title: Interrater reliability of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale used at a community-based inpatient crisis stabilization unit.
abstract: In 1993, the State of Georgia passed a law reforming the mental health system to include more consumers of services and their families on local boards, to provide services in the community, and to measure and report the outcomes of these services. As mental health services expanded in the community, it became necessary to extend the use of reliable and valid instruments appropriate to a brief treatment setting. This field study investigates the usefulness of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) using paired ratings to measure the level of psychiatric symptoms of clients treated in an urban community inpatient crisis stabilization unit. Interrater agreement for all paired assessments exceeded .85 comparing favorably with previous studies reported in the literature. The BPRS was found to be a useful and efficient instrument in this community setting.
authors.affiliation: Georgia State University, School of Social Work, Atlanta 30303-3083, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ligon
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Thyer
mesh_terms: D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003419:Crisis Intervention; D006801:Humans; D007087:Illinois; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015588:Observer Variation; D010343:Patient Admission; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000592:standards*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012494:Sampling Studies