Individual FAQs

Loffty is an assessment tool and not a diagnostic tool. It reflects with 100% accuracy the responses you provide. Research shows computer-based assessments are more comprehensive and accurate than single-interview, face to face consultations. This phenomenon is well known by educators and caregivers in the social and psychological sciences. Loffty provides you and/or your practitioner with a detailed report of your overall mental health by generating an assessment based on the way you have responded to an adaptive questioning algorithm. Armed with the comprehensive information in your personalised Loffty report and utilising their expertise, your practitioner is then responsible for making a final diagnosis.

Loffty is intended for use by people over 18 years of age who are genuinely seeking to get better and are therefore providing truthful answers. Use of Loffty by people under 18 years if age is up to the discretion of the individual and their guardians and is based on the professional judgement of their practitioner.

Firstly, Loffty is not a psychometric test. A psychometric test is not a clinical evaluation for mental health purposes, but rather a tool often used by recruitment firms or HR departments to assess a person’s suitability to a particular job profile. Loffty is not a computer-generated “Personality Profile.”

Loffty is a clinical mental health self assessment tool where the results are accessible by you through your mental health professional. Compared with cumbersome, usually paper-based, psychiatric outcome tools, Loffty has significant advantages. Most tools are only able to provide an assessment of one or two disorders in isolation. Loffty is unique in its ability to assess multiple disorders simultaneously which is extremely important in helping your practitioner understand you fully. The fact Loffty is in an electronic form also enables it to include other additional functionality.

Loffty is not a diagnostic tool and is not intended to replace your practitioner whether they are a GP, psychologist or mental health professional. Loffty is a decision support tool to help your practitioner collect a lot of information far more quickly than they could ever collect from you even in multiple consultations. This accelerates the time it takes for your practitioner to really get to know you so they can help you feel better, faster. For GPs, who are very time poor, it helps them get a comprehensive report of your overall mental health which they will usually use as a basis to refer you to a mental health specialist.

The Loffty multi-disorder mental health assessment was originally conceived in 2003 by Dr John Clarkson, a New Zealand-born, Australian-based GP and has been further developed over the years by an interdisciplinary team of mental health professionals in Australia and the USA.

Loffty helps you select a suitable practitioner by showing practitioner profiles on the Loffty Provider Map when you register. If you can’t find your practitioner (or one you want to use) on our map, click the link to email us at kiaora@loffty.com and we will ask them to register.

Who pays for your Loffty assessment depends on whether the assessment is created by you or your practitioner.

If you create a Loffty assessment yourself by registering at Loffty.com or your practitioner tells you to create your own Loffty assessment this way, then you pay the Loffty assessment fee online yourself using a debit or credit card.

If your practitioner generates your Loffty assessment through their secure practitioner portal then the assessment is deducted from a batch of assessments that they have prepaid. Your practitioner will speak with you about how they will bill you for this.

Sometimes people make mistakes when entering their card details. As a security measure, when an error is made three times the card is locked for 24 hours and you will need to try again in 24 hours. If you need help immediately, please contact Loffty support at kiaora@loffty.com, providing your contact phone number. Common mistakes made on the payment screen are: using an American Express card which is not currently accepted, selecting one card type and entering the details of another card, using an expired card, incorrectly entering card details and using a card that is over it’s maximum credit limit.

Please consult with your private health insurer directly to discuss private insurance coverage.

No, Loffty is a web application and so you need to be online to complete your assessment.

Your Loffty data is secure and protected at all times. This means that even if you are using an unsecured wireless connection, your data will still be encrypted by our SSL Certificate, so yes you can use an unsecured wireless connection and your data is always secure when using the Loffty application.

If you can’t log in to your Loffty assessment, please check you have entered the randomly generated username and password correctly. If you continue having difficulties, please email Loffty Support at kiaora@loffty.com. Please also check that you are logging in on the correct Loffty country site. If you are traveling overseas from the country of your selected practitioner, you need to ensure that you are logging in on the correct country website where your nominated practitioner is based.

Most users complete a Loffty assessment in about 15-30 minutes. Some may be a little faster and some may take longer but there is no time limit to complete your Loffty assessment.

If you are interrupted when doing your Loffty assessment and you can’t finish it at that time, don’t worry as Loffty remembers the last question you answered and you can resume your session at another time from exactly where you left off.

Yes, you will receive a copy of your Loffty report, although it works best when you and your practitioner work together to discuss and prepare your treatment plan.

Of course. No typing is required. Loffty questions are answered using a mouse on a computer or using a touch screen device. Loffty questions require a Year 7 reading ability. If you are unable to read the questions, you can have someone read them to you.

No, the Loffty report does not get emailed to your practitioner. Your practitioner accesses your report by logging in to their secure practitioner portal. If your practitioner refers you to another mental health specialist they can securely forward your Loffty report within our application so it never needs to be emailed.

Yes, your Loffty report can be saved as a PDF and imported into practitioners’ Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems.

Yes. Loffty is designed to be completed anywhere you feel comfortable. If that’s in your own home or while riding the bus to work it’s entirely up to you.

No. The Loffty assessment and the underlying algorithm and weightings that sit behind the questions and your specific answers are not available to your practitioner. However, the ‘More Info’ button in the dynamic Loffty report provides detailed symptomatology for each condition you are assessed for and shows a severity rating. The Loffty report is intended to be an overview of your overall mental health that provides key information for you and your practitioner to investigate further. If you are identified as having a mild, moderate or severe rating for a condition, then your practitioner should investigate the reasons that condition has that rating. This will usually be done by spending quality practitioner-client/patient time together to arrive at a practitioner-based diagnosis and agreed treatment plan.