Becoming a Reliable Rater

All raters of the CAFAS need to use the same rules.  Each of us has “individual error” or our own particular way of assessing different situations. Training in the CAFAS allows clinicians to become reliable which means that different clinicians will rate a child’s behaviour the same way and they will share a common language to describe the behaviour.

Achieving interrater reliability on the CAFAS requires a thorough understanding of the Instructions for Scoring CAFAS, a review of 6 demonstration vignettes (cases), and independent rating of 10 vignettes for purposes of establishing reliability. The vignettes are contained in the Self-Training Manual.

The 10 reliability-vignettes are scored by the CAFAS in Ontario office, regardless of the manner in which you are trained (self; by us; in-house).  Once reliable, the clinician’s name is added to the database of CAFAS-reliable clinicians in Ontario and the clinician is provided with a certificate of accomplishment.

In Ontario, reliable CAFAS raters are required to complete annual booster vignettes in order to re-establish their reliability and to guard against rater drift.  Annual re-certification will occur on the anniversary of the initial reliability via notification from our office.