A survey of report writing by neuropsychologists, I: general characteristics and content.

A survey addressing professional practices regarding the content and format of reports on clinical neuropsychological assessments was sent to a randomly selected sample of 750 US members of Division 40 of the American Psychological Association. A total of 414 usable replies were received, yielding a response rate of 55%. Although there was widespread agreement between respondents with different clinical practices regarding the need to include in reports various specific variables (e.g., patient age and education, referral agent and question), there was considerable variability with regard to other items. Most notably, frequency of comments about prior financial compensation seeking varied with patient age group, diagnostic category, and reimbursement source, whereas patient age group and (to a lesser extent) psychologist's board certification were associated with different habits regarding specification of the utilized norms. It is concluded that, although there are many similarities among clinical documentations from different sources, the content of neuropsychological reports tends to vary with the specific practice parameters of the individual neuropsychologist.