Search

Two family therapy training instruments, the Family Concept Assessment (FCA) and Rating Scale and Family Therapy Assessment Exercise (FTE), developed in the United States were adapted to suit the Indian cultural context. Several changes were made to the instruments while at the same time maintaining the equivalency of the scales to the original. Both the instruments were tested for face validity by a panel of cultural and content experts in the United States. The FTE was then pilot tested with an Indian sample. The psychometric properties of the adapted instrument are reported in this article including feedback from the participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family counselors have viewed the use of standardized family assessment instruments with considerable ambivalence. This article briefly describes this ambivalence and argues that the use of self-report questionnaires and observational rating scales can enhance a practitioner's clinical assessment in three ways. First, it complements the practitioner's initial assessment; second, it helps in the development of treatment goats; and third, it provides information for evaluating treatment effectiveness. Furthermore, the author contends that the use of assessment instruments can create a collaborative working relationship between client and family counselor. The clinical report and its instruments are discussed, and a case example illustrates the application of the clinical report. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article compares the Clinical Rating Scale (CRS) and the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES III), derived from the Circumplex Model used in family assessment. The Circumplex Model of Marital and Family Systems is an attempt to bridge family theory, research, and practice. Two central dimensions of family behavior are integrated in the model: family cohesion and family adaptability. The two dimensions with their four levels are arranged into the two-dimensional Circumplex Model, which yields 16 possible combinations of cohesion and adaptability. The four types in the center of the model are called "balanced" because they are hypothesized to be most viable for healthy family functioning. The four extremes are generally seen as most problematic in terms of family functioning. Until recently, practitioners primarily used self-report questionnaires when they relied on assessment instruments at all. The results of the present study suggest that the Clinical Rating Scale (CRS) is a very useful observational instrument that is derived from a theoretical model (Circumplex Model) and that has excellent reliability and validity.