The Target Symptom Rating: A brief clinical measure of acute psychiatric symptoms in children and adolescents

Describes the development and psychometric properties of the Target Symptom Rating (TSR), a brief multi-informant measure of commonly observed symptoms in child and adolescent clinical work. In a large sample of children and adolescents in inpatient and residential treatment, the 13 TSR items fell into 2 subscales: Emotional Problems and Behavior Problems, which were associated in expected ways with the Internalizing and Externalizing factors of the Achenbach scales and the Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS). The measure was sensitive to change in brief and extended treatment, as rated by parents, patients, primary clinicians, and family therapists, and shows promise as a tool for outcome research in applied settings.