[Procedures of Austrian authorised experts in custodial and visiting rights--a survey of current practice]

Abstract

Objectives: Within the framework of an Austria-wide comprehensive evaluation study, all legally authorised experts in the field of family law active as evaluators were contacted, and a survey of prevailing evaluation practice was carried out by means of a written questionnaire.

Methods: A questionnaire based on the rules of test theory was developed for this purpose.

Results: The response rate of 33% (n = 25) served to demonstrate a fundamentally homogenous weighting for each individual custody criterion amongst the experts, even though a variety of methods and testing procedures were used and no uniform approach relating to particular theoretical concepts was applied. The majority of authorised experts regard the solution and process-oriented evaluation method as a desirable supplement to the procedural status diagnostics used to date.

Conclusions: Because the procedures applied in authorised evaluations are not standardised, psychological testing procedures to examine the individual criteria used in making decisions should be developed according to the rules of test theory. The feasibility of applying a solution and process-oriented approach to authorised evaluations, under the formulation of general methodological-theoretical and normative conditions, is a matter for discussion by authorised experts and the legal profession.