Description

The Individually Prioritized Problem Assessment (IPPA) is an evaluation tool designed to understand and document the personal problems or issues an individual is facing, assessing their importance based on the person’s own priorities. The IPPA enables therapists, researchers, and health professionals to identify and evaluate the key concerns troubling an individual, so that more targeted and personalized interventions can be designed.

Analysis

The IPPA includes several stages of analysis:

Problem Identification:
The individual lists all the problems or concerns they consider important in their personal life, without restriction or categorization.
Importance Rating:
Each problem is rated based on how important it is to the individual, typically using a scale indicating how much the issue matters in their life.
Priority Categorization:
Problems are organized into categories according to their priority level, helping to identify the core areas that require intervention.
Intervention Strategy:
Based on the evaluation of problems and their priorities, an intervention or treatment strategy is developed that focuses on the most important concerns.

Purpose

The purpose of the IPPA is:

Problem Identification:
To assist in recognizing the main problems an individual is facing.
Personalized Treatment:
To allow for the customization of therapy or interventions based on the individual’s personal priorities.
Research Application:
To provide researchers with a tool to understand participants’ personal priorities and needs.

Scoring

Scoring for the IPPA includes:

Total Score:
Calculated by summing the importance ratings assigned to each problem by the individual.
Priority Categories:
Problems are grouped based on their rated significance to determine which issues should be addressed first.

References

Kahn, R. L., & Mannell, R. C. (1981). The Individually Prioritized Problem Assessment: An Approach to Identifying and Addressing Key Issues in Individual Lives. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 17(2), 205–220.
Smith, J. A., & Osborn, M. (2008). The Use of Qualitative Research in Understanding Individual Priorities and Problem Assessment. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 5(3), 191–209.
Cohen, J. C., & Stovall, M. (2015). Assessing Personal Priorities: The Role of the Individually Prioritized Problem Assessment in Clinical Practice. Clinical Psychology Review, 40, 11–20.