Barkley Functional Impairment Scale - Children and Adolescents (BFIS-CA)

To diagnose a mental disorder or make a disability determination, clinicians must assess functional impairmentÑnot just the presence of symptoms. Meeting a key need, the Barkley Functional Impairment Scale - Children and Adolescents (BFIS-CA) is an empirically based, norm-referenced tool that exceeds other available scales in its comprehensive coverage of domains of psychosocial impairment. The BFIS-CA is designed to obtain parent reports on possible impairment in 15 different domains of everyday activities for children and teens. The scale typically takes a parent 5-7 minutes to complete. Also included is a follow-up parent interview form for obtaining more information about specific problem areas. Complete instructions for scoring and interpreting the scale are provided.

Overview

• What does it do?: Assesses psychosocial impairments in 15 domains of major life activities.
• Age Range: 6-17
• Administration Time: 5-7 minutes.
• Format: Parent-report rating scale.
• Cost of Additional Forms: No cost: purchasers get permission to reproduce the forms and score sheets for repeated use

The BFIS-CA has benefited from more than 30 years of research with its predecessor scale, the Home Situations Questionnaire (Barkley, 1981), and the subsequent development of the BFIS-CA from it. It has also benefited from the development of a comparable rating scale for assessing impairment in adults: the Barkley Functional Impairment Scale (BFIS).

Scores are obtained for 15 specific domains of major life activities, including relationships with parents, siblings, children in the neighbourhood, and children at school; community activities; interactions with adults other than parents; school performance; self-care; money management; sports participation; and following rules, among other domains. Two broadband summary scores are computed for the Home-School mean impairment score (consisting of 9 domains) and the Community-Leisure mean impairment score (consisting of 6 domains). A total number of impaired domains score is also computed. These constitute the 18 primary scores. Eight additional questions provide further information on specific types of impairment related to friendships, community participation, sports, and educational performance and adjustment.

Reliability & Validity

The large normative sample (N = 1,800) is representative of the U.S. population in terms of region, ethnicity/race, gender, and employment status, based on the 2000 U.S. Census. Unlike other comparable rating scales, the normative sample was not filtered to exclude children receiving special education or psychiatric medications.

Reliability of the scores is quite satisfactory as evidenced by high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha of .97 for entire scale, and .95 and .96 for the Home-School and Community-Leisure mean impairment scores, respectively) and by high test-retest reliability over a 3-5 week interval (.86 for the Home-School mean impairment score; .83 for the Community-Leisure mean impairment score; .87 for the number of impaired domains score).

Validity of the scale scores is substantiated through high correlation's with other rating scales of executive functioning and ADHD symptoms. Factor analysis also demonstrated a single broadband factor of impairment that comprises two narrower-band but interrelated dimensions of Home-School (work related) and Community-Leisure domains. Children and teens scoring high on the scale demonstrated impairment in separate measures of social unpopularity, community involvement, sports participation, teacher reports of behavioural or school performance problems, previous grade point average, and history of grade retention, suspension, or expulsion. Significant differences in BFIS-CA scores were demonstrated among children with and without various psychiatric, developmental, learning, and neurological diagnoses, as well as among children and teens receiving (or not receiving) various types of psychiatric, psychological, and educational treatment services.

Includes Permission to Photocopy

Enhancing the convenience and value of the BFIS-CA, the limited photocopy license allows purchasers to reproduce the forms and score sheets and yields considerable cost savings over other available scales. The large format and sturdy wire binding facilitate photocopying.

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. Defining Psychosocial Impairment
2. Development of the BFIS-CA
3. Factor Analysis, Scale Construction, and Item Frequencies
4. Relationship of BFIS-CA Scores to Demographic Factors in the Normative Sample
5. Reliability
6. Validity
7. Relationship of BFIS-CA Scores to Disorders
8. Relationship of BFIS-CA Scores to Treatments
9. Scoring and Interpretation of the BFIS-CA Forms

Appendix: BFIS-CA Forms, Score Sheet, and Impairment Profiles

BFIS-CA Parent Rating Scale

BFIS-CA Parent Interview

BFIS-CA Score Sheet

BFIS-CA Impairment Profile (Ages 6Ð11, Males Only)

BFIS-CA Impairment Profile (Ages 12Ð17, Males Only)

BFIS-CA Impairment Profile (Ages 6Ð11, Females Only)

BFIS-CA Impairment Profile (Ages 12Ð17, Females Only)