Reliability of the Camberwell Assessment of Need for South African mental health service users.
BACKGROUND
The Camberwell Assessment of Need (CAN) is a widely used instrument to assess the service needs for people with a severe mental illness. No reliability data are available for its use in South Africa.


METHODS
Interrater and test-retest reliability were documented for a sub-sample of 194 patients participating in a needs assessment study among people receiving mental health services. Initially, the CAN was administered by one field worker, while another observed and also made ratings. The participant was then re-interviewed approximately one week after the initial interview.


RESULTS
With the exception of 'psychotic symptoms' (κ = -0.4) and 'looking after home' (κ = 0.008), Cohen's κ coefficients for interrater reliability ranged from 0.150 to 0.760 for Section 1 of the CAN. Test-retest reliabilities for Section 1 resulted in moderate to substantial agreement, with Cohen's κ coefficient ranging from 0.25 to 0.81. High correlations were reported for the test-retest reliabilities of the remaining sections of the CAN (r = 0.719-0.845). However, the figures for the interrater reliabilities were lower and more variable (r = -0.082-0.408).


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study suggest that with additional interviewer training, the CAN is a relatively reliable instrument for assessing the needs of youths with severe mental illness.
Flisher
Alan
A
Formerly of Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, Republic of South Africa.
Sorsdahl
Katherine
K
Joska
John
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology; D008605:Mental Health Services; D020380:Needs Assessment; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013019:South Africa; D055815:Young Adult