Children's Interview for Psychiatric Syndromes (ChIPS).
OBJECTIVE
To describe the development and summarize the psychometric properties of the Children's Interview for Psychiatric Syndromes (ChIPS).


METHODS
ChIPS is a highly structured interview designed for use by trained lay interviewers in children aged 6-18 years. It screens for 20 Axis I disorders as well as psychosocial stressors. Questions use simple language and short sentence structure to enhance subject comprehension and cooperation. The interview is based on DSM-IV and results are presented in a concise, easy-to-interpret manner. There are both child and parent versions. The psychometric properties of each version were studied.


RESULTS
A series of 5 studies has demonstrated the validity of the DSM-III, DSM-III-R, and DSM-IV versions of the ChIPS as well as the validity of the P-ChIPS (parent version). Administration time is relatively brief, averaging 49 minutes for inpatients, 30 minutes for outpatients, and 21 minutes for a community-based sample.


CONCLUSIONS
ChIPS can be used as a screening instrument to maximize a clinician's efficiency, as a diagnostic instrument in clinical research, and as a training instrument to help mental health professionals learn psychiatric diagnosis. It can also be used in epidemiological research.
Weller
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Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA. Weller@email.chop.edu
Weller
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Fristad
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Rooney
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Schecter
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D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013577:Syndrome