Assessing the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS) in a national sample of Danish youth aged 8-16 years.
Early identification of anxiety among youth is required to prevent them from going unrecognised and untreated by mental health professionals. A precise identification of the young person's primary difficulty is also required to guide treatment programs. Availability of a valid and easily administrable assessment tool is crucial for identifying youth suffering from anxiety disorders. The purpose of the present study was therefore to examine the psychometric properties of the Danish version of the Revised Children's Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS). A total of 667 youth from community schools (4(th) through 9(th) grade) across Denmark participated in the study. The psychometric properties of the RCADS-(DAN) resembled those reported in US and Europe. Within scale reliability was excellent with Chronbach's alpha of.96. All subscales also showed good to excellent internal reliability. The study provides convincing evidence that the RCADS-(DAN) is a valid assessment tool for screening anxiety in Danish youth.
Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. barbara.hoff@psy.ku.dk
Barbara Hoff
BH
Esbjørn
Mikael Julius
MJ
Sømhovd
Clara
C
Turnstedt
Marie Louise
ML
Reinholdt-Dunne
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D015233:Models, Statistical; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods*; D012737:Sex Factors