© 2000 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) to screen for child psychiatric disorders in a community sample
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London
Social Survey Division, Office for National Statistics, London
Correspondence: Professor Robert Goodman, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK
Declaration of interest Support received from the UK Department of Health.
Background Child psychiatric disorders are common and treatable, but often go undetected and therefore remain untreated.
Aims To assess the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) as a potential means for improving the detection of child psychiatric disorders in the community.
Method SDQ predictions and independent psychiatric diagnoses were compared in a community sample of 7984 5- to 15-year-olds from the 1999 British Child Mental Health Survey.
Results Multi-informant (parents, teachers, older children) SDQs identified individuals with a psychiatric diagnosis with a specificity of 94.6% (95% Cl 94.1-95.1%) and a sensitivity of 63.3% (59.7-66.9%). The questionnaires identified over 70% of individuals with conduct, hyperactivity, depressive and some anxiety disorders, but under 50% of individuals with specific phobias, separation anxiety and eating disorders. Sensitivity was substantially poorer with single-informant rather than multi-informant SDQs.
Conclusions Community screening programmes based on multi-informant SDQs could potentially increase the detection of child psychiatric disorders, thereby improving access to effective treatments.
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