In response to the Request for Applications #MH-89-22, a three-year study to develop and test instruments and procedures for surveying mental disorders in children and adolescents (ages 9 through 17) is proposed.
It aims to evaluate the applicability of a methodology that can be used in collaborative surveys of mental disorders in this age group, especially in Spanish-speaking respondents. Building on a research program that has already conducted major epidemiologic surveys of Puerto Rican adults and children with unusually high response rates, five major goals are proposed. First, to develop or adapt Spanish versions of existing measures of child's psychopathology and functional impairment (specifically, the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children, DISC2, and the Social Adjustment Inventory for Children and Adolescents, SAICA), of its risk factors (i.e., family psychiatric history, family functioning, marital harmony), and of health services utilization and barriers to care. Second, to test the reliability of these survey measures evaluating both parents and children as informants in a test-retest design. A community sample seeded with clinical cases to increase the likelihood of obtaining some low prevalence child disorders will be used for reliability purposes. Third, to test the lay-administered DISC2 as a diagnostic measure in (BED) provided by two separate psychiatrists who have access to multiple sources of information. A new sample entirely composed of community subjects will be used for """"""""validity"""""""" purposes (third and fourth aims). Fourth, to test the concurrent validity of a modified version of the SAICA with the Child Global Assessment Scale (CGAS) rating made by the psychiatric team. Finally, to conduct a field trial of a Spanish version of the collaboratively developed Common Core Battery of survey instruments. A probability sample designed to represent the island's children and adolescents as well as a sample of children previously psychiatrically-assessed in 1985 are proposed for this latter purpose.
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