I have heard that the APA has developed a manual on psychiatric measures. What is included in the Handbook?
The APA published the Handbook of Psychiatric Measures in May 2000. The main purpose of the manual is to provide clinicians working in mental health settings with a guide to some of the available rating scales and tests that may be useful in the clinical assessment and care of their patients. In addition, the manual is designed to provide guidance to clinicians, policy makers, and service planners on how to select, use and interpret clinical measures.
The manual describes how to select and use psychiatric assessment tools and evaluate available measures. It is envisioned as a “toolbox with instructions” or a “consumer's guide” to the various psychiatric measures. These measures cover a range of domains of assessment including: symptoms, functioning and outcomes, and are evaluated for their components, reliability, validity, strengths, weaknesses, and clinical utility.