Schwartz Outcome Scale - 10 (SOS-10)
What it is
The SOS-10 is a brief 10-item self-report questionnaire measuring broad psychological wellbeing and quality of life. It was developed to assess psychological health holistically — capturing positive functioning, interpersonal wellbeing, life satisfaction, and emotional health — rather than focusing on specific symptom domains.
The SOS-10 has demonstrated utility as a treatment outcome measure across inpatient, outpatient, and non-psychiatric medical settings, and is sensitive to change over the course of therapy. It is well suited to monitoring overall wellbeing alongside more condition-specific measures.
How is it used
- Suitable for adults and adolescents
- Takes approximately 2–5 minutes to complete
- Provides a single overall psychological wellbeing score
- Can be used at regular intervals to monitor change over the course of treatment
- Designed to complement rather than replace symptom-specific measures
- Access to the scale for clinical or research use should be confirmed via the MAPI/ePROVIDE repository
What do the scores mean?
Items are rated on a 7-point scale from 0 (never) to 6 (always), giving a total score range of 0 to 60. Higher scores indicate greater psychological health and wellbeing; lower scores indicate greater distress.
There are no established clinical cut-off thresholds. Interpretation focuses on the overall level of wellbeing and change over time — the scale has shown sensitivity to treatment-related improvements, with significant differences observed between admission and discharge scores in psychiatric inpatient samples.
The SOS-10 has excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = .92–.96 across studies) and good test-retest reliability (r = .86). Scores correlate negatively with depression, anxiety, interpersonal distress, and alexithymia, and positively with life satisfaction, secure attachment, and emotional stability.
Developer
The SOS-10 was developed by Mark A. Blais and colleagues at the Massachusetts General Hospital.
References:
Blais, M. A., Lenderking, W. R., Baer, L., deLorell, A., Peets, K., Leahy, L., & Burns, C. (1999). Development and initial validation of a brief mental health outcome measure. Journal of Personality Assessment, 73(3), 359–373.
Young, J. L., Waehler, C. A., Laux, J. M., McDonald, P. S., & Hilsenroth, M. J. (2003). Four studies extending the utility of the Schwartz Outcome Scale (SOS-10). Journal of Personality Assessment, 80(2), 130–138.