title: The children's services interview: validity and reliability.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Children Service Interview was designed as a brief measure of service use related to mental health problems in Great Britain.
  
  
  METHODS
  We validated the Children's Services Interview against medical records from a sample of 87 children, and assessed test-retest reliability from 25 parents completing two interviews. We examined criterion validity by looking at the service use patterns of children attending clinics for different types of disorders.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The Children's Services Interview showed high levels of face validity and moderate or better concordance with medical records as far as contacts were recorded in the case notes. Test-retest reliability was moderate or better apart from contacts with the voluntary sector, teachers, and the number and duration of appointments with some professionals.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study suggests the Children's Services Interview can extract moderately valid and reliable data on service use.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Tamsin Ford was supported by a Wellcome Clinical Training Fellowship in Health Services Research while completing this work.
authors.affiliation: Kings College London, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK. t.ford@iop.kcl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Tamsin
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ford
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hamilton
authors.forename: Sabina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dosani
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Burke
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Goodman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D008297:Male; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000592:standards*; D002666:Psychology, Child / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D006113:United Kingdom