Evaluating family therapy: SCORE-15
The SCORE-15 Index of Family Functioning and Change is a widely used free evaluation tool in family and systemic psychotherapy. Therapists use it to track how families and groups of people are functioning together and measure changes over time.
SCORE-15 is a short, easy-to-use set of questions which take less than 10 minutes for your clients to complete. Repeating SCORE-15 over time is a reliable and valid way to measure therapeutic change.
You can use SCORE-15 via an app or on paper. It was developed by a group of family therapists led by Peter Stratton, emeritus professor of family therapy at the University of Leeds.
If you have any questions about this evaluation tool, you can email Peter on p.m.stratton@ntlworld.com
Use SCORE-15
Use the SCORE-15 app
The SCORE-15 app is available for free to therapists. It means people in family therapy can complete the questionnaires using a mobile phone, tablet or computer.
Download SCORE-15 as a PDF
SCORE-15 is also available as a PDF, if you’d prefer to print it out for your clients to fill in on paper.
Alternative evaluation tools and documents to support you
Tom Jewell, senior lecturer in child and adolescent mental health at King’s College London, developed a version of SCORE-15 in 2013 for children aged 8 to 11.
Read about how Tom developed this tool in his article Development of a children’s version of the SCORE Index of Family Function and Change. This was published in the December 2013 edition of Family Process journal.
Relational SCORE-15 is an evaluation tool for adult couples, lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people, and those who may not define significant relationships by biological or marital ties.
It’s being incorporated into the more generally applicable Couples SCORE, which is currently in development.
- Introduction to SCORE-15 (Word, 37.5KB) – a brief account of the development of SCORE-15 and a practical guide to using it for clinical purposes and research
- Administering measures to families (PDF, 769KB) – guidance from the AFSP family therapy outcomes advisory group on issues that can arise when applying progress measures (including SCORE-15) to families
- SCORE-15 clinical data scoring template (Excel, 71KB) – Excel spreadsheet for entering the data of a couple/family (up to 6 members), with averages and graphs
- SCORE-15 individual data scoring template (Excel, 145KB) – Excel spreadsheet for entering the data of a single respondent and calculating averages
- SCORE-15 individual scoring template guide (Word, 28KB) – instructions for how to use the template for a single respondent
- SCORE-15 group data entry template (Excel, 49KB) – Excel spreadsheet for entering group data and having essential averages calculated. A Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) template, which can help you analyse data, is also available on request. Contact Peter Stratton at p.m.stratton@ntlworld.com
The articles below show how SCORE-15 has developed and its proven impact for family and systemic therapists.
Starken, P., Stratton, P., Kieran, A., Sherbersky, H., Shepard, M., Galbraith, M., Whittinger, N., Pomini, V., Kunsang Yang Yang, Nearchou, F., Shevlin, M. and Carr, A. (2026) Further Validation of the Couple Relationship Scale. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 52: e70100.
Bellocci A., Monnetti G., Schepisi L., Basili E., Manfrida G. and Tortorelli D. (2025) Systemic relational therapy for eating disorders: analysis of family characteristics by means of the SCORE-15. Front. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry 4:1669051. doi: 10.3389/frcha.2025.1669051
Trihy, L., Stratton, P., Kieran, A. et al. (2025) Further Validation of the Systemic Clinical Outcome Routine Evaluation for Couples (C-SCORE). Journal of Family Therapy 47, no. 4: e70008. doi: 10.1111/1467-6427.70008
Carr, A., Kieran, A., Sherbersky, H., Shepherd, M., Galbraith, M., Whittinger, N., Pomini, V., Kunsang Yang Yang, Nearchou, N. and Stratton, P. (2025). Development and preliminary validation of the C-SCORE: A brief scale for use in systemic couple therapy. Journal of Family Therapy, 47, e12485. doi: 10.1111/1467-6427.12485
Cullen, E., Carr, A., Dinca, M., Rogers, R. and Downes, M. (2025). Family communication and everyday executive function in preschool children. Early Child Development and Care, 1–16. doi: 10.1080/03004430.2025.2514557
Peterson, C.H., Peterson, N.A. and Casey, C. (2023). Effect of Method Bias on the Internal Structure of the Systemic Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation Measure of Family Functioning. The Family Journal, 31(3), 498-508. doi: 10.1177/10664807221123560
Stratton, P. (2022) A Manual developed through a variety of online resources: The SCORE index of family functioning and change. In Mauro Mariotti, George Saba and Peter Stratton (Editors), Handbook of Systemic Approaches to Psychotherapy Manuals: Integrating Research, Practice, And Training. EFTA series, Springer International.
Işık E., Damla Ayşegül Günsel, A.G. and Stratton, P. (2022) Cross-cultural validation of the Turkish version of SCORE-15. Journal of Family Therapy. 44, 313-324. doi: 10.1111/1467-6427.12359
Vilaça, M., Relvas, A.P. and Stratton, P. (submitted) Comparison of the Short and Long Versions of the Systemic Clinical Outcome and Routine Evaluation (SCORE) in Community and Clinical Samples. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy.
Vilaça, M., Veloso, B., Stratton, P. and Relvas, A.P. (2022) Children’s version of the systemic clinical outcome and routine evaluation (C-SCORE) Exploring the psychometric qualities in the Portuguese context. Journal of Family Therapy, 00, 1–18. doi: 10.1111/1467-6427.12404
Limsuwan, N. and Prachason, T. (2022) Psychometric properties of the SCORE‐15 Thai version and its relationship with mental health index. Journal of Family Therapy. Vol.44 (2), p.299-312
Matusiak, F., Wolska, M., Ulasińska, R., Stratton, P. and Józefik, B. (2020) A quantitative and qualitative analysis of changes during systemic family therapy: results of the Polish clinical version of the SCORE–15 questionnaire. Psychiatr. Pol.
Paolini, D. and Schepisi, L. (2020) The Italian Version of SCORE-15: Validation and Potential Use. Family Process, 59: 1789-1800. doi: 10.1111/famp.12495
Stratton, P., Carr, A. and Schepisi, L. (2020) The SCORE in Europe: Measuring effectiveness, assisting therapy. In Matthias Ochs, Maria Borcsa, and Jochen Schweitzer (Eds) Ochs, M., Borcsa, M. and Schweitzer, J. (eds.) (2020). Linking systemic research and practice – Innovations in paradigms, strategies and methods. Pp 367-384. (European Family Therapy Association Series, Volume 4). Cham: Springer International.
Zetterqvist, M., Hånell, H.E., Wadsby, M., Cocozza, M. and Gustafsson, P.A. (2020), Validation of the Systemic Clinical Outcome and Routine Evaluation (SCORE‐15) self‐report questionnaire: index of family functioning and change in Swedish families. Journal of Family Therapy. doi:10.1111/1467-6427.12255
Stratton, P., and Low, D. (2020) Culturally Sensitive Measures of Systemic Family Therapy. In K.S. Wampler (Ed) Handbook of Systemic Family Therapy. M. Rastogi and R. Singh, Associate Editors. Vol. 4. Systemic Family Therapy and Global Health Issues. John Wiley and Sons.
Carr A. and Stratton P. (2018) SCORE In: J.L. Lebow et al. (eds.), Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_403-1. Springer International Publishing AG
Carr, A. and Stratton, P. (2017). SCORE family assessment questionnaire: A decade of progress. Family Process, 56, 285-301, doi: 10.1111/famp.12280
Stratton, P., Bland, J., Janes, E. and Lask, J. (2010) Developing a practicable outcome measure for systemic family therapy: The SCORE. Journal of Family Therapy. 32, 232-258
SCORE-15 in over 30 languages
We have versions of the SCORE-15 tool translated into a range of languages to help you work with clients for whom a culturally sensitive translation in their first language is appropriate.
Watch our webinar on the SCORE-15 app
Webinar facilitated by Charlotte Burck, Astrid Winkler and Peter Stratton, 1 December 2021
Get involved
More publications and resources
Discover our other publications and resources for family and systemic psychotherapists and practitioners.
Become a member of our SCORE research group
A research group within the AFSP research committee has been formed to take forward SCORE initiatives, including establishing a validated couples version.