ABSTRACT
This chapter is a comprehensive reference manual providing information on the Community Outcome Scale (COS), which is a clinician rating scale, derived from results of an interview, which was developed to measure handicap in people with traumatic brain injury. The COS represents a summary rating of four “dimensions” using information obtained from a semi-structured interview. The COS adopts a client-centred perspective, which is evident from the response categories that “were designed to measure the failure of communities to remain accessible, rather than the failure of individuals to access them”. Client-centred measures are relatively few in number, and thus the COS is a potentially useful measure. A brief history of the instrument's development is provided, along with a description of item content and administration/scoring procedures. Psychometric properties are reviewed and a critical commentary is provided. Key references are cited and in most cases the actual scale is included, giving the reader easy access to the instrument.
