Development of an approach to the validation of client assessment models in social services using a group process support system

This article reports an application of a Group Process Support System to facilitate the validation of a client assessment model used in social services. Various models have been proposed to aid client assessment, but the key to their successful application in practice is the degree of consistency of judgement which results from their use. The article describes an investigation into this aspect of consistency of model application with three groups of care managers within a county council, and in particular discusses a group session process which addresses issues of model validity. This process facilitated the identification of a number of aspects of the model which needed attention in order to achieve a high degree of consistency in application.