Top

Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research

Published in:

01-03-2009 | Original paper

Selecting Measures for Use in Child Mental Health Services: A Scorecard Approach

Authors: Erin M. Warnick, V. Robin Weersing, Lawrence Scahill, Joseph L. Woolston

Published in: Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research | Issue 2/2009

Abstract

The implementation of evidence-based treatments in mental health services requires reliable and valid measurements to guide treatment. This study evaluated the efficiency of three caretaker-report measures of child psychiatric disorders. Data from 211 caregivers were used to assess the CBCL, the OHIO, and the SDQ. A scorecard methodology was implemented to determine the efficiency of each scale as compared to the DISC-IV. Across measures, the OHIO was optimal for assessing services need while the CBCL and SDQ provided better disorder-specific assessment. Results may improve clinical practice by providing an empirical approach to the selection of assessment tools.

Achenbach, T. M., & Rescorla, L. (2001). Manual for the ASEBA school-age forms and profiles: An integrated system of multi-informant assessment. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Research Center for Children, Youth & Families.

Achenbach system of empirically based assessment (ASEBA). (2008). 2008 ASEBA Catalog. Retrieved November 25, 2008, from http://www.aseba.org/2008%20Catalog.pdf.

Angold, A., Costello, E. J., & Erkanli, A. (1999a). Comorbidity. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines, 40(1), 57–87. doi:10.1111/1469-7610.00424.PubMedCrossRef

Angold, A., Costello, E. J., Farmer, E. M. Z., Burns, B. J., & Erkanli, A. (1999b). Impaired but undiagnosed. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 38, 129–137. doi:10.1097/00004583-199902000-00011.PubMedCrossRef

Baize, H. (2001). Implications of the Ohio scales factor structure for scale utility and scoring. San Francisco, CA: The Fourth Annual Californian Children’s System of Care Model Evaluation Conference.

Birmaher, B., Brent, D. A., Chiappetta, L., Bridge, J., Monga, S., & Baugher, M. (1999). Psychometric properties of the screen for child anxiety related emotional disorders (SCARED): A replication study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 38, 1230–1236. doi:10.1097/00004583-199910000-00011.PubMedCrossRef

CDECP Research section. (2000). Connecticut Town Profiles 1998–1999. New Haven, CT: Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development. Retrieved February 28, 2007, from www.state.ct.us/ecd/research.

Chen, W. J., Faraone, S. V., Biederman, J., & Tsuang, M. T. (1994). Diagnostic accuracy of the child behavior checklist scales for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: A receiver-operating characteristic analysis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62(5), 1017–1025. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.62.5.1017.PubMedCrossRef

Cohen, J. (1960). A coefficient of agreement for nominal scales. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 20, 37–46. doi:10.1177/001316446002000104.CrossRef

Costello, E., Mustillo, S., Erkanli, A., Keeler, G., & Angold, A. (2003). Prevalence and development of psychiatric disorders in childhood and adolescence. Archives of General Psychiatry, 60, 837–844. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.60.8.837.PubMedCrossRef

Costello, E. J., & Shugart, M. A. (1992). Above and below the threshold: severity of psychiatric symptoms and functional impairment in a pediatric sample. Pediatrics, 90, 359–368.PubMed

De Los Reyes, A., & Kazdin, A. E. (2005). Informant discrepancies in the assessment of childhood psychopathology: A critical review, theoretical framework, and recommendations for further study. Psychological Bulletin, 131, 483–509. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.131.4.483.PubMedCrossRef

Doss, A. J. (2005). Evidence-based diagnosis: Incorporating diagnostic instruments into clinical practice. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 44, 947–952. doi:10.1097/01.chi.0000171903.16323.92.PubMedCrossRef

Epkins, C. C. (2002). A comparison of two self-report measures of children’s social anxiety in clinic and community samples. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 31, 69–79.PubMed

First, M., Gibbon, M., Spitzer, R. L., & Williams, J. B. (2004). What is the Validity of the SCID-I. Retrieved December 8, 2004, from http://www.scid4.org.

Forbes, G. B. (2001). A comparison of the Conner’s parent and teacher rating scales, the add-h comprehensive teacher’s rating scale and the child behavior checklist in the clinical diagnosis of ADHD. Journal of Attention Disorders, 5, 25–40. doi:10.1177/108705470100500103.CrossRef

Goodman, R. (1997). The strengths and difficulties questionnaire: A research note. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines, 38, 581–586. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1997.tb01545.x.PubMedCrossRef

Goodman, R. (1999). The extended version of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire as a guide to child psychiatric caseness and consequent burden. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines, 40, 791–799. doi:10.1111/1469-7610.00494.PubMedCrossRef

Goodman, R. (2001). Psychometric properties of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 40, 1337–1345. doi:10.1097/00004583-200111000-00015.PubMedCrossRef

Goodman, R., & Scott, S. (1999). Comparing the strengths and difficulties questionnaire and the child behavior checklist: Is small beautiful? Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 27, 17–24. doi:10.1023/A:1022658222914.PubMedCrossRef

Hawes, D. J., & Dadds, M. R. (2004). Australian data and psychometric properties of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire. The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 38, 644–651. doi:10.1111/j.1440-1614.2004.01427.x.PubMedCrossRef

Hoagwood, K., Jensen, P. S., Petti, T., & Burns, B. J. (1996). Outcomes of mental health care for children and adolescents: I. A comprehensive conceptual model. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 35(8), 1055–1063. doi:10.1097/00004583-199608000-00017.PubMedCrossRef

Hodges, K., & Wong, M. M. (1996). Psychometric characteristics of a multidimensional measure to assess impairment: The child and adolescent functional assessment scale. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 5(4), 445–467. doi:10.1007/BF02233865.CrossRef

Hudziak, J. J., Copeland, W., Stanger, C., & Wadsworth, M. (2004). Screening for DSM-IV externalizing disorders with the child behavior checklist: A receiver-operating characteristic analysis. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines, 45(7), 1299–1307. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.00314.x.PubMedCrossRef

Jensen, P. S., Salzberg, A. D., Richters, J. E., & Watanabe, H. K. (1993). Scales, diagnoses, and child psychopathology: I. CBCL and DISC relationships. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 32, 397–406.PubMed

Jensen, P. S., Rubio-Stipec, M., Canino, G., Bird, H. R., Dulcan, M. K., Schwab-Stone, M. E., et al. (1999a). Parent and child contributions to diagnosis of mental disorder: Are both informants always necessary? Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 38, 1569–1579.PubMedCrossRef

Jensen, P., Watanabe, H., & Richters, J. (1999b). Who’s up first? Testing for order effects in structured interviews using a counterbalanced experimental design. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 27(6), 439–445. doi:10.1023/A:1021927909027.PubMedCrossRef

Jensen, A. L., & Weisz, J. R. (2002). Assessing match and mismatch between practitioner-generated and standardized interview-generated diagnoses for clinic-referred children and adolescents. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 70, 158–168. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.70.1.158.PubMedCrossRef

Jensen, P. S., Hoagwood, K., & Zitner, L. (Eds.). (2006). What’s in a name? Problems versus prospects in current diagnostic approaches. Hoboken, NJ, USA: Wiley.

Klasen, H., Woerner, W., Wolke, D., Meyer, R., Overmeyer, S., Kaschnitz, W., et al. (2000). Comparing the German versions of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ-Deu) and the child behavior checklist. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 9, 271–276. doi:10.1007/s007870070030.CrossRef

Noterdaeme, M., & Amorosa, H. (1999). Evaluation of emotional and behavioral problems in language impaired children using the child behavior checklist. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 8, 71–77. doi:10.1007/s007870050087.CrossRef

Ogles, B. M., Melendez, G., Davis, D. C., & Lunnen, K. M. (2000). The Ohio youth problem, functioning, and satisfaction scales: Technical manual. In: Ohio Mental health consumer outcomes initiative Ohio: Ohio University.

Ohio Department of Mental Health. (2005). Instruments and procedures: Outcomes instruments, English versions. Retrieved November 25, 2008, from http://www.mh.state.oh.us/oper/outcomes/instruments.english.html.

USA Public Health Service. (2000). Report of the surgeon general’s conference on children’s mental health: A national action agenda. Washington, DC: Department of Health and Human Services.

Ramirez-Basco, M., Bostic, J. Q., Davies, D., Rush, A., Witte, B., Hendrickse, W., et al. (2000). Methods to improve diagnostic accuracy in a community mental health setting. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 1599–1605. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.157.10.1599.PubMedCrossRef

Roberts, N., Vargo, B., & Ferguson, H. B. (1989). Measurement of anxiety and depression in children and adolescents. The Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 12, 837–860.PubMed

Rubio-Stipec, M., Fitzmaurice, G., Murphy, J., & Walker, A. (2003). The use of multiple informants in identifying the risk factors of depressive and disruptive disorders. Are they interchangeable? Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 38, 51–58. doi:10.1007/s00127-003-0600-0.PubMedCrossRef

Rubio-Stipec, M., Walker, A., Murphy, J., & Fitzmaurice, G. (2002). Dimensional measures of psychopathology. The probability of being classified with a psychiatric disorder using empirically derived symptom scales. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 37, 553–560. doi:10.1007/s00127-002-0561-8.PubMedCrossRef

SAMHSA. (2003). National mental health information center: Child and adolescent mental health. USA Department of Health and Human Services.

SAS Institute Inc. (2003). SAS 9.1 (9.1st ed.). NC: SAS Institute, Inc.

Shaffer, D., Fisher, P., Lucas, C. P., Dulcan, M. K., & Schwab-Stone, M. E. (2000). NIMH diagnostic interview schedule for children, version IV (NIMH DISC-IV): Description, differences from previous versions, and reliability of some common diagnoses. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 39, 28–38. doi:10.1097/00004583-200001000-00014.PubMedCrossRef

SPSS. (2004). SPSS 13.0 for Windows. 13.0.1 Edition: LEAD Technologies, Inc.

Turchik, J. A., Karpenko, V., & Ogles, B. M. (2007). Further evidence of the utility and validity of a measure of outcome for children and adolescents. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 15(2), 119–128. doi:10.1177/10634266070150020201.CrossRef

Warnick, E. M., Bracken, M. B., & Kasl, S. (2008). Screening efficiency of the child behavior checklist and strengths and difficulties questionnaire: A systematic review. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 13(3), 140–147. doi:10.1111/j.1475-3588.2007.00461.x.CrossRef

Youth in Mind (2005). SDQ: Information for researchers and professionals about the Strengths & Difficulties Questionnaires. Retrieved August 22, 2005, from http://www.sdqinfo.com/.

Title: Selecting Measures for Use in Child Mental Health Services: A Scorecard Approach
Authors: Erin M. Warnick
V. Robin Weersing
Lawrence Scahill
Joseph L. Woolston
Publication date: 01-03-2009
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research / Issue 2/2009
Print ISSN: 0894-587X
Electronic ISSN: 1573-3289
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-008-0203-x

2024 ASCO Annual Meeting

Springer Medicine

Selecting Measures for Use in Child Mental Health Services: A Scorecard Approach

Abstract

2024 ASCO Annual Meeting

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 2/2009

Clinic-Level Process of Care for Depression in Primary Care Settings

Barriers to Adoption of New Treatments: An Internet Study of Practicing Community Psychotherapists

Assessing Multiple Outcomes for Women with Co-Occurring Disorders and Trauma in a Multi-Site Trial: A Propensity Score Approach

The Triumph of Pharmaceuticals: The Portrayal of Depression from 1980 to 2005

Barriers and Facilitators in Implementing Illness Management and Recovery for Consumers with Severe Mental Illness: Trainee Perspectives

Predicting Utilization of Evidence-Based Parenting Interventions with Organizational, Service-Provider and Client Variables