Creating and Validating Rapid Assessment Instruments for Practice and Research: Part 2

Abstract

In this age of accountability, social work practitioners face greater demands to demonstrate the effectiveness of their interventions. A practical way to accomplish this is to use rapid assessment instruments (RAIs) to measure a client’s level of functioning so that any subsequent change in functioning can be accurately detected over time. This first article in this two-part series outlined how to conceptualize and create an RAI, and how to plan and subsequently implement a design testing the newly created scale’s psychometric properties, laying the groundwork for Part 2 of this series. The purpose of this article is to further develop the foundations that were introduced in Part 1 by using the authors’ own works to illustrate how to develop a new scale and test its psychometric properties. Decision-making strategies and standards for how to interpret scale psychometrics are provided.