title: Childhood behavioural disorders in Ambo district, western Ethiopia. II. Validation of the RQC.
abstract: We report here on a study conducted to measure the validity of an Amharic version of the Reporting Questionnaire for Children (RQC), that was used in a survey of childhood behavioural disorders in a predominantly rural district in western Ethiopia. Mothers of 196 children aged 5-15 years, who were initially interviewed by the RQC were re-interviewed by a psychiatrist who was unaware of the RQC status of these children. The re-interview was conducted using a DSM IV checklist. The study showed that a cut-off point of one or more positive responses to any of the 10 questions on the RQC maximized sensitivity (87.5%) and specificity (65%). The discriminatory power of each item was also computed, and the item dealing with wetting/soiling oneself was found to have the highest ability to identify cases from non-cases. The item on abnormal speech was found to have the least discriminating power.
authors.affiliation: Oromia Health Bureau, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tadesse
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kebede
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tegegne
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alem
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005002:Ethiopia; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000592:standards*; D012372:ROC Curve; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012424:Rural Population; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*