Adult Measures

As noted in Chapter 6, empirically based measures for assessing social skills in adults have primarily utilized self-report and analogue observational assessment approaches. Meier and Hope (1998) have described a sample clinical interview approach to assessing social skills but, to date, no data have been collected supporting the reliability or validity of this measure. Although observation systems are frequently used in assessing social competence, few of these use naturalistic approaches for adults due to the ethical constraints and potential reactivity effects of collecting naturalistic observations. Some observational assessment systems could be considered naturalistic in that assessments are regularly recorded during daily activities in inpatient units (e.g., Paul, 1984), although such systems seldom specifically assess social skills. Similarly, some (e.g., Segrin, 1998) have collected surreptitiously gathered video recordings of waiting room behavior as an index of naturalistic behavior, although the ethics of collecting these data in clinical practice is questionable.