The Effects of Repeated Administrations on Self-Report and Parent-Report Scales

Abstract

The use of repeated measures to track the out-come of psychosocial interventions is becoming common practice in most organizations. One threat with this methodology is the retest artifact. This artifact is defined by a systematic change in scores for individuals who repeatedly complete an outcome instrument yet do not receive an) formal treatment. The retest artifact can call into question the validity of change associated with school-based treatment programs when this change is based upon repeated testing using outcome instruments. This study directly assessed the retest effect for both a youth and an adult psychosocial outcome measure. The frequency of retest administrations was systematically varied (weekly, biweekly, monthly, pre/post testing) over a 9-week period using a youth parent-report and an adult self-report Outcome Questionnaire. Results indicate a statistically significant improvement in functioning at the time of the second administration regardless of the lapse in time for the adult measure and a steady improvement in functioning for the parent-report youth measure. Implications of this finding for evaluating psychosocial interventions are discussed.