Decision making by policymakers, public health professionals, and health care providers is often guided by the extent to which individuals feel at risk for certain adverse health events. Such health risk perceptions can be assessed in surveys using different types of probability rating scales. It has recently been suggested that rating scales that offer decomposed numeric values at the lower en...

INTRODUCTION During the past decades several rating scales have been developed to assess the functional status of patients with low back pain. METHODS We performed a search using the keywords 'spine' in combination with 'scoring system', 'scale', 'scores', 'outcome assessment', 'low back pain' and 'clinical evaluation'. RESULTS Twenty-eight scoring systems are currently available for the ev...

The use of rating scales in psychiatry increased in the late 1950s with the introduction of antipsychotics and antidepressants. Initially rating scales were used mainly to evaluate the effectiveness of new medication against placebo. As the need increased for good reliability and validity, further rating scales were developed and these were used not only in clinical trials but also to diagnose ...