FOCI: Florida Obsessive Compulsive Inventory

About the FOCI

The Florida Obsessive Compulsive Inventory (FOCI) was developed by Eric Storch and colleagues at the University of Florida as a brief, practical alternative to lengthier OCD measures such as the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS). It was designed for adults and is intended for both initial screening and ongoing monitoring of OCD severity in clinical and research settings.

The FOCI is structured similarly to the Children's Florida Obsessive Compulsive Inventory (C-FOCI), adapting the format for adult presentations of OCD across the full range of common symptom themes.

What the Assessment Measures

The FOCI consists of two parts:

Part 1, Symptom Checklist A checklist of 20 common OCD symptoms. Clients indicate which symptoms (obsessions and compulsions) they currently experience. Items span:

• Contamination concerns and cleaning
• Harm obsessions and checking
• Unwanted intrusive thoughts (aggressive, sexual, religious)
• Symmetry and ordering
• Repeating, counting, and arranging rituals
• Hoarding

Part 2, Severity Scale (5 items) Rated on a 0–4 scale, assessing:

1. Time spent on obsessions and compulsions
2. Distress caused by symptoms
3. Interference with daily functioning
4. Resistance to symptoms
5. Control over symptoms

Scoring

Severity Scale total score: 0–20

A severity score of ≥8, combined with the presence of at least one checklist symptom, indicates clinically significant OCD warranting further evaluation or treatment.

Psychometric Properties

The FOCI demonstrates adequate to good psychometric properties:

• Internal consistency: Cronbach's α = 0.82–0.89
• Test-retest reliability: r = 0.74–0.89
• Significant convergent validity with Y-BOCS total score
• Sensitive to treatment response in ERP and CBT trials
• Comparable performance to the Y-BOCS in detecting OCD severity

(Storch et al., 2007)

Advantages Over Longer Measures

The FOCI takes approximately 5 minutes to complete compared to 20–30 minutes for a clinician-administered Y-BOCS. This makes it suitable for:

• High-volume clinical settings
• Repeated measurement throughout treatment
• Intake screening alongside other measures

Clinical Considerations

• The FOCI severity scale captures global OCD severity rather than dimension-specific severity; if treatment planning requires identification of dominant symptom themes, consider supplementing with the DOCS
• Self-report measures may underestimate OCD severity in patients with limited insight
• The checklist is useful for identifying treatment targets and monitoring symptom shifts over time

References

• Storch EA, Kaufman DA, Bagner D, et al. (2007). Florida Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory: development, reliability, and validity. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 63(9), 851–859. PMID: 17674398
• Storch EA, Khanna M, Merlo LJ, et al. (2009). Children's Florida Obsessive Compulsive Inventory: psychometric properties and feasibility of a self-report measure of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in youth. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 40(3), 467–483. PMID: 19326209