Time Involved | Depends on the psycholegal question: two to 10 hours is not unusual | Briefer. Typically, 20 minutes to one hour |
Consent and warning about limits of confidentiality | Routine and considered mandatory | No definitive guidance set forth in the SGFP.17 AAPL Guidelines18 suggest warning collateral sources about limits of confidentiality and informing them about how information will be used. |
Scope of interview | Depends on the referral question, but often quite inclusive | Typically, more narrowly focused |
Degree of structure | A mixture of unstructured interviewing and standardized queries | Semi-structured interview. Sometimes highly structured and focused, such as in the AAIDD Diagnostic Adaptive Behavior Scales27 or other structured measures of adaptive behaviors. |