The Brief Adult Assessment Scale: A Validation Study

Abstract

Objective: The Brief Adult Assessment Scale (BAAS) is a multidimensional assessment scale designed for use by practitioners and researchers that measures the severity of client problems in 16 areas of adult personal and social functioning. This article describes the BAAS; provides information about its administration, scoring, and interpretation; and reports findings with regard to the psychometric characteristics of the scale. Methods: Data from 291 adult participants were collected and used to assess the scale’s psychometric properties. Results: Findings suggest that the BAAS has strong internal consistency, good factorial and content validities, and preliminary construct validity. Conclusions: Although further research must examine the scale’s known-groups concurrent validity and clinical cutting scores, the BAAS appears to be appropriate for use by social workers as an aid to diagnosis, treatment planning, and evaluation.

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