ASSESSMENT OF CHILDREN WITH THE OVERT AGGRESSION SCALE

Aggressive behavior is difficult to capture with most available rating instruments because if occurs with low frequency. The Overt Aggressio n Scale (GAS) wits designed to capture all incidents on a 24-hour basi s. To assess its usefulness, the OAS teas piloted an 16 hospitalized, severely aggressive children with conduct disorder. OAS ratings captur e episodes of aggressive behavior, measure trends in aggressive behavi or over time, and appear to reflect change associated with pharmacothe rapy in hospitalized children. This study suggests that the use of the OAS on a children's psychiatric inpatient unit is appropriate and fea sible for clinical as well as research purposes.