Approaches to Measuring Human Behavior in the Social Environment

Make the best use of measurement approaches that gauge social behavior

Here is a state-of-the-art examination of various approaches to measuring and assessing client functioning and specific aspects of clients’ social environments. It examines numerous age groups and ethnic populations and makes use of cutting-edge methodologies in its examinations of measuring depression in children, measuring the neighborhood from a child’s perspective, measuring and assessing family functioning, measuring spirituality, and measuring psychosocial problems in seriously mentally ill families. Helpful tables in each chapter make complex information easy to access and understand.

Inside Approaches to Measuring Human Behavior in the Social Environment you’ll find:

• a psychometric evaluation of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Childhood Diagnoses (KID-SCID) (with 4 tables)
  
• a clinical/psychometric perspective on using self-rating scales for assessing severely mentally ill individuals (with a chapter appendix and 2 tables)
  
• vital information on assessing the influence of tradition upon Chinese elders in order to provide culturally sensitive services (with 4 tables)
  
• a report on the psychometric properties of the Rap Music Attitude and Perception (RAP) Scale, an instrument designed to measure attitudes toward and perceptions of rap music (with 6 tables)
  
• a report on the assessment of self-esteem in people with severe mental illness (with 2 figures and 4 tables)
  
• a qualitative study of fourth and fifth graders’ views of the neighborhoods they live in (with 5 figures and 2 tables)
  
• an NIMH- and USDHHS-funded study examining the reliability and validity of the Preschool Symptom Self-Report (PRESS) which measures depression in maltreated young children (with 4 tables)
  
• a study of advances designed to improve the reliability/validity of the North Carolina Family Assessment Scale (NCFAS) as it relates to placement and the prediction of future placement within the context of Intensive Family Preservation Services (IFPS) (with 1 figure and 7 tables)
  
• conformatory factor analyses of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS) (with 3 figures and 4 tables)
  
• a report illustrating the development and empirical testing of the Spiritual Strategies Scale (SSS)a measure of spiritual supports used by older adults in managing challenges in their lives (with 4 tables)
  
• an examination of the validity of college students’ responses to the Scale for the Identification of Acquaintance Rape Attitudes (SIARA), a measure designed to assess attitudes believed to be supportive of sexual violence within dating relationships (with 3 figures and 5 tables)

Approaches to Measuring Human Behavior in the Social Environment is vital reading for master’s and PhD level social workers, psychologists, counselors, marriage and family therapists, psychiatrists, and researchers in these fields.

Nugent, William R.