Clinical assessment of self-injurious behavior

• Published in: Psychological reports Vol. 80; no. 1; p. 155
• Main Authors: Brasic, J R, Barnett, J Y, Ahn, S C, Nadrich, R H, Will, M V, Clair, A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.02.1997
• Subjects: Autistic Disorder - classification; Autistic Disorder - diagnosis; Autistic Disorder - psychology; Child; Female; Humans; Intellectual Disability - classification; Intellectual Disability - diagnosis; Intellectual Disability - psychology; Male; Personality Assessment - statistics & numerical data; Pilot Projects; Psychometrics; Reproducibility of Results; Self-Injurious Behavior - classification; Self-Injurious Behavior - diagnosis; Self-Injurious Behavior - psychology
• ISSN: 0033-2941
• DOI: 10.2466/pr0.1997.80.1.155

The Timed Self-injurious Behavior Scale is an observational scale rating the frequency of 16 types of self-injurious behaviors during each 10-sec. interval of a 10-min. observation period. Advantages of the scale are utilization of direct observation and independence from the variable recollection of symptoms by subjects and care givers. 19 videotaped sessions of a subject who exhibited eight types of self-injurious behaviors were rated with the scale independently by three raters. Eighty percent and better agreement was found for the four specific forms of those behaviors exhibited by the subject sufficiently frequently, self biting, head punching, head slapping, and hair removal.