SACHS Sentence Completion Test Procedure and Administration

Administration of the Test

 It can be administered individually or to groups and subjects can take from 20-40
minutes.
Instruction/Procedure

This test is consists of 60 partly completed sentences and covering these four areas:
1. Family Areas – Includes three sets of attitudes towards: Mother, Father,
Family Unit (12 items)

2. Sex _ The 8 items in this area allow the subject to express himself
with regard to women as social individual, toward marriage and with respect
to sexual relationship themselves.

3. Area of Interpersonal Relationship

Includes attitude toward friend and acquaintances, colleagues at work or
school, superior at work and people supervised.

The 16 items in this area afford an opportunity for the subject to express
feelings toward others.

4. Area of Self-Concept
The sel-concept of this 24 items includes fears, guilt feelings, goals and
attitudes towards one's own abilities, concept of himself as he is, he was and
he hopes to be (past and future).

Read each one and finish it by writing the FIRST THING that comes to your mind. Work as
quickly as you can. Do not spend much time on each item.If you cannot complete an item,
encircle the number and return to it later".

For some disturbed/anxious patient, it is better or helpful to administer the items orally and
to record the patient's oral responses. Oral method provides an opportunity to note specific
items on the subject by observing his reaction time, flushing, facial expression, changes in
tone, voice and general behavior.
SACHS SENTENCE COMPLETION TEST

The 8 items in this area allow the subject to express himself with regard to women as social
individual, toward marriage and with respect to sexual relationship themselves.

Family Areas

Includes three sets of attitudes:

1. toward the mother

2. toward the father
3. family unit
SACHS SENTENCE COMPLETION TEST
Designed to obtain significantly clinical material in four representative areas of adjustment.
Covered these four areas:
family, sex, interpersonal relationships and self-concept.
My mother and I ___________________.
If my father would only ______________.
My family treats me like ______________.
Examples:
Examples:

I think most girls _______________.

If I had sex relationships
______________
Area of Interpersonal Relationship
Includes attitude toward friend or acquaintances, colleagues at work or school and people
supervised.

The 16 items in this area afford an opportunity for the subject to express feelings toward others.
Examples:

When I am not around, my friends ___________.

At work, I get along best with
______________.
Area of Self-Concept
Involves fears, guilt feelings, goals and attitudes towards one's own abilities, past and future.

Examples:
I wish I could lose the fear of _______________.
My greatest mistake was
______________.
Someday, I
________________________.
When I was a child
___________________.
Bernadeth L. Celestino, RPm

Administration of the Test

It can be administered individually or to groups and subjects can take from 20-40 minutes.

Instruction:

"Below are 60 partly completed sentences. Read each one and finish it by writing the first thing
that comes to your mind. Work as quickly as you can. If you cannot complete an item, encircle
the number and return to it later".
For some anxious patient, it is fruitful to administer the items orally and to record the patient's
oral responses. Oral method provides an opportunity to note specific items on the subject by
observing his reaction time, flushing, facial expression, changes in tone, voice and general
behavior.

Interpretation & Scoring

A rating is made of the subject's degree of disturbance in this area, according to the following
scale:

2 - Severely disturbed. Appears to require therapeutic aid in handling emotional conflicts in this
area.

1 - Mildly disturbed. Has emotional conflicts in this area, but appears that he's able to handle
them without therapeutic aid.

0 - No significant disturbance noted in this area.

X - Unknown. Insufficient evidence.

1. A statement of those areas in which the subjects shows the most disturbed attitudes. This may
provide significant clues for the therapist.

2. A description of the interrelationships between attitudes with respect to content. This often
illuminates dynamic factors in a case.
SSCT Findings include the following:
1. A statement of those areas in which the subjects shows the most disturbed attitudes. This may
provide significant clues for the therapist.

2. A description of the interrelationships between attitudes with respect to content. This often
illuminates dynamic factors in a case.
SSCT Findings include the following:
Certain inferences on the subject's personality structure can be made on the basis of the SSCT
such as:
1. The subject's manner of response to impulses from within or to stimuli from the environment.

2. The subject's nature of responding to stress - impulsive or well-controlled.

3. The subject's nature of thinking.

4. The subject's thinking content - realistic, artistic or fantastic.

Short Guide to Interpretation

I. Attitude towards father (1, 16, 31, 46)
2 - feels extreme hostility and contempt with overt death wishes
1 - admires father but wishes their relationship were closer
0 - complete expression of satisfaction with father's personality
II. Attitude towards own abilities (2, 17, 32, 47)
2 - feels completely incompetent and hopeless
1 - feels he has specific ability and persistence
0 - confident of his ability to overcome obstacles
III. Goals (3, 18, 33, 48)
2 - direct expression of hostility, aggression of society, extravagant and realistic
1 - desires material things for family as well as for self
0 - sees importance in happiness and health
IV. Attitude toward people supervised (4, 19, 34, 49)
2 - feels he would not be able to control his hostility in supervising others
1 - feels capable of doing good supervisory but has misgiving about assuming an authoritarian
person
0 - feels comfortable and well accepted by subordinate
V. Attitude towards future (5, 20, 35, 50)
2 - pessimistic, no hope in his own resources for happiness and success
1 - unsure of himself but generally optimistic
0 - seems confident in achieving his materialistic goals
VI. Attitude towards supervisors at work/school (6, 21, 36, 51)
2 - resents and fears authority
1 - mild difficulty in accepting authority
0 - accepts authority
VII. Fears (7, 22, 37, 52)
2 - disturbed by apparent fears of losing identity or consciousness and possibility to control his
impulse
1 - fear of self-assertion, which is commonly fair and not pervasive
0 - expresses lack of overt fear or insufficient evidence
VIII. Attitude towards friends and acquaintances (8, 23, 38, 53)
2 - suspicious and apparently seclusive
1 - seems to wait for approval of others before committing himself emotionally
0 - expresses good mutual feelings between friends and self
IX. Attitude towards past (9, 24, 39, 54)

2 - keenly felt lack of mother, rejected and emotionally isolated

1 - in the average
0 - feels well adjusted; positive feeling; tone and memory of accomplishment
X. Attitude towards men/women (10, 25, 40, 55)
2 - extremely suspicious, possible homosexual tendency
1 - high ideals but with ambivalent feelings
0 - only minor criticisms and superficial
XI. Attitude towards heterosexual relationship (11, 26, 41, 56)
2 - appears to have given up achieving good sexual adjustment
1 - desires sexual experience but show reservation
0 - indicates satisfaction towards this area
XII. Attitude towards family unit (12, 27, 42, 57)
2 - feels rejected by family, which always solidarity and which has constantly contented with
difficulties
1 - aware that family does not recognize him as a mature person but feels no difficulty in
identifying with them
0 - instability of family domicile has had little effect on his feeling towards them
XIII. Attitude towards colleague at work/school (13, 28, 43, 58)
2 - feels rejected by colleagues and condemns them
1 - has some difficulty with his work and is dependent of his colleagues
0 - expresses good mutual feelings
XIV. Attitude towards mother (14, 29, 44, 59)
2 - completely rejects and depreciates mother whom he considers over demanding
1 - sees mother's faults but accepts and tolerates their difficulties
0 - expresses only positive feeling towards mother
XV. Guilt feelings (15, 30, 45, 60)
2 - concerned with spiritual and physical feelings
1 - has regret over past and seems mildly disturbed by his failure to control trouble
0 - does not seem to be aware of guilt feelings
Transcript of Sacks Sentence Completion Test
Sacks Sentence Completion Test

Introduction

♠️ not a standardized test

♠️ resembles Carl Jung's word association test but differs in the length of stimulus
♠️ not time-pressured
Pioneers
♠️ Dr. Joseph M. Sacks and his other colleagues in Veterans Administration Mental Hygiene
Service in New York.
♠️ rating in three point scale "no significant disturbance" "mildly disturbed" or "severely
disturbed"

Background

♣️ SCT was pioneered by Herman Ebbinghaus assessing intellectual capacity and reasoning of
school children
♣️ Alfred Binet
♣️ Minkus Completion in Theodore Simon's intelligence test
♣️ used in measuring ego dev't
Nature of the Test
♠️ has freedom of response
♣️ effective tool in tapping unconscious mind
♦️ individual/group administration

Objectives

♠️ to assess specific aspect of personality such as feelings, thoughts, attitudes and reactions
toward people
♣️ to give information of personality content and give much value on it
Objectives
♥️ to provide clinical assessment of overall personality, characteristic and level of adjustment
♠️ G.O. is to give information of personality content rather than structure of personality

Description

♠️ Family (12 items)

♣️ Sex (8 items)
♥️ Interpersonal relations (16 items)
♦️ Self-Concept (24 items)

Administration
♠️ individually or in groups

Handscoring
Attitudes toward father (1, 16, 31, 46)
2points- feels extreme hostility and contempt with overt death wishes

Handscoring
Attitude towards own abilities (2, 17, 32, 47)
2points- feels completely incomplete and hopeless
1point- admires father but wishes their relationship were closer
0point- complete expression of satisfaction with father's personality
1point- feels has specific ability and persistence
0points- confident of his ability to overcome obstacles

Handscoring
Goals (3, 18, 33, 48)
2points- direct expression of hostility, aggression of society, extravagant and realistic
1point- desires material things for family as well as self
0point- sees importance to happiness and health

Handscoring
Attitude towards people supervised (4, 19, 34, 49)
2points- feels he would not be able to control his hostility in supervising people
1point- feels capable of doing supervisory but had misgivings about assuming authoritarian
person
0point- feels comfortable and accepted by subordinates

Handscoring
Attitude toward future (5, 20, 35, 50)
2points- pessimistic, no hope in his own resource for happiness and success
1point- unsure of himself but generally optimistic
0point- seems confident in achieving his materialistic goal

Handscoring
Attitudes towards supervisor at work/school (6, 21, 36, 51)
2points- resent and fears authority
1point- mild difficulty in accepting authority
0point- accepts authority

Handscoring
Fear (7, 22, 37, 52)
2points- disturbed by apparent fearsof losing identity or consciousness and possibility to control
his impulse
1point- fear of self-assertion which is commonly fair and not pervasive
0point- expresses lack of overt fear of insufficient evidence

Handscoring
Attitudes towards friends and acquaintances (8, 23, 38, 53)
2points- suspicious and apparently elusive
1point- seems to wait for approval of other committing himself emotionally
0point- expresses good mutual feelings between friends and self

General Summary
Principal areas and disturbance
mother, father, family unit, heterosexual relationships,

General Summary
Interrelationship among attitudes
Lack emotional tie with mother, lack of father figure and strict upbringing maybe result timidity
towards women, lack of confidence in sexual prowess and strong guilt feelings.