Parental alienation syndrome: An inter-rater reliability study

This research examined the concept of parental alienation syndrome and the frequency of its occurrence in the process of divorce and child custody disputes. The purpose of this study was to test the validity of parental alienation as a syndrome by determining the consistency between the independent variable, symptoms of PAS, and the dependent variable, therapists' perception of the syndrome.; The researcher presented five cases to the respondents and used Gardner's differential diagnosis chart for the potential alienator and the child to build a questionnaire, which consisted of a Likert scale. For the measurements of reliability, and inter-rate reliabilitity, the researcher used Microsoft Excel and Kendall's coefficient of concordance. The findings showed a significant level of concordance among raters in all five cases except in Case 2, where there was no strong consensus on the presence of PAS or meeting Gardner's criteria. Similarly, findings also reflect the novelty of this phenomenon, evidenced by some level of apathy from the therapists to get involved. From the 58 surveys, only 18 were returned and just 14 a fashion useful to the study.; Although the study was strongly influenced by non-returned surveys, the data gathered from the ones completed was sufficiently reliable to suggest a wider study for the purpose of classification in the next edition of the DSM-V.