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Youth Outcomes Questionnaire (Y-OQ-2.01)

Assessment Rating:
A
A – Psychometrics Well-Demonstrated
See entire scale
Developer(s):

Gary Burlingame PhD and Michael Lambert PhD

Description / Purpose:

The Y-OQ®-2.01 is a 64-item report completed by the parent/guardian. It is a measure of treatment progress for children and adolescents (ages 4–17 years old) receiving mental health intervention. The Y-OQ®-2.01 is designed to reflect the total amount of distress a child or adolescent is experiencing, and its utility across many populations, treatment types, and modalities allows for non-invasive clinical application in nearly all settings of care. Parents or others with reasonably extensive interaction with the patient complete the questionnaire at intake or admission to establish a severity baseline, and then complete it repeatedly at regular intervals to track the child's progress.

The Y-OQ®-2.01 has six subscales: 

  1. Intrapersonal Distress (emotional distress)
  2. Somatic Distress (distress presenting physically)
  3. Interpersonal Relations (relationship with parents, other adults, and peers)
  4. Critical Items (flags need for those requiring immediate intervention beyond standard outpatient treatment)
  5. Social Problems (socially-related problematic behaviors)
  6. Behavioral Dysfunction (unhealthy behaviors)

Target Population: Parents of children and adolescents ages 4–17 years old

Time to Administer: 7–9 minutes

Completed By: Parent, Guardian, or Caregiver

Modalities Available: Pen and paper, Online, Electronic publishing licenses available

Scoring Information: Hand scored or computer scored

Languages Available: Arabic, Dutch, English, Farsi, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Punjabi (India), Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog (Philippines), Vietnamese

Training Requirements for Intended Users: None specified. Manual citation: Burlingame, G., Cox, J., Wells, G., Latkowski, M., Justice, D., Carter, C., & Lambert, M. (2005). The administration and scoring manual of the Youth Outcome Questionnaire. Salt Lake City, Utah: OQ Measures.

Availability: Available for purchase at http://www.oqmeasures.com/y-oq-2-01/. Pricing depends on the type of license you need.

Contact Information

Company: OQ Measures
Website: www.oqmeasures.com/y-oq-2-01
Email:

Summary of Relevant Psychometric Research

This tool has received the Measurement Tools Rating of "A – Psychometrics Well-Demonstrated" based on the published, peer-reviewed research available. The tool must have 2 or more published, peer-reviewed studies that have established the measure’s psychometrics (e.g., reliability and validity, sensitivity and specificity, etc.). Please see the Measurement Tools Rating Scale for more information.

Show relevant research...

Wells, M. G., Burlingame, G. M., Lambert, M. J., Hoag, M. J., & Hope, C. A. (1996). Conceptualization and measurement of patient change during psychotherapy: Development of the Outcome Questionnaire and Youth Outcome Questionnaire. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 33(2), 275–283. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-3204.33.2.275

Sample:

Participants — Not Specified

Race/Ethnicity — Not Specified

Summary:

Data from normative samples (ages 6-17, N = 467) produce internal consistency subscale estimates that range from .74 to .93 with a very high total scale estimate (.96).  These data suggest a strong single factor underlying the measure which is useful since the total score is typically used to track change. One index of discriminant validity is the striking difference between average total Y-OQ scores from community normal, outpatient, and inpatient samples. Prediction of membership in a clinical (inpatient & outpatient) or normal population based on total Y-OQ means using traditional cutscores yield an average classification accuracy of 85 percent. Inpatient status can be most reliably predicted (90.5%) followed by community normals and outpatients (85% & 81% respectively). Finally, high correlations exist between the Y-OQ total and subscale scores and frequently used assessment instruments. 

Burlingame, G. M., Mosier, J. I., Wells, G., Atkin, Q. G., Lambert, M. J., Whoolery, M., & Latkowski, M. (2001). Tracking the influence of mental health treatment: The development of the Youth Outcome Questionnaire. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 8(5), 361–379. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.315

Sample:

Participants — Not Specified

Race/Ethnicity — Not Specified

Summary:

This study reports the comprehensive development and testing of a new outcome measure, the Youth Outcome Questionnaire, designed cooperatively by clinicians, researchers, and managed care administrators in order to meet the needs of all three. Multiple clinical samples and normative groups were assessed and results suggest that the instrument meets recommended standards of reliability, validity, and sensitivity to change.

McClendon, D. T., Warren, J. S., M. Green, K., Burlingame, G. M., Eggett, D. L., & McClendon, R. J. (2011). Sensitivity to change of youth treatment outcome measures: a comparison of the CBCL, BASC–2, and Y–OQ. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 67(1), 111–125. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.20746

Sample:

Participants — 134 parents and 44 adolescents receiving routine outpatient services in a community mental health system

Race/Ethnicity — 81.6% White, 10.3% Hispanic, 1.5% American Indian-Native Alaska, 2.2% Pacific islander, 1.5% Black, 0.7% Asian, 2.2% Other.

Summary:

This study evaluated the relative sensitivity to change of the Child Behavior Checklist/6–18 (CBCL), the Behavior Assessment System for Children-2 (BASC-2), and the Youth Outcome Questionnaire 2.01(Y-OQ). Hierarchical linear modeling analyses were used to examine change trajectories for the 3 measures across 3 groups: parent informants, parent and adolescent dyads, and adolescent informants. Results indicated that for parent-report measures, the Y-OQ was most change sensitive; the BASC-2 and CBCL were not statistically different from each other. Significant differences in change sensitivity were not observed for youth self-report of symptoms. Results suggest that the Y-OQ may be particularly useful for evaluating change in overall psychosocial functioning in children and adolescents.

Date Reviewed: July 2020 (Originally reviewed in July 2020)