Journal
EUROPEAN CHILD & ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRY
Volume 9, Issue 2, Pages 129-134Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s007870050008
Keywords
children; mental health; psychiatric diagnosis; questionnaire-prediction
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
A computerised algorithm was developed to predict child psychiatric diagnoses on the basis of the symptom and impact scores derived from Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires (SDQs) completed by parents, teachers and young people. The predictive algorithm generates unlikely, possible or probable ratings far four broad categories of disorder, namely conduct disorders, emotional disorders, hyperactivity disorders, and any psychiatric disorder. The algorithm was applied to patients attending child mental health clinics in Britain (N = 101) and Bangladesh (N = 89). The level of chance-corrected agreement between SDQ prediction and an independent clinical diagnosis was substantial and highly significant (Kendall's tau b between 0.49 and 0.73; p < 0.001). A probable SDQ prediction for any given disorder correctly identified 81-91% of the children who definitely had that clinical diagnosis. There were more false positives than false negatives, i.e. the SDQ categories were over-inclusive. The algorithm appears to be sufficiently accurate and robust to be of practical value in planning the assessment of new referrals to a child mental health service.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available