SCORE is a self-report measure of family functioning and has been proved to be a reliable and valid index of therapeutic change.  

It is usable in everyday practice; short, acceptable to clients and can be used across all applications of systemic family and couple therapy. It is able to track progress and outcomes, and is helpful to the therapeutic process when used interactively with the family. 

SCORE consists of 19 questions  which take less than 10 minutes for family members to complete. It is free to use.

There is now a SCORE-15 app for therapists, which enables families to complete SCORE-15 questionnaires using a mobile or laptop, and therapists can easily manage & share their results, making SCORE data part of the therapy process. Find out more here.

SCORE Translations

SCORE Resource Pack 

Training Videos

Training films about the use of SCORE produced by AFT.

SCORE 15 App Launch  –  a webinar facilitated by  Charlotte Burck,  Astrid Winkler, and Peter Stratton

Date: 1 December 2021 

Please click here to access the slides from  Charlotte and Astrid's presentation 
Please click here to access the slides from Peter Stratton's presentation 

SCORE development updates

With AFT support, the SCORE has now been accepted by the CAMHS Outcome Research Consortium (CORC) . This significant development means SCORE can be used by any CAMHS and data can be submitted to CORC for us to use in its development. SCORE is now available in 34 languages for use with many families for whom comprehension of written English is problematic.

The SCORE is now established as a proven measure of family functioning (Carr & Stratton 2017). We have completed the research to establish its reliability and validity as an index of therapeutic change (Stratton et al, 2013, Journal of Family Therapy). A full account of its development is published in the Journal of Family Therapy (Stratton, Bland, Janes & Lask 2010).  

Successive articles in Context describe something of the lengthy process of getting the SCORE to this point. The final version of the SCORE 15 is available to download, along with other SCORE resources.

Also in the 2010 issue of JFT, Alan Carr’s team reported a substantial independent investigation based on the SCORE 40 which provides further validation of our approach ( Cahill et al, 2010). 

SCORE can be read in terms of second order change; structural change; change in the stories the family members have about their family; change in systemic processes within the family; in an orientation to solutions; improvements in relation to hopefulness, agency, hostility, risk, blaming, well-being, happiness and so on. Some detail about SCORE and guidance on how to use it is at Introduction and scoring SCORE-15.

The current achievement is that we have a short version of SCORE – SCORE-15 – which has 15 descriptions of aspects of family life and process, along with other indicators of the state of the family, all on one sheet of A4.

The research that created the SCORE-15 showed that the earlier 40 items were all useful, so the SCORE 40 measure is also available from Peter Stratton as a more detailed, probably research, instrument. Alan Carr and his group in Dublin took the same SCORE 40 and have created a 29 item version that is entirely compatible with, but more detailed than, our 15 item short form.

SCORE-15 can be used as an overall measure of family functioning but will also generate ‘sub-scale’ scores from the 5 items on each of three dimensions:
• Strengths and adaptability
• Overwhelmed by difficulties
• Disrupted communication

Work is continuing to develop a version for use with adults with learning difficulties. Versions in other languages are available.

Judith Lask and Reenee Singh are leading the project to create culturally sensitive versions of SCORE-15 for different cultural groups. French, Bengali, and Norwegian versions were developed primarily in the UK, while 16 European countries, co-ordinated for EFTA by Mina Todoulou, have created their own translations and validation study using the same protocol as the UK project.

There are 34 Currently Available Clinical Versions listed along with contact details of the originator at SCORE Translations.

Recent Publications

These listed below, indicate something of the range of application of SCORE:

Several other articles especially in the Journal of Family Therapy and Family Process report the achievements of SCORE users of translated versions in many countries including Portugal, Thailand, Poland and Spain:

• Stratton, P., & Low, D. (2020) Culturally Sensitive Measures of Systemic Family Therapy. In K. S. Wampler (Ed) Handbook of Systemic Family Therapy. M. Rastogi and R.Singh, Associate Editors.Vol. 4. Systemic Family Therapy and Global Health Issues. John Wiley and Sons.
  
• Stratton, P., Carr, A. & Schepisi, L. (2020) The SCORE in Europe: Measuring effectiveness, assisting therapy. In Matthias Ochs, Maria Borcsa, & Jochen Schweitzer (Eds) Ochs, M., Borcsa, M., & Schweitzer, J. (eds.) (2020). Linking systemic research and practice – Innovations in paradigms, strategies and methods. Pp 367-384. (European Family Therapy Association Series, Volume 4). Cham: Springer International. 
  
• Carr A., & Stratton P. (2018) SCORE In:  J.L. Lebow et al. (eds.), Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy,   https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_403-1.  Springer International Publishing AG 
• Carr, A. & Stratton, P. (2017). SCORE family assessment questionnaire: A decade of progress. Family Process, 56, 285-301, DOI: 10.1111/famp.12280
  
• Fay, D., Carr, A., O’Reilly, K., Cahill, P., Dooley, B., Guerin, S & Stratton, P. (2013) Irish norms for the SCORE-15 and 28 from a national telephone survey. Journal of Family Therapy. 35, 24-42.
  
• Hamilton, E. & Carr, A. (2016). Systematic review of self-report family assessment measures. Family Process. 55(1), 16-30.doi: 10.1111/famp.12200.
  
• Jewell, T., Carr, A., Stratton, P., Lask, J., and Eisler, I. (2013).  Development of a Children’s Version of the SCORE Index of Family Function and Change. Family Process. 52(4), 673-684.  doi: 10.1111/famp.12044  
  
• Teh, Y. Y., Lask, J. and Stratton, P. (2017), From family to relational SCORE-15: an alternative adult version of a systemic self-report measure for couples and LGB People. Journal of Family Therapy, 39: 21–40. doi:10.1111/1467-6427.12103

The SCORE project

This has been funded by AFT as a major contribution to establishing a research base for Couple, Family and Systemic Therapy in the UK. Under the auspices of Julia Bland, we also obtained a 3 year grant from the South London & Maudsley NHS Trust to continue the work. SCORE applications in Europe have been supported by EFTA, the European Family Therapy Association.

A Research Activation Google Group (RAG) has been formed to take forward SCORE initiatives including establishing a validated couples version.  If you would like to be a member of this group please email the AFT office.