Application and Target Group
The DASS-Y is suitable for clinical settings to assess for symptoms of psychological distress and to monitor the course of those systems over time. In non-clinical settings the DASS-Y is useful as as a mental health screening questionnaire. The DASS-Y is based on a dimensional rather than a categorical conception of psychological problems, and scores emphasize the degree to which someone is experiencing symptoms rather than having diagnostic cutoff points. It is a useful tool for routine outcome monitoring and can be used to assess the level of treatment response.
As the scales of the DASS have been shown to have high internal consistency and to yield meaningful discrimination between symptoms, the scale should meet the needs of clinicians who wish to measure current state or change in state over time (e.g., in the course of treatment).
