The following items are required for youth 14 years, 6 months and older. However, any of these items can be rated regardless of age if they represent a need for a specific youth.
NU Quick Tip
The following items should never be scored N/A when scoring a youth that is 14.5 years old or older:
#87 Independent Life Skills
#88 Transportation
#92 Educational Attainment
#93 Victimization
The other items in this domain, #89 Parenting Roles, #90 Intimate Relationships, #91 Medication Compliance, and #94 Job Functioning, can be scored only if the situation applies to the youth.
87. Independent Living Skills
This rating focuses on the presence or absence of skills and impairments in independent living abilities or the readiness to take on those responsibilities. This item supplements information from the Ansell-Casey assessment.
0 | This level indicates a person who is fully capable of independent living. No evidence of any deficits or barriers that could impede maintaining own home.
1 | This level indicates a person with mild impairment of independent living skills. Some problems exist with maintaining reasonable cleanliness, diet and so forth. Problems with money management may occur at this level. These problems are generally addressable with training or supervision.
2 | This level indicates a person with moderate impairment of independent living skills. Notable problems with completing tasks necessary for independent living are apparent. Difficulty with cooking, cleaning, and self-management when unsupervised would be common at this level. Problems are generally addressable with in-home services and supports.
3 | This level indicates a person with profound impairment of independent living skills. This individual would be expected to be unable to live independently given their current status. Problems require a structured living environment.
N/A | Not applicable
88. Transportation
This item is used to rate the level of transportation required to ensure that the individual could effectively participate in his/her own treatment and in other life activities. Only unmet transportation needs should be rated here. This item supplements information from the Ansell-Casey assessment.
0 | The individual has no unmet transportation needs.
1 | The individual has occasional unmet transportation needs (e.g., appointments). These needs would be no more than weekly and not require a special vehicle. The needs can be met with minimal support, for example, assistance with bus routes to facilitate independent navigation, or provision of a bus card.
2 | The individual has occasional transportation needs that require a special vehicle or frequent transportation needs (e.g., daily to work or therapy) that do not require a special vehicle. Individual can self-transport with a med-van service.
3 | The individual requires frequent (e.g., daily to work or therapy) transportation in a special vehicle. He or she is completely reliant on others for transportation and cannot self-transport.
N/A | Not applicable
**LOOK OUT**
This item rates if the child’s transportation needs are being met, not necessarily if they are able to drive. This could include whether they have access to public transportation and/or someone is able to give them a ride to their appointments.
89. Parenting Roles
This item is intended to rate the individual in any caregiver roles. For example, an individual with a son or daughter or an individual responsible for an elderly parent or grandparent would be rated here. Include pregnancy as a parenting role. This item supplements information from the Ansell-Casey assessment.
0 | Individual has a parenting role and he/she is functioning appropriately in that role.
1 | The individual has responsibilities as a parent but occasionally experiences difficulties with this role.
2 | The individual has responsibilities as a parent and either the individual is struggling with these responsibilities or these issues are currently interfering with the individual’s functioning in other life domains.
3 | The individual has responsibilities as a parent and the individual is currently unable to meet these responsibilities or these responsibilities are making it impossible for the individual to function in other life domains. Individual has the potential of abuse or neglect in his/her parenting.
N/A | Not applicable. Individual is not a parent.
**LOOK OUT**
This item should only be scored if the teen is a parent. This item is not scored if the child is helping to take care of younger siblings.
90. Intimate Relationships
This item is used to rate the individuals current status in terms of romantic/intimate relationships. This item supplements information from the Ansell-Casey assessment.
0 | Adaptive partner relationship. Individual has a strong, positive, partner relationship with another adult, or they have maintained a positive partner relationship in the past but are not currently in an intimate relationship.
1 | Mostly adaptive partner relationship. Individual has a generally positive partner relationship with another individual. This relationship may, at times, impede the individual’s healthy development.
2 | Limited adaptive partner relationship. The individual has a recent history of being in a domestically violent relationship or a recent history of being in a relationship where he/she was overly dependent on his/her partner. Individual may or may not be currently involved in any partner relationship with another individual.
3 | Significant difficulties with partner relationships. Individual is currently involved in a negative or domestically violent relationship or a relationship where he/she is totally dependent on his/her partner.
N/A | Not applicable.
91. Medication Compliance
This rating focuses on the level of the individual’s willingness or ability to participate in taking prescribed medications.
0 | This level indicates a person who self-administers any prescribed medications as prescribed and without reminders, or a person who is not currently on any medication.
1 | This level indicates a person who will take prescribed medications routinely, but who sometimes needs reminders to maintain compliance. Also, a history of medication noncompliance but no current problems would be rated here.
2 | This level indicates a person who is sporadically non-compliant. This person may be resistant to taking prescribed medications or this person may tend to overuse his or her medications. He/she might comply with prescription plans for periods of time (1-2 weeks) but generally does not sustain taking medication in prescribed dose or protocol. This would include youth who are sporadically noncompliant with medications for physical health that may place youth at medical risk.
3 | This level indicates a person who has refused to take prescribed medications during the past 30-day period or a person who has abused his or her medications to a significant degree (i.e., overdosing orover using med ications to a dangerous degree).
N/A | Not applicable.
92. Educational Attainment
This rates the degree to which the individual has completed his/her planned education.
0 | Individual has achieved all educational goals OR has no educational goals and educational attainment has no impact on lifetime vocational functioning.
1 | Individual has set educational goals and is currently making progress towards achieving them.
2 | Individual has set educational goals but is currently not making progress towards achieving them.
3 | Individual has no educational goals and lack of educational attainment is interfering with individual’s lifetime vocational functioning.
N/A | Not applicable.
93. Victimization
This item is used to examine a history and level of current risk for victimization.
0 | This level indicates a person with no evidence of recent victimization and no significant history of victimization within the past year. The person may have been robbed or burglarized on one or more occasions in the past, but no pattern of victimization exists. Person is not presently at risk for revictimization.
1 | This level indicates a person with a history of victimization but who has not been victimized to any significant degree in the past year. Person is not presently at risk for re-victimization.
2 | This level indicates a person who has been recently victimized (within the past year) but is not in acute risk of re-victimization. This might include physical or sexual abuse, significant psychological abuse by family or friend, extortion or violent crime.
3 | This level indicates a person who has been recently victimized and is in acute risk of re-victimization. Examples include working as a prostitute or living in an abusive relationship.
N/A | Not applicable.
**LOOK OUT**
This items scores if the teen child is in a position to be victimized. A history of being a victim of any kind of abuse or neglect should be scored at least a 1.
94. Job Functioning
This item is intended to describe functioning in vocational settings.
0 | Youth is gainfully employed in a job and experiencing no problems in attendance, performance or relationships at work.
1 | Youth is gainfully employed but may have some difficulties at work with attendance, performance or relationships
2 | Youth has significant job-related problems with attendance, performance, or relationships.
3 | Youth is experiencing severe problems in an employment situation with performance or relationships. Youth may have recently been fired.
N/A | Not applicable as the child is not employed.