OBJECTIVES: This study aims to supplement the limitations of the preliminary study and expand the use of the Child-Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale by providing standardized T-scores for measuring function in different areas, as well as guidelines for their interpretation. METHODS: The Child-Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale and Korean-Child Behavior Checklist were administered to a total of 623 individuals, including 467 parents of emotionally and behaviorally disturbed elementary school students, 45 parents of emotionally and behaviorally disturbed middle school adolescents and 111 parents of elementary school students with developmental disorders, as well as to a control group consisting of 186 parents of mainstream elementary school children in the Seoul metropolitan area. RESULTS: In contrast to the preliminary study, the emotional domain was disassociated into two factors, negative affect and emotion regulation, and the coefficient of determination for misconduct was increased significantly. Also, the overall reliability and validity of the Child-Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale were similar to those in the preliminary study, and the item structure was consistent. This study provides standardized T-scores of function in different areas based on the revised scale, and provides guidelines for their interpretation. CONCLUSION: The Child-Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale can assist the Child Global Assessment in Functioning in providing the information necessary for case management and treatment planning by comparing the impairment severity in each area of functioning, and also determining changes in behavior and function after treatment interventions. On the other hand, this scale has yet to clearly distinguish between rebellious behavior and misconduct. Further research is necessary to provide standards for more diverse age groups and for its utilization.
Adolescent ; Case Management ; Checklist ; Child ; Hand ; Humans ; Mental Health Services* ; Mental Health* ; Parents ; Reproducibility of Results ; Seoul

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to develop an assessment tool for measurement of children's functioning in the mental health service. We conducted a preliminary study to develop a sensitive and inclusive scale focused on the functional changes of children rather than just focusing on their symptoms or screening. METHODS: The Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale and the Korean-Child Behavior Checklist (K-CBCL) were both administered to 134 parents of children with emotional or behavioral problems who participated in the Aizone program and also to 186 parents of elementary school children in the Seoul metropolitan area as a control group. SPSS version 12.0 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Most of the reliability coefficients were over 0.70 except those of the conduct behavior items, which showed relatively high internal consistency. The corrected item-total correlations ranged from .411 to .758, except those of conduct behavior items and special measure items. In a concurrent validity test with K-CBCL, the total behavior problem score of K-CBCL was highly correlated with the total score of the Child and Adolescent Functional Assesment Scale (r=.610). For the construct validity, confirmatory factor analysis was performed for each of four areas, including behavior (at home/school), achievement, peer relationship, and emotion. CONCLUSION: The results showed that the scale was statistically reliable and valid, except for conduct behavior items. This study was conducted only for parents with elementary children. An adolescents group should be included in future studies.
Adolescent* ; Checklist ; Child* ; Equidae ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Mental Health Services* ; Parents ; Seoul