Adolescent Nonsuicidal Self-Injury: Validation of a Self-Report Measure of Function

Abstract

The present study compares the results of the Functional Assessment of Self-Mutilation (FASM) to that of a direct observation functional assessment of three adolescents in a residential treatment facility. The functions of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) identified by the FASM were compared to direct A-B-C assessments as taken from each participant's medical records at the facility. The adolescent FASM results were also compared to two FASM's completed by staff members for each participant in order to assess similarity in perceived ranking of function for the participant's NSSI. The results indicate no agreement between the results of the participant FASM and the A-B-C assessment ranking of function. For staff to participant comparison, a higher percent of agreement was observed between both staff to participant rankings and staff to A-B-C assessment rankings of function.