Personality Assessment Consultation Opportunities with the Federal Aviation Administration-Orientat

Abstract

Personality assessment is an essential element in pre-employment and fitness for duty evaluations for a variety of public safety-sensitive positions. Many psychologists specializing in personality assessment have developed consultation relationships with police and other public safety agencies. Fewer have become consultants for the FAA, which relies on psychologists skilled in personality assessment to conduct thorough evaluations of pilots and air traffic controllers. The FAA is actively recruiting psychologists who are skilled in personality assessment to join its team of consultants. This workshop is designed to prepare such psychologists primarily to perform pre-employment evaluations of FAA Air Traffic Control Specialist (ATCS) applicants, with a secondary focus on the evaluation of pilots under FAA medical standards. The workshop will begin with a brief review of the legal and ethical issues involved in conducting pre-employment and fitness for duty evaluations. An orientation to the unique psychological demands inherent in the aviation environment and the standards necessary for aviation safety will follow. The main focus of the workshop will be on the special considerations required for pre-employment evaluations conducted with ATCS applicants and fitness for duty evaluation of pilots, including published and unpublished normative test score patterns for those populations, the safety relevance of subclinical conditions, issues specific to the assessment of military veterans, and the differences between DSM-5 diagnoses and FAA regulatory standards. A discussion of test data, psychosocial history, clinical interview, MSE, and collateral information to guide and support decisions will follow. Case examples will be provided to illustrate assessment practices and FAA standards.

Presenter

Chris Front | Federal Aviation Administration