Symptoms & Functioning Severity Scale (SFSS)

The Symptoms Measure is a tool you can use to track your client’s emotional and behavior problems each week. The Symptoms Measure allows you to see what kinds of problems your client is experiencing each week so that you can check in about those problems in your session. It also helps you know whether they are getting better in treatment.

There are two sub-scales for the symptoms measure that can help you get even more specific than just overall symptoms. The Externalizing sub-scale has 14 items and includes symptoms related to behavior problems, like disobeying adults, and ADHD symptoms, like having a hard time sitting still. The Internalizing sub-scale has 10 items and includes symptoms related to anxiety and depression.

The Symptoms Measure has two versions: one that the youth fills out and another that the caregiver fills out about their child. The first time the family fills out the symptoms measure, they answer all 26 items, but after that they only answer half of the questions each week so that it takes up less time. Notice that there are two questions that help you see how the client or the caregiver is responding about drinking alcohol, or using drugs.

Finally, there is one more item about suicide risk that clients and caregivers answer each week that comes from the Symptoms Measure, and it appears at the top of every page. You can always see just by looking if there is an alert, and when you click in, you can see the question and the response.