title: The development and evaluation of the paediatric index of emotional distress (PI-ED).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Current measures of anxiety and depression for children and young people (CYP) include somatic symptoms and can be lengthy. They can inflate scores in cases where there is also physical illness, contain potentially distressing symptoms for some settings and be impractical in clinical practice. The present study aimed to develop and evaluate a new questionnaire, the paediatric index of emotional distress (PI-ED), to screen for emotional distress in CYP, modelled on the hospital anxiety and depression scale.
  
  
  METHODS
  A school-based sample (n = 1026) was employed to examine the PI-ED's psychometric properties and a clinical sample of CYP (n = 143) was used to establish its sensitivity and specificity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses identified a bi-factor model with a general emotional distress factor ('cothymia') and anxiety and depression as co-factors. The PI-ED demonstrated good psychometric properties and clinical utility with a cutoff score of 20.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The PI-ED is a brief, valid and reliable clinical screening tool for emotional distress in CYP.
authors.affiliation: Children and Young People's Mental Health, Psychology Directorate, NHS Education for Scotland, 2 Central Quay, 89 Hydepark Street, Glasgow, G3 8BW, UK. Suzy.oconnor@glasgow.ac.uk.|Mental Health and Wellbeing Research Group, Institute of Health and Wellbeing, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow Academic Centre, Gartnavel Royal Hospital, 1055 Great Western Road, Glasgow, G12 0XH, UK. Suzy.oconnor@glasgow.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Suzy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: O'Connor
authors.affiliation: University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
authors.forename: Eamonn
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ferguson
authors.affiliation: NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Ayr, UK.
authors.forename: Terri
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Carney
authors.affiliation: Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, Jersey, UK.
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: House
authors.affiliation: Mental Health and Wellbeing Research Group, Institute of Health and Wellbeing, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow Academic Centre, Gartnavel Royal Hospital, 1055 Great Western Road, Glasgow, G12 0XH, UK.
authors.forename: Rory C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: O'Connor
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002648:Child; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000592:standards*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis*
keywords: Anxiety; Children/young people; Depression; Emotional distress; HADs; PI-ED; Psychometrics; Sensitivity; Specificity