Screening foster children for mental disorders: properties of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire

High prevalence of mental disorders among foster children highlight the need to examine the mental health of children placed out of home. We examined the properties of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in screening school-aged foster children for mental disorders. Foster parents and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2014-07, Vol.9 (7), p.e102134-e102134
Main Authors: Lehmann, Stine, Heiervang, Einar R, Havik, Toril, Havik, Odd E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Algorithms
Analysis
Balances (scales)
Behavior disorders
Biology and Life Sciences
Child
Child & adolescent psychiatry
Child health
Child welfare
Child, Preschool
Childhood mental disorders
Children
Clinical psychology
Comorbidity
Diagnostic systems
Diagnostic tests
Families & family life
Female
Foster carers
Foster children
Foster Home Care
Health problems
Health Surveys
Humans
Male
Mass Screening - methods
Measures
Medical screening
Medicine
Medicine and Health Sciences
Mental disorders
Mental health
Neurodevelopmental Disorders - diagnosis
Neurodevelopmental Disorders - epidemiology
Norway - epidemiology
Parents
Properties (attributes)
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
Psychopathology
Quantitative psychology
Questionnaires
Regression analysis
ROC Curve
Sensitivity
Studies
Surveys
Teachers
Teaching methods
Teenagers
Tests
Well being
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Summary:High prevalence of mental disorders among foster children highlight the need to examine the mental health of children placed out of home. We examined the properties of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in screening school-aged foster children for mental disorders. Foster parents and teachers of 279 foster children completed the SDQ and the diagnostic interview Developmental and Well-Being Assessment (DAWBA). Using the diagnoses derived from the DAWBA as the standard, we examined the performance of the SDQ scales as dimensional measures of mental health problems using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses. Recommended cut-off scores were derived from ROC coordinates. The SDQ predictive algorithms were also examined. ROC analyses supported the screening properties of the SDQ Total difficulties and Impact scores (AUC = 0.80-0.83). Logistic regression analyses showed that the prevalence of mental disorders increased linearly with higher SDQ Total difficulties scores (X2 = 121.47, df = 13, p
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0102134