Psychosocial Assessment Tool (PAT)
The Psychosocial Assessment Tool (PAT) is a brief caregiver-report screener of family psychosocial risk in pediatric health, validated in English and Spanish at a 4th grade reading level. The PAT is available for clinical use in a web-based format.
Using a social ecological framework, PAT allows for identification of a family's areas of risk and resiliency across multiple domains (e.g., family structure and resources, family problems, social support, child problems, acute stress, sibling problems).
The PAT is based on the Pediatric Psychosocial Preventative Health Model (PPPHM; Kazak, 2006) which provides a tri-level determination of family risk (Universal, Targeted, Clinical) based on the total PAT score. Level of risk has implications for treatment recommendations to support family adaptation and address problems.
Learn more about the PAT at psychosocialassessmenttool.org
References for the PAT:
Kazak, A. E., Hwang, W. T., Chen, F. F., Askins, M. A., Carlson, O., Argueta-Ortiz, F., & Barakat, L. P. (2018). Screening for family psychosocial risk in pediatric cancer: Validation of the Psychosocial Assessment Tool (PAT) Version 3. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 43(7), 737-748.
Kazak, A. E., Hwang, W. T., Chen, F. F., Askins, M. A., Carlson, O., Argueta-Ortiz, F., ... & Barakat, L. P. (2018). Validation of the Spanish version of the Psychosocial Assessment Tool (PAT) in pediatric cancer. Journal of pediatric psychology, 43(10), 1104-1113.
Kazak, A. E., Deatrick, J. A., Scialla, M. A., Sandler, E., Madden, R. E., & Barakat, L. P. (2020). Implementation of family psychosocial risk assessment in pediatric cancer with the Psychosocial Assessment Tool (PAT): study protocol for a cluster-randomized comparative effectiveness trial. Implementation Science, 15(1), 1-13.
Kazak, A. E. (2006). Pediatric Psychosocial Preventative Health Model (PPPHM): Research, practice, and collaboration in pediatric family systems medicine. Families, Systems, & Health, 24(4), 381.
