Validity and clinical utility of the obsessive compulsive inventory-child version: further evaluation in clinical samples

Background Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a clinically heterogeneous disorder. Currently, the Obsessive Compulsive Inventory-Child Version (OCI-CV) is the only self-report measure that fully captures this symptom heterogeneity in children and adolescents. The psychometric properties of the OCI-CV are promising but evaluations in large clinical samples are few. Further, no studies have examined whether the measure is valid in both younger and older children with OCD and whether scores on the measure are elevated in youths with OCD compared to youths with other mental disorders. Methods To address these gaps in the literature, we investigated the psychometric properties and validity of a Swedish version of the OCI-CV in a large clinical sample of youth aged 6-18 years with OCD (n = 434), anxiety disorders (n = 84), and chronic tic disorders (n = 45). Results Internal consistency coefficients at the total scale and subscale level were consistent with the English original and in the acceptable range. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed an adequate fit for the original six-factor structure in both younger and older children with OCD. Correlations between total scores on the OCI-CV and the Children's Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (CY-BOCS) were small at pre-treatment (r = 0.19) but large at post-treatment (r = 0.62). Youth with OCD scored higher than those with anxiety and chronic tic disorders, and the OCI-CV was sensitive to symptom change for youth undergoing treatment for OCD. Conclusions This Swedish version of the OCI-CV appears to be a valid and reliable measure of the OCD symptom dimensions across age groups and has good clinical utility.