The Novaco Anger Scale Provocation Inventory - WPS

1 NAS-PI cover_v2_NAS-PI 8/9/12 11:27 AM Page 1. NAS-PI. MANUAL. The Novaco An g er Scale and Provocation Invent or y The Novaco Anger Scale and Provocation Inventory Raymond W. Novaco , MANUAL. Raymond W. Novaco , Additional copies of this manual (W-348B) may be purchased from WPS. Please contact us at 800-648-8857 or W-348B. 8/7/12 12:09 PM Page 1. 1. INTRODUCTION. The Novaco Anger Scale and Provocation Inventory disorders, personality disorders, and forms of schizophrenia, (NAS-PI) is a two-part test designed to assess Anger as a especially paranoid schizophrenia. The activation of Anger has problem of psychological functioning and physical health and long been recognized as a feature of clinical disorders that result to assess therapeutic change.

2 It was initially developed in from trauma, such as dissociative disorders, brain-damage conjunction with the MacArthur Foundation Network on syndromes, and especially posttraumatic stress disorder. Anger Mental Health and Law ( Novaco , 1994). Developed and also appears in mental state disturbances produced by general standardized with both community and clinical populations, it medical conditions, such as dementia, substance abuse is intended to be used as a measurement tool for research, disorders, and neurological dysfunctions resulting from individual assessment, and outcome evaluation. perinatal difficulties. Anger is a normal emotion that has considerable adaptive Recurrent Anger , often a product of troubled life histories, value for coping with life's adversities.

3 Anger can facilitate is commonly targeted for change by mental health and social perseverance in the face of frustration or injustice, and it can service professionals. In providing interventions for Anger as a mobilize psychological resources to energize behaviors that problem condition, human service professionals seek to evaluate take corrective action. The capacity for Anger is a survival whether those intervention efforts have produced beneficial mechanism. It provides for personal resilience, it is a guardian results. Because the disposition to become angry is often of self-esteem, and it potentiates the ability to redress ingrained in a dysfunctional style of dealing with life's grievances and to boost determination to overcome obstacles to adversities, its utility can render it resistant to treatment.

4 Personal happiness. These important adaptive functions served Assessing the degree of change in Anger disposition is an by Anger are, however, offset by the role of Anger in activating important task for those concerned with providing care for people aggressive behavior, by its involvement in stress-related health with Anger and aggression problems. problems, by its potential to damage important social relationships, and by its entanglement with other distressed General Description emotions, such as sadness, fear, and disappointment. Anger is an important subject for mental health and The NAS-PI is a two-part, self-report questionnaire that social service professionals who work in community, hospital, yields the six scores listed in Table 1.

5 The Novaco Anger Scale and school settings, not only because it is a significant activator (NAS) contains 60 items that can be completed in of violent behavior, but also because it is evoked by many approximately 15 minutes. NAS items focus on how an stress-inducing circumstances, such as work pressures, family individual experiences Anger . The NAS yields five scores . hardships, and traumatic experiences. Since the arousal of Cognitive (COG), Arousal (ARO), Behavioral (BEH), and Anger typically interferes with information processing, it Anger Regulation (REG) subscale scores, and a NAS Total detracts from prudent thought and considerate action. Thus, score.

6 The Provocation Inventory (PI) contains 25 items that Anger typically needs to be regulated in order to maintain can be completed in 10 minutes or less. PI items focus on the efficient functioning and problem solving. kinds of situations that lead to Anger in five content areas . Across a wide range of clinical disorders, Anger has been disrespectful treatment, unfairness, frustration, annoying traits found to be a significant feature meriting both assessment and of others, and irritations to produce a single Total PI score. treatment. The central problematic characteristic of Anger in the Whenever possible, the two parts of the questionnaire should context of clinical conditions is that it is dysregulated so that be administered together.

7 They can be administered separately its activation, expression, and effects occur without appropriate when time is at a premium or respondent fatigue is of concern. controls. Unregulated Anger has been found to be associated The purpose of an assessment may also dictate a specific focus with physical and psychological health impairments. In the on either differentiated components of Anger disposition realm of physical health, chronic Anger reactivity and Anger (NAS) or on Anger reactivity to different situations of suppression have been established as having detrimental effects Provocation (PI). on the cardiovascular system that are related to mortality.

8 With The NAS and the PI were standardized on an age- regard to psychological well-being, Anger occurs in conjunction stratified sample of 1,546 persons, ages 9 to 84. Separate with a wide range of psychiatrically classified disorders, norms are provided for preadolescents/adolescents (ages 9 to including a variety of impulse control dysfunctions, mood 18) and adults (ages 19 and older). The instrument was 1. 8/7/12 12:09 PM Page 2. 2 The Novaco Anger Scale and Provocation Inventory (NAS-PI). Table 1 wide range of situational factors, it is best to assess Anger at NAS-PI Scores different points in time, just as one might want to obtain blood Novaco Anger Scale pressure and heart rate measurements at different times and Cognitive (COG) locations to get the most complete picture of cardiovascular Arousal (ARO) functioning.

9 As well, the time and test situation in which the Behavior (BEH) Anger measures are obtained should be selected with care. Anger Regulation (REG) Attention should be given to minimizing contextual factors that NAS Total are likely to interfere with obtaining accurate results. For Provocation Inventory example, if a person believes that reporting high levels of Anger PI Total will result in undesirable consequences (such as disapproval, negative reports, loss of privileges, or increased detention), it is very likely that the level of Anger reported will be correspondingly attenuated. developed for use with both normal and clinical samples, and it High scores on self-report measures of Anger are generally can be used with persons who are mentally disordered or less ambiguous than low scores.

10 There are many circumstances developmentally disabled. (Items may need to be read to those in which a person might report a lower level of Anger than is in the latter two groups.) It was written so that it could be read valid for them, but there are few circumstances in which a by someone with elementary (fourth grade) reading ability. person would want to report a higher level of Anger than is true. The response format for the NAS is a 3-point Scale with Importantly, it should also be recognized that assessment response options of 1 = Never true, 2 = Sometimes true, and scores for any particular person are meaningful primarily in 3 = Always true. This response format was developed for the relation to the average scores for a comparable population and NAS to maintain the simplicity of True/False endorsement, in relation to that person's own previous scores.