Customer Reviews

Rating Scales in Mental Health

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In an era of accountability in mental health care, Sajatovic and Ramirez offer a collection of 80 psychometric instruments designed to be used by mental health researchers and practitioners. Their monograph is divided into two sections. The first discusses rating scales in general while the second section presents notable instruments used in mental health. Some of the instruments are commonly used, some are not. The uncommonly used instruments are more interesting.

Monograph similar to Sajatovic and Ramirez are numerous. They include:

Aman, M. G. (1991). Assessing Psychopathological and Behavioral Problems in Persons with Mental Retardation: A review of Available Instruments. National Institute of Mental Health.

Bearden. W, Netemeyer, R.G. & Mobley, M.F. (1993). Handbook of Marketing Scales. Sage.

Corcoran, K & Fischer, J. (2000). Measures for Clinical Practice: Volume 1 Couples, Families and Children, and Volume 2 Adults, NY: Free Press.

Davis, C.M. et al (1988) Sexuality-Related Measures Graphic Publishing.

Fredman & Sherman. (1987). Handbook for Measurement for Marriage and Family Therapy, Brunner/Mazel.

Holman, A. M. (1983). Family Assessment: Tools for Understanding and Intervention. Sage.

L'Abate & Bagarozzi. (1993). Sourcebook of Marriage and Family Evaluation, Brunner Mazel.

McDowell, I. & Newell, C. (1996). Measuring Health: A Guide to Rating Scales and Questionnaires. New York: Oxford University Press.

Miller, D. (1991). Handbook of Research Design and Social Measurement, [5th ed] Sage.

Nezu, A. M., Ronan, G.F., Meadows, E.A. & McClure, K.S. (2000). Practitioner's Guide to Empirically Based Measures of Depression. NY: Kluwer Acdemic/Plenum Publishers.

Robinson, Shaver & Wrightsman. (1991). Measures of Personality and Social Psychological Attitudes. Volume I Academic Press.

Shaw & Wright. (1967). Scales for the Measurement of Attitudes, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Spreen & Strauss. (1991). A Compendium of Neuropsychological Tests, Oxford University Press.

Touliatos & Perlmutter (1990). Handbook of Family Measurement Techniques, Sage.

Without a doubt, Sajatovic and Ramirez's work is much more readable than any of the works found in the above list. Thus, their work would be a great benefit to undergraduates who are just beginning to learn about instrumentation. In a somewhat unrelated issue, I have discovered that pages 178 through 186 are particularly helpful in explaining Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) and the functions of ordinal measures. Those pages are a strong benefit to undergraduate students.

The major weakness of Sajatovic and Ramirez's work is related to their greatest strength. Within the discussion of most of their instruments, they do not offer adequate information regarding reliability and validity. Issues of reliability and validity are necessary but complex for the beginning reader. They do offer the citations for this information. However, it would have been so much more helpful if they provided the necessary details in their book.

All in all, Sajatovic and Ramirez make a significant contribution.

The book is good as a review of what scales are available, but may not contain more than a brief example of the questions on the actual instrument. Do not expect to see a complete set of questions for a scale under examination.

This is a solid reference manual for rating scales,; however, it is in need of revision. A number of copyright holder references for the scales are incorrect or outdated. It is a good starting point, but should not be the only reference relied upon. Hopefully, the third edition will come out soon.