The child and adolescent functional assessment scale is designed to help monitor and the degree of emotional, psychiatric and behavioral impairment and substance abuse. As such, it would make sense to monitor them constantly both in their normal environments and interactions with peers as well as in formal set ups. These formal set ups could include interviews and group therapies while the informal ones include them playing in the playground. That way, it will be possible for the observer to see the young one’s behavior and compare it to what the assessment scale suggests. In case of any major differences, it will be possible to assess the students that are not fully functional.
The CAFAS is designed to highlight the deficiencies that the child/adolescent is facing for the sake of its designing an appropriate treatment plan. As such, the scale cannot be used on its own in the treatment process (Bates, 2001). On the contrary, there are times when only the total assessment scores are considered in its entirety while some other times it is the individual scores that matter the most. Of course, for the right choice, the counsellor should have more information to support the decision that he is to make in terms of treatment.
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In order for any particular assessment to be considered as valid, the child should have to have a disorder that is either mental, emotional or behavioral (Hodges, Wong, & Latessa, 1998). Also, the particular disorder has to be significant enough to have caused a functional impairment that impacts the child’s normal operations in life. Despite the CAFAS scale scores describing an overall level of functioning, there are the different scores that are best addressed separately so as to focus on what to be changed.
With CAFAS, there should also be some concurrent validity which means that it is possible and easy to differentiate the youth and their specific levels of the intensity of care. As such, the participants of the assessment have to have living arrangements, severity of psychiatric diagnoses and the varying number of diagnoses should be consistent (Hodges, Wong, & Latessa, 1998). Predictive validity in the test should also be able to show what is expected from the behavioral analysis; the assessment should just be an accurate confirmation of the events.
When it comes to the reliability of the system, the use of a coefficient alpha value promotes internal consistency. While using the scale, the values used in the total score evaluation somehow control those used in the subscale totals. If the level of consistency in the totals is low to moderate where internal consistency is concerned, the extent to which the CAFAS subscales can be used is low to moderate also (Bates, Furlong, & & Green, 2006). As such, using the coefficient alpha value could help to maintain reliable consistency in the assessment.
There is also the interrater reliability for the CAFAS which should be promoted consistently. Most of the times, the CAFAS total scores are usually different from the individual subscale correlations. For instance, the CAFAS correlations ranged from .92 to .96 while the individual correlations for the same assessment varied from .73-.79 (Bates, Furlong, & & Green, 2006). In order to improve on that reliability, it became important to have another consideration which was the level of agreement between the raters in the cases.
Using the CAFAS has been beneficial because it is a part of evidence-based treatment and it thus makes treatment more accurate. The major shortcomings when it comes to using the assessment scale is the difficulty in achieving significant reliability in the assessment. There is no particular result that is the outcome of the test and thus it is quite possible to make the wrong assessments in the assessment.
References
Bates, M. P. (2001). The Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS): Review and Current Status. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review , 63-84.
Bates, M. P., Furlong, M. J., & & Green, J. G. (2006). Are CAFAS subscales and item weights valid? A preliminary investigation of the Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research , 682-695.
Hodges, K., Wong, M., & Latessa, M. (1998). Use of the Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS) as an outcome measure in clinical settings. Behavioral Health Services and Research , 325-336.
