THE McMASTER FAMILY ASSESSMENT DEVICE: RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY*

Abstract

This paper reports a series of studies investigating the reliability and validity of the McMaster Family Assessment Device (FAD). The results indicated that the FAD has: (a) adequate test‐retest reliability, (b) low correlations with social desirability, (c) moderate correlations with other self‐report measures of family functioning, and (d) differentiates significantly between clinician‐rated healthy and unhealthy families. Cut‐off scores for identifying healthy and unhealthy families also were developed which have adequate sensitivity and specificity. Additionally, the relationships between the FAD, Family Unit Inventory, and FACES‐II suggests that the cohension and adaptability scales from the FACES‐II have a linear relationship with health/pathology.