Using a Brief Parent-Report Measure to Track Outcomes for Children and Teens with Internalizing Disorders

• Published in: Child psychiatry and human development 2015-12, Vol.46 (6), p.851-862
• Main Authors: Kamin, Hayley S., McCarthy, Alyssa E., Abel, Madelaine R., Jellinek, Michael S., Baer, Lee, Murphy, J. Michael
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accountability; Adolescent; Adolescents; Adults; Anxiety; Anxiety Disorders; Anxiety Disorders - psychology; Anxiety Disorders - therapy; Anxiety-Depression; Appointments; Behavior problems; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Behaviour disordered children; Check Lists; Checklist; Child; Child & adolescent psychiatry; Child and School Psychology; Children; Defense Mechanisms; Depression; Depression (Psychology); Depressive Disorder - psychology; Depressive Disorder - therapy; Early Parenthood; Effect Size; Emotional behavior; Emotional Disturbances; Emotional-Behavioural problems; Female; Humans; Improvement Programs; Internalization; Male; Mental depression; Mental disorders; Mental health professionals; Original Article; Outcome Measures; Outcomes of Treatment; Outpatient treatment; Parents; Parents & parenting; Parents - psychology; Patients; Psychiatry; Psychology; Psychopathology; Psychotherapy; Quality Assurance; Quality control; Resistance (Psychology); Resource Allocation; Symptoms; Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Treatment Outcome
• ISSN: 0009-398X; 1573-3327
• DOI: 10.1007/s10578-014-0525-8

The Pediatric Symptom Checklist (PSC) is a widely-used, parent-completed measure of children’s emotional and behavioral functioning. Previous research has shown that the PSC and its subscales are generally responsive to patient progress over the course of psychiatric treatment. In this naturalistic study, we examined the performance and utility of the five-item PSC Internalizing Subscale (PSC-IS) as an assessment of routine treatment in outpatient pediatric psychiatry. Parents and clinicians of 1,593 patients aged 17 or younger completed standardized measures at intake and three-month follow-up appointments. Comparisons between PSC-IS scores and clinician-reported diagnoses, internalizing symptoms, and overall functioning showed acceptable levels of agreement. Change scores on the PSC-IS were also larger among patients with internalizing diagnoses than those with non-internalizing diagnoses. As a brief measure of internalizing symptoms, the PSC may be particularly useful to mental health clinicians treating youth with depression and anxiety as a quality assurance or treatment outcome measure.