RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF THE OVERT AGITATION SEVERITY SCALE IN ADULT PSYCHIATRIC-INPATIENTS

An instrument, that validly and reliably identifies and measures agita tion is required to evaluate environmental modifications, interpersona l strategies, psychopharmacological interventions, directed toward man aging these commonly occurring and highly-disabling emotions and behav ior. The conceptualization of agitation on a continuum from anxiety to aggression provides a practical frame-work for guiding clinical pract ice toward the early identification and intervention of agitation. The results of this study established the reliability and validity of the Overt Agitation Severity Scale (OASS) in measuring agitation severity in young adult psychiatric inpatients based on objectifiable vocaliza tions and motoric upper and lower body behaviors. The OASS differs fro m other agitation scales in its ability to capture both the intensity and frequency of observable behavioral manifestations of agitation, as opposed to subjective interpretations and a diffuse range of symptoms and problem behaviors.