Psychometric Properties and Responsiveness to Change of 15‐ and 28‐Item Versions of the SCORE: A Family Assessment Questionnaire

• Author: Elena Hamilton,Alan Carr,Ciara Cassells,Dan Hartnett,Paul Cahill
• Published date: 01 September 2015
• Date: 01 September 2015
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12117

Psychometric Properties and Responsiveness to

Change of 15- and 28-Item Versions of the SCORE:

A Family Assessment Questionnaire

ELENA HAMILTON*

ALAN CARR*

,†

PAUL CAHILL*

,

**

CIARA CASSELLS*

,‡

DAN HARTNETT*

To read this article in Spanish and Chinese, please see the article’s Supporting Information on Wiley

Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/famp).

The SCORE (Systemic Clinical Outcome and Routine Evaluation) is a 40-item question-

naire for completion by family members 12 years and older to assess outcome in system ic

therapy. This study aimed to investigate psychometric properties of two short versions of

the SCORE and their responsiveness to therapeutic change. Data were collected at

19 centers from 701 families at baseline and from 433 of these 3–5 months later. Results

confirmed the three-factor structure (strengths, difficulties, and commu nication) of the

15- and 28-item versions of the SCORE. Both instruments had good internal consistency

and test–retest reliability. They also showed construct and criterion validity, correlating

with measures of parent, child, and family adjustment, and discriminating between

clinical and nonclinical cases. Total and factor scales of the SCORE-15 and -28 were

responsive to change over 3–5 months of therapy. The SCORE-15 and SCORE-28 are brief

psychometrically robust family assessment instruments which may be used to evaluate

systemic therapy.

Keywords: Fa mily assessment; Family therapy research; SCORE

Fam Proc 54:454–463, 2015

The SCORE (Systemic Clinical Outcome and Routine Evaluation) is a questionnaire for

completion by family members 12 years and older to assess outcome in systemic fam-

ily therapy and other family-oriented services (Stratton, Bland, Janes, & Lask, 2010). The

SCORE was developed to address the need for a self-report family assessment measure for

routine use in clinical practice in the United Kingdom and Ireland to periodically assess

families engaged in therapy. It was intended that SCORE data could be used to inform

therapists about the progress of individual cases and to inform managers and funders

about service effectiveness.

*School of Psychology, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.

†

Clanwilliam Institute, Dublin, Ireland.

‡

Psychology Department, Health Service Executive, Primary Care Centre, Roscommon, Ireland.

**Disability Service, Health Service Executive, Mullingar, Westmeath, Ireland.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Alan Carr, Professor of Clinical Psychol-

ogy, School of Psychology, Newman Building, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.

E-mail: alan.carr@ucd.ie

This research project was supported by grants from the following agencies: The Daughters of Charity

Child and Family Service, Crosscare Teen Counseling and Archways Families First.

454

Family Process, Vol. 54, No. 3, 2015 ©2015 Family Process Institute

doi: 10.1111/famp.12117