The Self-Injury Trauma (SIT) Scale: a method for quantifying surface tissue damage caused by self-injurious behavior.

The authors built a simple checklist for skin damage caused by self-injury.

They tested it with 30 cases. Two raters scored photos of bites, bruises, and open wounds.

The team used percentage agreement to see if both raters matched.

Raters agreed 89–100 % of the time on every item.

The SIT Scale gave the same score no matter who used it.

It takes under five minutes to complete.

Rider (1977) said percentage agreement works best for clear, yes-or-no counts. The SIT Scale followed that rule and hit 89–100 %, proving the old advice still holds.

Rana et al. (2024) created a new questionnaire for self-injury done to others. Both papers stretch measurement beyond simple frequency, but the SIT Scale stays with visible tissue damage while the newer tool tracks proxy behavior.

Cook et al. (2020) warn that measurement drift can sneak in. The SIT team avoided drift by using photos and clear category definitions—exactly the kind of safeguards Cook now recommends.

You now have a fast, reliable way to score injury severity. Use the SIT Scale before and after treatment to show families and payers that wounds are healing. Snap a photo, circle the damage level, and you have numbers that hold up in court or in peer review.