This paper describes the McMaster Family Assessment Device (FAD), a newly developed questionnaire designed to evaluate families according to the McMaster Model of Family Functioning. The FAD is made up of seven scales which measure Problem Solving, Communication, Roles, Affective Responsiveness, Affective Involvement, Behavior Control and General Functioning. The paper describes the procedures used to develop the FAD and presents scale means and scale reliabilities from a sample of 503 individuals.

This paper reports a series of studies investigating the reliability and validity of the McMaster Family Assessment Device (FAD). The results indicated that the FAD has: (a) adequate test‐retest reliability, (b) low correlations with social desirability, (c) moderate correlations with other self‐report measures of family functioning, and (d) differentiates significantly between clinician‐rated healthy and unhealthy families. Cut‐off scores for identifying healthy and unhealthy families also were developed which have adequate sensitivity and specificity. Additionally, the relationships between the FAD, Family Unit Inventory, and FACES‐II suggests that the cohension and adaptability scales from the FACES‐II have a linear relationship with health/pathology.

The model of family functioning being presented is the product of over twenty years of research in clinical work with family units. A method of family therapy has been developed based upon this model and will be described in a future issue. The model utilizes a general systems theory approach in an attempt to describe the structure, organization, and transactional patterns of the family unit. It allows examination of families along the total spectrum ranging fiom healthy to severely pathological in their functioning. It is based upon a Judaeo-Christian value set, and allows attention to be paid to cultural differences and other issues of cultural relativity.