Research Support

The DBT PFC Development and Testing Process

 
 

Note. DBT PFS = the DBT Program Fidelity Scale, a comprehensive measure developed by the DBT-Linehan Board of Certification that is used for program certification purposes.

Self-Report

When the DBT PFC was used by therapists and their team members (who read the training manual and then independently rated their program’s fidelity) it was found to have:

  • Acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.76).

  • Excellent inter-rater reliability for the average fidelity score (ICC = 0.76).

  • Good inter-rater reliability for the total fidelity score (ICC = 0.60).

Take-Home Message: Members of the same DBT team generally rate their program’s fidelity in similar ways. However, the validity (accuracy) of their scores was not evaluated. Therefore, DBT PFC scores should be interpreted with some caution.

Additional Information:

The research to develop and evaluate the DBT PFC was funded by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to Dr. Harned (R56MH117085). A manuscript of the main study results is currently under preparation.