Use of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function and Child Behavior Checklist in Ugandan Children with HIV or a History of Severe Malaria.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the structural overlap between the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) and Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) among children in Uganda.


METHODS
Caregiver ratings for the BRIEF and CBCL were obtained for 2 independent samples of school-aged children: 106 children (5-12 years old, 50% males) with a history of severe malaria and on 144 HIV-infected children (5-12 years old, 58% males) in Uganda. Exploratory factor analysis was used to evaluate the factor structure of the 8 subscales for the BRIEF and the 8 scales of the CBCL to determine correlation.


RESULTS
Overall, children in the severe malaria group had higher (increased symptom) BRIEF and CBCL scores than those in the HIV-infected group. Three factors that provided a reasonable fit to the data and could be characterized as 3 specific domains were identified: (1) Metacognition, which consisted of the scales in the BRIEF Metacognition domain, (2) Behavioral Adjustment, which comprised of the scales in the BRIEF Behavioral Regulation domain and the Externalizing Symptoms scales in the CBCL, and (3) Emotional Adjustment, which mainly consisted of the Internalizing Symptoms scales in the CBCL. The BRIEF Behavior Regulation and CBCL Externalizing Symptoms scales, however, did overlap in terms of assessing similar behavior symptoms. These findings were consistent across the severe malaria and HIV-infected samples of children.


CONCLUSIONS
The BRIEF and CBCL instruments offer distinct, yet complementary, assessments of behavior in clinical pediatric populations in the Ugandan context, supporting the use of these measures for similar research settings.
*Department of Psychiatry, Michigan State University, Lansing, MI; †Departments of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI; ‡Department of Psychiatry, Makerere University College of Health Sciences, Kampala, Uganda; §Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Makerere University College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
Itziar
I
Familiar
Horacio
H
Ruisenor-Escudero
Bruno
B
Giordani
Paul
P
Bangirana
Noeline
N
Nakasujja
Robert
R
Opoka
Michael
M
Boivin
D000275:Adjustment Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D057189:Checklist; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008288:Malaria / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000592:standards*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014454:Uganda