Assessment of change with the Developmental Behaviour Checklist

Background The Developmental Behaviour Checklist (DBC) is a 96-item instrument designed for assessing behavioural and emotional problems among young people with intellectual disability. Methods The present study investigated the validity of the DBC as a measure of change. Changes in individual's DBC scores were correlated with changes in expert clinicians' ratings of the same subjects. Results A high correlation was found between expert clinician ratings of change in behaviour and change in the total behaviour problem score of the DBC. Conclusions The DBC is able to measure changes in behaviour and emotions which are recognized by an experienced clinician who is following the progress of a child with ID.