SPA 2023 - Clinical Advances with the Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale-Global Rating Meth

Abstract

The Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale Global Rating Method (SCORS-G: Stein & Slavin-Mulford, 2018; Westen, 1995) is a clinician-rated narrative-based measure with a strong theoretical foundation that assesses eight dimensions of object relations. The SCORS-G has steadily increased in popularity over recent years. This symposium will highlight how the SCORS-G is being used in research across a variety of settings and the paths we are taking to translate this knowledge into the clinical realm (thus enhancing its real-world utility). The first paper is focused on the psychometrics of the SCORS-G. An oddity of this scale is that select dimensions are provided default/middle ratings when it is not present. This middle rating is not linked to the anchor points surrounding it and as such may impact clinical findings. The first paper sets out to understand this phenomenon psychometrically and clinically by replicating Stein et al. (2020) study to develop standards for interpretation using a 7 Card TAT protocol. The second paper explores how test administration and use of re-prompting impacts narrative length and richness. That is, the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is the second most used performance-based task in clinical practice. However, traditional TAT administration is time-consuming and raises accessibility issues. As such, this study examines how administration modifications (i.e., examiner handwriting versus typing, examiner recording versus participant recording, and re-prompting versus no re-prompting) impacts SCORS-G ratings of TAT narratives. This study will help inform the optimal administration type when clinicians use the SCORS-G to rate TAT narratives and increase standardization practices. Researchers using the Social Cognition and Object Relations Scales – Global Rating Method (SCORS-G) have traditionally generated person-level ratings by averaging scores across narratives. Recent investigators have found some alternative scoring procedures to effectively predict clinical phenomenon (e.g., severity of pathology). The third study extends this work by comparing effect sizes between alternative and traditional SCORS-G scoring approaches across measures of interpersonal problems, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. The ability to function adaptively in interpersonal contexts is dependent upon a broad range of social cognitive abilities. While these domains have been examined recently in the context of in-depth individual case studies, to date no study has examined between-subject comparisons of social functioning using these multimethod approaches. As such, the final paper will offer preliminary findings concerning the relevance of poor interpersonal functioning, as assessed using the SCORS-G method, on facial emotion recognition skills and interpersonal problems in a sample of adult patients enrolled in residential treatment. Together, these papers highlight the research and clinical implications of the SCORS-G rating method.

Chair

Michelle Stein | Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School

Discussant

Michelle Stein | Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School

Goals & Objectives

1. Participants will be able to describe how percentage of default ratings impact correlational robustness across measures of intelligence, psychopathology, and personality.
2. Participants will learn how to apply cutoff points to the percentage of default ratings per protocol to aid in interpretation and maximize narrative richness.
3. Participants will be able to describe how type of TAT administration impacts narrative richness and apply this to their TAT administration in clinical practice.
4. Participants will be to describe the variety of ways they can interpret SCORS-G ratings (i.e., dimensional means, use of range, factor loadings) and how range of ratings is associated with interpersonal problems, self-esteem, and life satisfaction.
5. Participants will be able to describe how reduced interpersonal functioning as assessed by the SCORS-G impacts facial emotion recognition skills and interpersonal problems.