Reliability of The Global Assessment of Functioning Scale

ii Dedication I would like to dedicate my dissertation to my family who has always put my needs before their own. Their love and encouragement has helped me to attain all of my goals and I appreciate all they have taught me. iii Acknowledgments I would like to thank my committee members for the time and effort they put into their participation in my defense. I would also like to extend a special thank you to my chair, Dr. James D. Herbert, for his countless e-mails, feedback sessions, and being a true mentor in every sense of the word. Lastly, I want to thank Keith Davis for his support, encouragement, and always being my greatest fan. Since the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (GAF) was introduced in the revised third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III-R) in 1987 (American Psychiatric Association), its use in clinical settings has grown considerably. However, there is little research on the reliability and validity of the scale. Thirty-six psychologists with experience administering the GAF scored one high-information and one low-information vignette according to two methods of determining the GAF score. Method A consisted of the traditional paper-and-pencil version in which the rater determines the client's GAF score based on the individual's psychological, social, and occupational functioning. Method B consisted of a computer-assisted GAF (First & Multi-Health Systems Staff, 1997), in which assessment questions related to psychological, social, and occupational functioning are presented to the clinician in a yes/no format. Results indicated that both methods of GAF administration could be scored reliably by raters. Consistent with predictions, the results revealed a significant interaction between method and information level. Specifically, in the high information condition, the computer-assisted method resulted in scores closer to " gold standards " determined by expert diagnosticians relative to the paper-and-pencil method. These findings are promising with respect to the clinical utility of the computer-assisted GAF procedure. Limitations of the study and directions for future research are discussed. Psychiatric Association, 1987). Since its introduction, its use in clinical settings has expanded due to the need for an easily and quickly administered measure of severity of mental illness. It is currently the most commonly used global assessment a measure used to assess a patient's overall level of functioning for a specified time period (American Psychiatric Association, 1987). The GAF is based on the assumption that the level of current …