Development of the Riverview Psychiatric Inventory

Abstract

The present study describes the development and initial validation of a behavioral rating scale, the Riverview Psychiatric Inventory (RPI). The RPI is a 36-item scale that is scored into four subscales covering daily routine problems, psychological symptoms, social interaction problems, and aggressive behavior. Interrater reliability using 70 pairs of raters assessing 145 patients resulted in a reliability coefficient of .89. Internal consistency for the total score was high (alpha = .93) and each of the subscales showed alpha coefficients ranging from .76 to .87. Validity was evaluated on a sample of 359 adult psychiatric inpatients. The RPI total score significantly distinguished three groups of patients on hospital units designed to treat differing levels of psychiatric illness. The RPI is superior to other behavioral rating scales employed by mental health clinicians because it does not require lengthy training in administration and scoring. The scale is useful for routine assessments on a busy psychiatric unit.