title: Validation of the Kirundi versions of brief self-rating scales for common mental disorders among children in Burundi.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In Sub Saharan Africa, there has been limited research on instruments to identify specific mental disorders in children in conflict-affected settings. This study evaluates the psychometric properties of three self-report scales for child mental disorder in order to inform an emerging child mental health programme in post-conflict Burundi.
  
  
  METHODS
  Trained lay interviewers administered local language versions of three self-report scales, the Depression Self-Rating Scale (DSRS), the Child PSTD Symptom Scale (CPSS) and the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED-41), to a sample of 65 primary school children in Burundi. The test scores were compared with an external 'gold standard' criterion: the outcomes of a comprehensive semistructured clinical psychiatric interview for children according the DSM-IV criteria (the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children - K-SADS-PL).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The DSRS has an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.85 with a confidence interval (c.i.) of 0.73-0.97. With a cut-off point of 19, the sensitivity was 0.64, and the specificity was 0.88. For the CPSS, with a cut-off point of 26, the AUC was 0.78 (c.i.: 0.62-0.95) with a sensitivity of 0.71 and a specificity of 0.83. The AUC for the SCARED-41, with a cut-off point of 44, was 0.69 (c.i.: 0.54-0.84) with a sensitivity of 0.55 and a specificity of 0.90.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The DSRS and CPSS showed good utility in detecting depressive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder in Burundian children, but cut-off points had to be put considerably higher than in western norm populations. The psychometric properties of the SCARED-41 to identify anxiety disorders were less strong. The DSRS and CPSS have acceptable properties, and they could be used in clinical practice as part of a two-stage screening procedure in public mental health programmes in Burundi and in similar cultural and linguistic settings in the African Great Lakes region.
authors: HealthNet TPO, Research and Development Department, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. peter@peterventevogel.com.
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Ventevogel
authors: Ivan H
authors: IH
authors: Komproe
authors: Mark J
authors: MJ
authors: Jordans
authors: Paolo
authors: P
authors: Feo
authors: Joop T V M
authors: JT
authors: De Jong
mesh_terms: D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D019540:Area Under Curve; D002063:Burundi; D002648:Child; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis