Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

LIVE: Thursday 27th June 2024, 18:00-19:30 (CEST)
Join our expert panel to discover why you need to understand the drivers of non-adherence in your patients, and how you can optimize medication adherence in your clinics to drastically improve patient outcomes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 8/2013

01-08-2013 | Original Paper

Online child and adolescent mental health surveys can be good enough

Author: Robert Goodman

Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology | Issue 8/2013

Login to get access

Abstract

Purpose

To assess the value and practicability of online child mental health surveys.

Methods

Study 1 followed up an existing low-risk sample from the general population. Study 2 recruited a new high-risk sample via a parents’ organization for children with a neurological condition. Both studies invited parents of 2–17 year olds to complete the online development and well-being assessment. Pre-existing data on the Study 1 sample made it possible to examine selective participation.

Results

Response rates were low (20 % for Study 1, 8 % for Study 2). Participation in Study 1 was lower for parents who rented rather than owned their home, for non-traditional families, for parents living in more deprived areas, and for Asian families. Nevertheless, studies 1 and 2 generally replicated the findings of previous interviewer-based surveys with higher response rates.

Conclusions

Online surveys can be quick and easy to carry out and can potentially generate good enough data for service planning and other purposes despite low response rates, selective participation and missing data. Web-based assessments are a useful addition to the researcher’s toolbox, but they do not render the other tools redundant.
Literature
1.
Heiervang E, Goodman R (2011) Advantages and limitations of web-based surveys: evidence from a child mental health survey. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 46:69–76PubMedCrossRef
2.
Freeman C, Tyrer P (1989) Reseach methods in psychiatry: a beginner’s guide. Royal College of Psychiatrists, Gaskell
3.
4.
Morton SMB, Bandara DK, Robinson EM, Atatoa Carr PE (2012) In the 21st century, what is an acceptable response rate? Aust N Z J Public Health 36:106–108PubMedCrossRef
5.
Lundberg I, Damström Thakker K, Hällström T, Forsell Y (2005) Determinants of non-participation, and the effects of non-participation on potential cause-effect relationships, in the PART study on mental disorders. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 40:475–483PubMedCrossRef
6.
Sanders D, Clarke HD, Stewart MC, Whiteley P (2007) Does mode matter for modeling political choice? Evidence from the AC2005 British election study. Polit Anal 15:257–285CrossRef
7.
Wolke D, Waylen A, Samara M, Steer C, Goodman R, Ford T, Lamberts K (2009) Does selective dropout in longitudinal studies lead to biased prediction of behaviour disorders? Br J Psychiatry 195:249–256PubMedCrossRef
8.
Ford T, Goodman R, Meltzer H (2003) The British child and adolescent mental health survey 1999: the prevalence of DSM-IV disorders. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 42:1203–1211PubMedCrossRef
9.
Green H, McGinnity A, Meltzer H, Ford T, Goodman R (2005) Mental health of children and young people in Great Britain, 2004. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke
10.
Goodman R (1997) The strengths and difficulties questionnaire: a research note. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 38:581–586PubMedCrossRef
11.
Goodman R (2001) Psychometric properties of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ). J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 40:1337–1345PubMedCrossRef
12.
Goodman R (1999) The extended version of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire as a guide to child psychiatric caseness and consequent burden. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 40:791–801PubMedCrossRef
13.
Goodman R, Renfrew D, Mullick M (2000) Predicting type of psychiatric disorder from strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ) scores in child mental health clinics in London and Dhaka. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 9:129–134PubMedCrossRef
14.
Goodman R, Ford T, Richards H, Gatward R, Meltzer H (2000) The development and well-being assessment: description and initial validation of an integrated assessment of child and adolescent psychopathology. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 41:645–655PubMedCrossRef
15.
Ford T, Goodman R, Meltzer H (2003) The British child and adolescent mental health survey 1999: the prevalence of DSM-IV disorders. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 42:1203–1211PubMedCrossRef
16.
Craig R, Hirani V (2010) Health survey for England 2009. The Information Centre, London
17.
Noble M, Wright G, Dibben C, Smith G, McLennan D, Anttila C et al (2004) Indices of deprivation 2004. Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, London
18.
Goodman R, Graham P (1996) Psychiatric problems in children with hemiplegia: cross sectional epidemiological survey. BMJ 312:1065–1069PubMedCrossRef
19.
Goodman R, Yude C, Richards H, Taylor E (1996) Rating child psychiatric caseness from detailed case histories. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 37:369–379PubMedCrossRef
20.
Goodman R, Yude C (2000) Emotional, behavioural and social consequences. In: Neville B, Goodman R (eds) Congenital hemiplegia: clinics in developmental medicine, no 150. Mac Keith Press, London, pp 166–178
21.
Ford T, Hamilton H, Meltzer H, Goodman R (2007) Child mental health is everybody’s business: the prevalence of contact with public sector services by type of disorder among British school children in a three-year period. Child Adolesc Mental Health 12:13–20CrossRef
22.
Metadata
Title
Online child and adolescent mental health surveys can be good enough
Author
Robert Goodman
Publication date
01-08-2013
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology / Issue 8/2013
Print ISSN: 0933-7954
Electronic ISSN: 1433-9285
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-013-0658-2

Other articles of this Issue 8/2013

Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 8/2013 Go to the issue

Original Paper

Antenatal and postnatal maternal mental health as determinants of infant neurodevelopment at 18 months of age in a mother–child cohort (Rhea Study) in Crete, Greece

Erratum

Erratum to: Depression and aggression in never-married men in China: a growing problem

Original Paper

The reliability, validity, and applicability of an English language version of the Mini-ICF-APP

Original Paper

The importance of both workplace and private life factors in psychological distress: a large cross-sectional survey of French railway company employees

Original Paper

Housing First improves subjective quality of life among homeless adults with mental illness: 12-month findings from a randomized controlled trial in Vancouver, British Columbia

Original Paper

Trauma and current symptoms of PTSD in a South East London community