Values Test: Free printable PDF and how to score it

Key takeaways

A values test is a structured assessment that ranks what matters most to a client, so treatment goals can follow those priorities.

The Schwartz framework behind most validated tools sorts personal values into 10 types, from achievement and benevolence to self-direction and stimulation.

Values clarification is a core intervention in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, where clients name their values first and then commit to matching action.

The printable form takes 15 to 20 minutes, and a card sort alternative runs 10 to 15 minutes.

Practice management software like Pabau stores the completed form in the client record, so the results stay available for later goal reviews.

A values test asks a client to rank the principles that drive their choices, then hands you a short list to work from. It takes 15 to 20 minutes, and it changes what a treatment goal can be built on.

The template above is free to print and distribute. Below is how to introduce it, how to read a completed profile, and how to keep the results in play once the session ends.

What is a values test?

A values test is a structured assessment that identifies a person’s core values, meaning the principles and priorities that matter most to them. Personality tests describe how someone behaves. A values assessment gets at what drives that behavior.

Most validated tools trace back to Shalom Schwartz’s theory of basic human values. That is why the same 10 value types keep appearing across therapy, coaching, and workplace assessments.

The payoff is clarity. Once a client can name their top values, you can see where their decisions come from and where daily life pulls against them. For clinicians, that makes patient-centered care concrete. You can pitch a recommendation at what the client cares about, rather than what you assume they should.

Why values work belongs in clinical practice

Values clarification is a clinical intervention, not a self-help exercise. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) puts it at the center of treatment. Clients identify their core values first, then commit to behavior change that runs with those values rather than against them.

• Patient-centered care: Knowing what a client values helps you pitch recommendations at their own goals, which lifts adherence and satisfaction.
• ACT and psychology practice: Values clarification is a cornerstone intervention. A structured form speeds it up and documents it in the record.
• Onboarding and team culture: The same assessment helps a new hire see how their priorities line up with the practice’s, which supports retention.
• Coaching and career clarity: Life coaches and vocational practitioners use it to ground career decisions in something more durable than a job title.

Building the assessment into intake or an early review turns it into a documented, repeatable step rather than a one-off exercise. Most software for therapy practices can attach the completed form to the client record. The results are then waiting the next time you open the file.

How to administer it in five steps

The PDF is built for handing out and getting back. The flow below shows where each step happens, and the numbered list has the detail.

1. Introduce the purpose. Tell the client this is an exploration, not a diagnostic score. There are no right answers. Completion usually takes 15 to 20 minutes.
2. Hand it over. Give them the printed PDF, or send the link through your client portal. They can fill it in before the session or during it.
3. Review the top values together. Work through the highest-ranked ones and ask why each matters. Ask for an example of a time they lived in line with it.
4. Compare stated values with current behavior. Where the two diverge, you usually have the target for behavior change and the treatment goal that follows.
5. File it and refer back. Store the completed form in the client record. Cite it in progress notes and goal reviews, so the plan stays values-aligned.

The 10 value types it measures

The Schwartz framework identifies 10 value types, and most validated assessments rank all of them. Five come up most often in practice, and the table gives the working definition for each.

Clients rank or rate each dimension. What comes back is a profile showing which values drive decisions and which sit in the background. If a full ranking feels like too much for a first session, the core values exercise narrows a long list down to a handful instead.

How to read the results

Read the ranking from the top. The first three to five values are the client’s non-negotiables, and the rest are context. Three things are worth checking before you say anything about them.

• Do the top values hang together? Achievement and self-direction, for example, often show up side by side.
• Did anything land lower than the client expected? A surprise there usually earns a question.
• Do the stated top values match how the client spends an ordinary week?

Mismatches on that last point are the useful part. They show where a client’s week has drifted from what they say matters, which is where the work usually starts.

Then document it. Instead of a goal like “reduce anxiety”, write “reduce anxiety so you can spend more time with family, your top-ranked value”. The American Psychological Association ties the effect of ACT to values clarity, so a sharper list gives the client more to commit to.

Running it across your team

The same form works on staff. Use it during onboarding so a new hire can see how their own priorities line up with the practice’s.

A team workshop is the other option. Everyone completes it, then you compare the results together. If the top values cluster, you have evidence of cultural fit. If they scatter, you learn how differently each role reads the practice’s mission.

Either result is useful. Practices that hire and develop around shared values tend to report lower turnover and higher engagement. Keeping the responses with your other team management records makes them easy to revisit at review time.

When a values card sort works better

Some clients stall on a written ranking. A card sort gives them a physical version instead. Cards naming each value get sorted into three piles: matters to me, doesn’t matter, not sure.

Card sorts suit ACT work well. Handling and arranging objects bypasses overthinking, and clients who are less verbal often respond more openly than they would to a form. A guided session runs 10 to 15 minutes and tends to generate more discussion than the written version.

You can cut the printable PDF into cards, or make your own with index cards and value labels. If your client would rather see a target than a list, the ACT bullseye worksheet plots the same values against current action.

How Pabau keeps values work in the client record

In most practices the completed values form ends up as paper in a folder, or a scan attached to a note nobody opens again. Months later the treatment plan still reads “reduce anxiety”, and the values that were meant to anchor it are out of sight.

Practice management software like Pabau handles this differently. You build the values test as a digital form and send it through the client portal before the appointment. The responses land in the client record as structured data, not as an attachment. The top-ranked values then sit next to the notes and the treatment plan.

That pays off at the review. When you reopen a client’s file to check progress, their values are already on screen, so goal-setting stays anchored to them. Team assessments work the same way, stored against staff records instead of a shared drive.

Keep every values assessment in the client record

Send the values test as a digital form through the client portal, and Pabau files the responses straight into the client record. The top-ranked values sit beside your notes, so every treatment goal you write can point back at them.

Book a demo

Conclusion

A values test earns its 20 minutes when the results survive the session. Producing the ranking is the easy part. What decides whether it changes the work is whether you write it into the treatment plan and read it back at the next review.

One caveat is worth remembering. A values profile records what a client says matters on one particular day. Treat it as the start of a conversation you return to, rather than a fixed result.

Print the template, run it with your next three clients, and see how differently their goals read afterward. Book a demo to see how Pabau turns the values test into a digital form that files itself in the client record.

Continue your research

Want a shorter exercise for a first session? Personal values worksheet walks a client through naming and ordering their values without a full ranking.

Need to cover life domains as well as values? Life values inventory maps what matters across work, relationships, health, and community.

Working through avoidance in ACT? Choice point worksheet helps a client see when they move toward their values and when they move away.

Client stuck on the thoughts behind the behavior? Cognitive defusion explains the ACT techniques that loosen a thought grip before values work starts.

Running a psychology practice on paper forms? Psychology practice software shows how assessments, notes, and treatment plans stay in one client file.

Frequently asked questions