[Family assessment measures by Manfred Cierpka]

In the first part of the paper, authors describe some research tools for the assessment of family functioning, concentrating mainly on self-report questionnaires of the family members. Advantages and methodological limitations of such methods are discussed. Several questionnaires of self-report type are described such as e.g. the Family APGAR, Family Environment Scale, Mc Master Family Assessment Device, as well as Family Assessment Measure (FAM) of Skinner and Steinhauer. Manfred Cierpka Family Assessment Measures are a modification of this last questionnaire. In the second part of the paper authors present in details Cierpka Family Assessment Measures. They describe seven dimensions of the family functioning such as task accomplishment, role performance, communication, emotionality, affective involvement, control and values and norms. Family Assessment Measures consist of three questionnaires such as General Scale, Dyadic Scale and of Self-Rating Scale. General Scale focuses on how individual member views the family as a whole, The Dyadic Scale assesses specific relationship dyads within the family and Self-Rating Scale addresses how an individual member views his or her functioning within the family. At the end, psychometric properties of these questionnaires are presented, as well as the general description, how they should be used in the process of the assessment of the family for research and in clinical practice of family therapy.