Free instruments
Tier 2 measures ask for a reported change. Each instrument below has a form you can link to and a license sentence quoted from its publisher. Check the quote before you rely on it.
- Public domain 2. The publisher or author says no permission is needed.
- Federal work 3. A U.S. federal government work; no copyright is claimed on the instrument itself.
- Free, with conditions 3. Free to use under stated conditions; read the quoted license before using it.
Cleared instruments, best rights class first 8
CFPB Financial Well-Being Scale, standard
Public domainLicense wording
“free and publicly available”
The publisher or author says no permission is needed.
Financial wellbeing
- Scoring
- Recode items; sum raw points; convert with the age- and administration-mode-specific table to 0-100.
- Named by funders
- CSBG FNPI 3i explicitly names the CFPB scale as an option.
- Validity
- Primary technical guide: CFPB scale-development/psychometric work and calibrated scoring.
- Caveat
- EN; Spanish. CFPB-created information is public domain, with third-party exceptions. Do not calculate a simple percentage of raw points.
Form License source
CFPB Financial Well-Being Scale, abbreviated
Public domainLicense wording
“free and publicly available.”
The publisher or author says no permission is needed.
Financial wellbeing
- Scoring
- Use short-form, age/mode-specific conversion to 0-100.
- Named by funders
- CSBG names the scale family; the manual does not separately prescribe this short form.
- Validity
- Primary technical guide: abbreviated-form scoring and comparability.
- Caveat
- EN; Spanish. Related version of the standard scale, not an independent construct.
Form License source
USDA six-item food-security module
Federal workLicense wording
“G, federal-work basis; instrument-specific licensing sentence not located. ERS directs users to USDA policy; that policy page itself did not open and remains unverified.”
A U.S. federal government work; no copyright is claimed on the instrument itself.
Material/economic security
- Scoring
- Affirmative count 0-6: 0-1 high/marginal, 2-4 low, 5-6 very low food security.
- Named by funders
- USDA ERS authored/publishes it. AmeriCorps H12 does not mandate this particular tool.
- Validity
- Blumberg et al., 1999, AJPH 89:1231-1234; USDA validation documentation.
- Caveat
- EN; Spanish/Chinese resources. Does not measure children's food security separately. Rights rest on federal authorship (17 USC 105).
Form License source
USDA Adult Food Security Survey Module
Federal workLicense wording
“G, federal-work basis; same qualification as the six-item module.”
A U.S. federal government work; no copyright is claimed on the instrument itself.
Material/economic security
- Scoring
- Affirmative count 0-10: 0 high, 1-2 marginal, 3-5 low, 6-10 very low.
- Named by funders
- USDA ERS, agency-developed survey instrument.
- Validity
- Primary technical form/guide: validated federal food-security measurement framework and scoring.
- Caveat
- EN; translated resources. Adult household conditions; not a measure of employment. Rights rest on federal authorship (17 USC 105).
Form License source
USDA Household Food Security Survey Module
Federal workLicense wording
“G, federal-work basis; same qualification as the six-item module.”
A U.S. federal government work; no copyright is claimed on the instrument itself.
Household economic security
- Scoring
- For households with children: 0 high, 1-2 marginal, 3-7 low, 8-18 very low. Follow official screening/affirmative rules.
- Named by funders
- USDA ERS, agency-developed survey instrument.
- Validity
- Primary technical form/guide: federal scale-development and validation documentation.
- Caveat
- EN; Spanish/Chinese resources. Select the documented 12-month or 30-day version consistently. Related to the six-item and adult modules. Rights rest on federal authorship (17 USC 105).
Form License source
General Self-Efficacy Scale, Schwarzer/Jerusalem
Free, with conditionsLicense wording
“permission to use and reproduce the General Self-Efficacy Scale for your study”
Free to use under stated conditions; read the quoted license before using it.
Youth; coping confidence
- Scoring
- Sum ten responses, each 1-4: 10-40, higher = greater efficacy; no reverse coding.
- Named by funders
- None named in the sources opened.
- Validity
- Luszczynska, Scholz & Schwarzer, 2005; cross-cultural evidence summarized in author FAQ.
- Caveat
- EN; extensive translations. The author's permission explicitly addresses research studies; do not represent it as unrestricted permission for a commercial product.
Form License source
Career Engagement Scale
Free, with conditionsLicense wording
“CC BY-NC 4.0; attribution and noncommercial scope; commercial use requires author permission.”
Free to use under stated conditions; read the quoted license before using it.
Employment preparation; career behavior
- Scoring
- Mean nine 1-5 ratings; higher = more proactive career behavior; no reverse coding.
- Named by funders
- None named in the sources opened.
- Validity
- Hirschi, Freund & Herrmann, 2014, J Career Assessment 22:575-594; six studies, invariance and predictive validity (author research abstract).
- Caveat
- EN verified. Standard recall is six months. Measures behavior, not job placement, wages or retention.
Form License source
CRQ-A: four selected career-resource subscales
Free, with conditionsLicense wording
“CC BY-NC 4.0: attribution and noncommercial use.”
Free to use under stated conditions; read the quoted license before using it.
Youth employment preparation
- Scoring
- Mean each three-item subscale, 1-5; higher = more resource. No invented 12-item global total. Use Soft Skills, Career Confidence, Career Clarity, Self-Exploration.
- Named by funders
- The OJJDP-funded National Mentoring Resource Center identifies these four subscales.
- Validity
- Marciniak et al., 2021, J Career Assessment 29:164-180; two adolescent samples (author technical summary).
- Caveat
- EN verified. The complete CRQ-A has 36 items and fails the length rule; this entry concerns the named subscales only.
Form License source
Looks free, is not 15
Each of these circulates widely and carries a licensing restriction. The wording is quoted from the publisher's page.
- Client Satisfaction Questionnaire, CSQ-8. Use requires "express written permission" and "remission of use fees." Applies to service and research use. It also measures satisfaction, not outcome change. Licensing page
- Morisky Medication Adherence Scale, MMAS-8 / MMAS-4. Owner license pricing posts fees of $7 per MMAS-8 administration and $4 per MMAS-4 administration, with other licensing arrangements. Licensing page
- Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, CD-RISC. The author's request form refers to "terms of use and payment details"; PhenX confirms a licensing agreement is required. Current owner-site pricing is unverified because those sites did not open. Licensing page
- Outcome Rating Scale, ORS. Agency and group paper licenses carry fees; electronic or digital use is excluded from that license. Not universally paid, but not blanket-free for a nonprofit agency. Licensing page
- Session Rating Scale, SRS. Same agency-fee and electronic-use restrictions as the ORS. It also measures therapeutic alliance rather than participant outcomes. Licensing page
- SDQ embedded in your digital product. Electronic reproduction requires authorization and may involve payment. This does not invalidate the conditional paper-use entry in the instrument list. Licensing page
- PRAPARE embedded in a platform. Developer agreements are listed at $5,000 per year (regular) or $10,000 per year (enterprise). Royalty-free end-user agreements are a separate category. These are the published 2024 terms, not a verified 2026 quotation. Licensing page
- North Carolina Family Assessment Scale, General Services (NCFAS-G). The license is issued to the purchasing agency, and cost depends on the number of workers using it. Viewing a sample is not permission to administer. Licensing page
- Parenting Stress Index, 4th ed., Short Form (PSI-4-SF). The publisher's purchase page lists paid materials. Its 36 items also exceed the 30-item length limit. Licensing page
- BASC-3 Behavioral and Emotional Screening System (BESS). The publisher page lists paid forms and digital administrations and Qualification Level B. Short administration and simple completion do not make it public domain. Licensing page
- Drug Abuse Screening Test, DAST-10. The instrument is under copyright: "Copyright 1982 by Harvey A. Skinner, PhD, and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada." The PhenX page allows reproduction "for non-commercial use (clinical, research, training purposes)" with credit to the author, and says it "may be obtained through" CAMH. Conditional, not unrestricted; CAMH's own terms were not opened. Licensing page
- Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) and Beck Anxiety Inventory. The publisher sells it: the Pearson page lists the BDI-2 Complete Kit (Print) at $195.70, with items from $3.90, and shows Qualification level B. Licensing page
- Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). PAR publishes it and the site states "All rights reserved." A modified version requires a permission request to PAR. Licensing page
- Outcomes Star (family of Stars). The site refers to licence holders and states "all Outcomes Star licence holders must complete our core training programme." A licence is required; the page opened does not state fees. Licensing page
- PROMIS short forms embedded in an electronic platform. The PROMIS terms state "Permission to use PROMIS INSTRUMENTS does NOT grant permission to modify the wording or layout of items," or "to distribute to others for a fee, or to translate items into any other language." The need for HealthMeasures Electronic Administration Permission (HEAP) when embedding in a platform comes from secondary sources and was not found in the terms page. Licensing page