between the sexs, but with evident distinctions in the cognitive scope, management of stress and interpersonal area. The most prominent differences and with larger effects were noted for participants aged 13-14 years old. With the same sample, Section IV is an empiric study that aims to present standard performance of 353 non-patient children for 60 variables of R-PAS and the DI. 24 variables and the DI showed significant differences, with a big effect and significant correlations among children in different group of ages (G1, 7-9 years old; G2, 10-12 years old; G3, 13-14 years old). It was observed that as the chronological age increases there is a sophistication of the perceptive processes of cognition, autoperception, interpersonal perception, affects and stress management, thus, increasing the psychological maturity. The four sections of this thesis provide important psychometric properties of Rorschach and R-PAS in children. These represent an advance in the scientific consolidation of this instrument and of the system in Brazil, qualifies the nomothetic evaluation of the data and the clinical interpretation obtained with this technique.