Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation - 10 (CORE-10)
What it is
The CORE-10 (Clinical Outcomes Routine Evaluation – 10) is a self-report shortened version of the 34 item CORE-OM assessing the severity of psychological distress. Compared to the CORE-OM, the CORE-10 includes six problem domain items, three functioning domain items and one risk item – omitting wellbeing items. It is recommended that the CORE-OM is administered at baseline and the end of treatment with the CORE-10 used as an intermediary assessment.
How is it used
- Can be used with adults (18yrs+)
- Takes approximately 2mins to complete
- Asks about psychological distress over the last week
- Can be used to track treatment progress
Can be used in combination with the CORE-OM and total scores from the CORE-10 and CORE-OM directly compared
What do the scores mean?
The CORE-10 has 10 items, with all items using the same five level response from 0 (not at all) to 4 (most of the time). The questionnaire is completed in relation to the past 7 days and provides a total score of distress. The total score is scored between 0 and 40 with higher scores reflecting worse distress and are categorised across six levels of severity:
- Healthy (score of 0 to 6)
- Low severity (score of 7 to 10)
- Mild severity (score of 11 of 15)
- Moderate severity (score of 16 to 20)
- Moderate to severe severity (score of 21 to 25)
- Severe severity (score of 26 to 40)
A clinical cut off score of 10 has been recommended with a reliable change index score of 5 points for any change to be classed as reliable. When administered more than once, trends can be viewed across the provided scores to assess change over time.
Developer
The copyright holder for the CORE-10 is the CORE System Trust
References:
Barkham, M., Bewick, B., Mullin, T., Gilbody, S., Connell, J., Cahill, J., … & Evans, C. (2013). The CORE-10: A short measure of psychological distress for routine use in the psychological therapies. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 13(1), 3-13.