In the early 1990s, James Kennedy pioneered a systematic approach to treatment planning that since has been widely lauded and adopted. Mastering the Kennedy Axis V: A New Psychiatric Assessment of Patient Functioning is a hands-on guide to the Kennedy Axis V (K Axis). This fast and powerful instrument is at the heart of James A. Kennedy's approach to psychiatric treatment planning. Mastering the Kennedy Axis V is a versatile, practical workbook developed to help clinicians (including psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and nurses) gain essential knowledge and skills in using the K Axis. An excellent training tool, this easy-to-use guide walks you step-by-step through the concepts and uses of the seven subscales: psychological impairment, social skills, violence, activities of daily living/occupational skills, substance abuse, medical impairment, and ancillary impairment. Through a wide variety of clinical vignettes, you'll gain practical experience in using the K Axis to rate information and create comprehensive clinical profiles. Developed as an alternative to the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), the Kennedy Axis V is clear, intuitive, effective—and preferred by a growing number of clinicians. Mastering the Kennedy Axis V provides a user-friendly roadmap to using the K Axis to more thoroughly assess patients' clinical status, resulting in better treatment and outcome.

The Kennedy Axis V is clearly an effective and efficient method of gathering and reporting valuable patient clinical-behavioral information. The scale as developed and reported on by Dr. James Kennedy in his book, Mastering the Kennedy Axis V: A New Psychiatric Assessment of Patient Functioning, concisely documents the need for a standardized measurement of functional behavior. Dr. Kennedy outlines the theoretical and practical underpinnings of the Kennedy Axis V, and artfully explains its development. The Holy Grail for mental health treatment has been the symptom. As pointed out by Dr. Kennedy this uni-dimensional view narrows our focus of treatment. Ultimately it is not only the symptom, but also the behavioral manifestation of the symptom that defines the level of improvement or relapse. Dr. Kennedy clearly delineates the advantages of the Kennedy Axis V for both guiding treatment and assessing outcome. The scale is remarkably flexible and offers up a full portfolio of information without requiring the clinician to spend extra time administering and scoring other instruments. The numerous clinical vignettes provide plenty of practice for honing one's skills with the Kennedy Axis V. Also as Dr. Kennedy suggests, the completed Kennedy Axis V is a ready made treatment plan.

Dr. Kennedy provides an expanded and compelling approach to multiple domains of assessment for Axis V. He provides the reader with a 100 point scale to rate psychological impairment, social skills, violence, ADL-occupational skills, substance abuse, medical impairment, and ancillary impairment. This comprehensive approach to Axis V assessment addresses many of the concerns about a single measure of global assessment of functioning. Alan M. Gruenberg, M.D., Professor, Dept of Psychiatry & Human Behavior, Jefferson Medical College; President, Gruenberg & Summers, P.C.; Chair, Work Group on Multiaxial Issues, DSM-IV-TR(R), APA Dr. Kennedy has taken the concept of global assessment of functioning to a new level. By breaking functional level into domains, a previously non specific scale has become a tangible measure of outcomes and a vital tool in the evaluation and treatment of mental illness. One of the singularly most difficult concepts in treatment planning is that of 'measurability.' Dr. Kennedy has provided a tool that can be used by all levels of mental health providers to quantify function as well as measure improvement -- possibly the single most important factor to monitor. Lauren Parsons, M.D., Clinical Director for Operations, North Texas State Hospital Mastering the Kennedy Axis V: A New Psychiatric Assessment of Patient Functioning is a thoughtfully created measurement tool that offers real potential for assessing clinical progress of mental health clients. In contrast to the GAF, the Kennedy Scale offers specific feedback on a variety of important outcome domains, each of which can be separately analyzed and incorporated into ongoing treatment plans. Moreover, the Kennedy Scale incorporates aspects of the entire well-being of clients, including their occupational skills, living situation, and financial and legal issues. Frequently, these important life domain questions are missing from mental health measurement tools. Because of its ease of scoring and orientation toward quantifiable outcomes, the Kennedy Scale will likely be a major contribution to the behavioral health community. Steve Hahn-Smith, Ph.D., Contra Costa County Health Services Department, Division of Mental Health, California