Using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) to screen for child psychiatric disorders in a community sample.
BACKGROUND
Child psychiatric disorders are common and treatable, but often go undetected and therefore remain untreated.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) as a potential means for improving the detection of child psychiatric disorders in the community.


METHODS
SDQ predictions and independent psychiatric diagnoses were compared in a community sample of 7984 5- to 15-year-olds from the 1999 British Child Mental Health Survey.


RESULTS
Multi-informant (parents, teachers, older children) SDQs identified individuals with a psychiatric diagnosis with a specificity of 94.6% (95% Cl 94.1-95.1%) and a sensitivity of 63.3% (59.7-66.9%). The questionnaires identified over 70% of individuals with conduct, hyperactivity, depressive and some anxiety disorders, but under 50% of individuals with specific phobias, separation anxiety and eating disorders. Sensitivity was substantially poorer with single-informant rather than multi-informant SDQs.


CONCLUSIONS
Community screening programmes based on multi-informant SDQs could potentially increase the detection of child psychiatric disorders, thereby improving access to effective treatments.
Goodman
R
R
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK.
Ford
T
T
Simmons
H
H
Gatward
R
R
Meltzer
H
H
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000592:standards; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*