Comparative study of inter-rater agreement and consistency in the Bender visual motor gestalt test, 2.^nd edition

This study aims to test the effectiveness of raters without specific training in the Global Scoring System, a method used to score the level of accuracy of the drawings reproduced in the Bender gestalt test, 2.nd edition (Bender -II). Some previous studies have shown good reliability in inter-rater levels, but the effect of the lack of specific training was not verified. The participants were 75 children, divided into two groups (34 and 41, both between 8 and 11 years old), and four raters (two students and two graduates in psychology). After applying the test individually, the raters were instructed to rate the reproduced designs using the manual as a guide only, with no interaction between them. A within and between-group comparisons analysis was performed. Although the results showed some moderate differences in the group comparisons, high levels of agreement and consistency were mainly found. When compared with previous studies, the differences were generally not substantial. It can be concluded that the Bender-II visual-motor score can achieve good levels of reliability.