Factors affecting the reliability of clinical judgments about the functionof children's school-refusal behavior

Conducted two studies to examine the interrater reliability test-retest sta bility, and the effect of various clinician variables, such as years of cli nical experience, theoretical orientation, and prior experience with childr en, on clinical judgments about the reinforcement functions of children's s chool-refusal behavior. Results indicated that the judgments by individual clinicians were of questionable reliability Judgments aggregated across 3 c linicians yielded acceptable interrater and test-retest reliability in Stud y I, but a greater number of clinicians were necessary to achieve acceptabl e reliability in Study 2. Years of clinical experience and training were th e only clinician variables related to the reliability of judgments about re inforcement functions. Several recommendations for the clinical assessment of the function of children's school-refusal behavior are discussed.