The SCORE-15 app has been designed to enable SCORE data to be used as part of the therapy process, by presenting the results visually for the family and therapist to look at together within the session.

Family members fill in the SCORE questionnaire on their own device or laptop prior to the session.  Their therapist can then share these results with the family via their own device during the session, with the family members’ permission.

The app has a ‘Results Dashboard’, which shows results in an easy-to-read way, and uses graphics, charts and graphs to make the results more accessible to families.  These results can also be downloaded as a report.

The app is available to all therapists free of charge.

The SCORE app was developed by, and will continue to be supported by, the Family Therapy & Systemic Research Centre (FTSRC). A charity grant funded its development.

The FTSRC is hosted by the Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation Trust, where it was developed to provide a research community for the Doctorate and Masters programmes and systemic psychotherapy staff. It is now a research centre for all systemic psychotherapists, and indeed policy makers and the general public.

Charlotte Burck (Director) and Astrid Winkler (Associate Director) of the Family Therapy & Systemic Research Centre

SCORE-15 is a self-report measure of family functioning. This family outcome measure was developed by a group of Family Therapists led by Peter Stratton. It’s a measure for anyone whose work focuses on the quality of people’s relationships. It provides rich information about people’s different experiences and perspectives on their relationships, which can be used to inform therapeutic practice and also evaluation.

SCORE-15 is the main outcome measure used by Family Therapists in the UK. It can also be used by any other therapists or those working with families. It has been proved to be a reliable and valid index of therapeutic change. It is:

• usable in everyday therapeutic practice
• short
• acceptable to clients
• free to use, and
• works well across all applications of systemic family and couple therapy.

It consists of 19 questions which take less than 10 minutes for family members to complete. SCORE-15 can provide therapists and their organisations with evidence of how family relationships change during therapy. However because of the way SCORE-15 is coded it was not easy to make sense of it for therapists and families. Until now it had been difficult to use it immediately and within the therapy process.

The SCORE measure itself has always been provided free but has to date only been available as a paper copy.

More information about SCORE can be found on the Association for Family Therapy & Systemic Practice website.