Psychometric properties and responsiveness to change of 15- and 28- item versions of the SCORE: A family assessment questionnaire

The SCORE (Systemic Clinical Outcome and Routine Evaluation) is a 40-item questionnaire for completion by family members 12 years and older to assess outcome in systemic 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 communication ) 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 non clinical cases. Total and factor scales of the SCORE-15 and -28 were responsive to change over 3–5 mont hs of therapy. The SCORE-15 and SCORE-28 are brief psychometrically robust family assessment instruments which may be used to evaluate systemic therapy.