Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Jan;54(1):107-116.
doi: 10.1007/s10597-016-0067-6. Epub 2016 Nov 30.

A Qualitative Study of Clinicians Experience with Rating of the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) Scale

I H Monrad Aas  1 , Ove Sonesson  2 , Steffen Torp  3
Affiliations

A Qualitative Study of Clinicians Experience with Rating of the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) Scale

I H Monrad Aas et al. Community Ment Health J. 2018 Jan.

Abstract

The severity of illness in psychiatry is rated using the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale. The GAF scale is often used in both research settings and in the clinic. The scale ranges from 1 to 100 and is subdivided into ten 10-point intervals, each with verbal rating instructions called anchor points and examples. GAF is an instrument that needs improvement. Studying clinicians' experiences with this rating system may be important for developing improvements. The aim of this study was to collect information from clinicians about their experiences with the GAF instrument, and to collect their ideas on how the GAF scale can be improved, particularly in the area of verbal instructions (i.e., anchor points and examples). Qualitative interviews were performed with 25 clinicians. Through this interview process, several weaknesses of the GAF scale were revealed. We found that clinicians have unique experiences that can be important for the development of a better GAF scale. Rating with the GAF scale also requires sufficient collection of patient information.

Keywords: Assessment; Clinicians; Global Assessment of Functioning scale (GAF); Qualitative study.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Lancet. 2001 Aug 11;358(9280):483-8 - PubMed
    1. Am J Psychiatry. 1992 Sep;149(9):1148-56 - PubMed
    1. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2005 Sep;34(3):412-32 - PubMed
    1. Psychol Assess. 2005 Dec;17(4):462-8 - PubMed
    1. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2007 Apr;42(4):322-7 - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources