Strauss and Carpenter outcome criteria--revised.

Area of Science:

• Clinical research methodology
• Psychiatric outcome assessment

Background:

• The Strauss and Carpenter Outcome Criteria are frequently used in hospital outcome studies.
• Previous research indicated poor inter-rater reliability with these criteria, potentially due to a lack of operational definitions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of a revised Strauss and Carpenter Outcome Criteria on inter-rater reliability.
• To determine if an operationalized version of the criteria improves reliability in hospital outcome research.

Main Methods:

• A revised version of the Strauss and Carpenter Outcome Criteria with enhanced operational definitions was developed.
• This revised form was used to rate a subset of subjects from an original hospital outcome study sample.
• Inter-rater reliability was compared between the original and revised criteria.

Main Results:

• The revised criteria demonstrated superior inter-rater reliability in seven out of nine assessed categories.
• This suggests that the enhanced operational definitions significantly improved consistency in ratings.
• Reliability for the remaining two categories was not significantly different.

Conclusions:

• The revised, more behaviorally explicit Strauss and Carpenter Outcome Criteria enhance inter-rater reliability.
• This improved reliability has the potential to strengthen the validity and consistency of hospital outcome research.
• Further application of the revised criteria is recommended for future studies.