Behavioral assessment of avoidance in agoraphobia

Behavioral avoidance testing is a substantial addition to self-report questionnaires in the assessment of agoraphobia. However, the tests currently in use have drawbacks and limitations. A multitask behavioral avoidance test (M-BAT) is presented, designed to meet some of these problems. The test was administered to a group of 58 patients and proved to be reliable in terms of internal consistency. Concordance with self-report measures of agoraphobia indicated a high concurrent validity. In comparison with self-report questionnaires, the tests produced a slightly more conservative picture of gains achieved in treatment. Finally, the data revealed that the multitask test was more concordant with other measures of agoraphobia than a single-task test would have been.