The Outcome Rating Scale: A Preliminary Study of the Reliability, Validity, and Feasibility of a Brief Visual Analog Measure

Industry-wide, there is a trend toward making outcome evaluation a routine part of ther-apeutic services. Although various multidimensional assessments of outcome are validand reliable, their methodological complexity, length of administration, and cost oftenrender them infeasible for many service providers and settings. The present articledescribes the development and validation of an ultra-brief outcome measure, the OutcomeRating Scale (ORS). The instrument’s psychometric properties are examined and reportedfor both clinical and nonclinical samples. Based on experience with the instrument at thevarious sites in the study, the feasibility of the scale is considered. Results indicate that theORS represents a balanced trade-off between the reliability and validity of the longer meas-ures, and the feasibility of this brief scale. Results and implications for clinical practice andfuture research are discussed.