The Couple Relationship Scale: A brief measure to facilitate routine outcome monitoring in couple therapy

Routine outcome monitoring (ROM) is an important component of evidence-based practice. To implement ROM in their practice, couple therapists need a brief measure that can quickly assess the relevant aspects of a couple's relationship. The Couple Relationship Scale (CRS) is a 10-item measure of relational functioning that assesses emotional intimacy, commitment, trust, safety, cohesion, acceptance, conflict, physical intimacy, overall happiness, and personal well-being. Three studies examined the initial psychometric properties of the CRS. Study One used a sample of 300 individuals to examine the concurrent validity, factor structure, and reliability of the CRS. In Study Two, 53 individuals completed the CRS twice to establish test-retest reliability. In Study Three, 214 distressed individuals and 135 non-distressed individuals were used to identify a clinical cutoff and reliable change index (RCI). Results indicated that the CRS has a strong concurrent and construct validity and good reliability. The clinical cutoff was 70.9 with an RCI of 16.