[A global scale for assessment of the family environment].
OBJECTIVE
Reliability of the Global Family Environment Scale (GFES) which has been developed in Australia and translated into German.


METHODS
Comparison of ratings and reliability of written case vignettes by international raters and clinicians of the own institution. Assessment of interrater-reliability of clinical cases before and after group trainings with introduction of the manual and discussion of written case vignettes.


RESULTS
The ratings of seven training case vignettes were rather similar by clinicians from Zurich and in an international study by the Australian authors. In the same way interrater agreements were similar in the two studies and satisfying. In the present study a single training session in comparison to reading the manual did not result in higher interrater agreement.


CONCLUSIONS
The existing psychometric properties and the availability of a translation represent important prerequisites for the applicability of the GFES in the German-speaking countries.
Zentrum für Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie, Universität Zürich. steinh@kjpd.unizh.ch
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Steinhausen
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Wolgensinger
D000293:Adolescent; D000296:Adolescent Psychiatry / Q000193:education; D002648:Child; D002665:Child Psychiatry / Q000193:education; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003631:Day Care, Medical; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005196:Family Therapy; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training; D007802:Language; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D015588:Observer Variation; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012931:Social Environment; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013557:Switzerland