Problem Severity Among Outpatient Mental Health Clients: Development and Validation of the South Shore Problem Inventory-Revised

Abstract

The use of global instruments has been recommended as a viable strategy for clinical assessment and outcome measurement in mental health practice. The current study examined the validity, reliability, and utility of the South Shore Problem Inventory-Revised (SSPI-R), a multidimen sional global client self-report scale based on a biopsychosocial framework Data collectedfrom 376 clients newly admitted to an adult outpatient community mental health program were submitted to principal components analysis and varimax rotation. Three major factors emerged reflecting an underlying factor structure similar to that of the original SSPI. The three factors were defined as: psychophysiological (Factor 1), community/health (Factor 2), and family pathol ogy (Factor 3). Overall, the scale accounted for about 43% of the variance, internal consistency ratings were good to excellent, and subscale correlations revealed good separation among the three factors. Matters concerning validity, reliability, and utility are discussed as are implica tions for the use of the scale in agency-based clinical assessment and outcome evaluation.