Desarrollo de una versión de 30 items de la Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale

This is to present the factor structure and psychometric properties of a Spanish reduced 30-item version of the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS; Chorpita, Yim, Moffi tt, Umemoto y Francis, 2000) applied to a sample of children and adolescents. This abbreviated form (RCADS-30) consists of six 5-item subscales assessing the same anxiety and depression syndromes as the original scale, that is, panic disorder, social phobia, separation anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and major depressive disorder. Data provide support for factorial validity, internal consistency, normative data, and convergent and discriminant validity of the RCADS-30. Psychometric properties and elevated correlations between both scales suggest that the abbreviated form is similar to the Spanish full version. The RCADS-30 is considered an appropriate multidimensional instrument for research as well as clinical settings.En el presente estudio presentamos la estructura factorial y las propiedades psicométricas de una versión española reducida de 30 items de la Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS; Chorpita, Yim, Moffi tt, Umemoto y Francis, 2000), basado en una muestra de niños y adolescentes. Esta forma abreviada (RCADS-30) consiste en seis subescalas de 5 items que miden los mismos síndromes de ansiedad y depresión que la escala original (i.e., trastorno de pánico, fobia social, trastorno de ansiedad de separación, trastorno de ansiedad generalizada, trastorno obsesivo-compulsivo, y trastorno depresivo mayor). Los resultados apoyan la validez factorial, consistencia interna, datos normativos, y validez convergente y discriminante de la RCADS-30. Las propiedades psicométricas y las elevadas correlaciones entre ambas escalas sugieren que la forma abreviada es similar a la forma completa. Sugerimos que la RCADS-30 es un instrumento multidimensional apropiado tanto para situaciones de investigación como clínicas

Structural relationships among dimensions of the DSM-IV anxiety and mood disorders and dimensions of negative affect, positive affect, and autonomic arousal.

Using outpatients with anxiety and mood disorders (N = 350), Ihe authors tested several models of the structural relationships of dimensions of key features of selected emotional disorders and dimensions of the tripartite model of anxiety and depression. Results supported the discriminant validity of the 5 symptom domains examined (mood disorders; generalized anxiety disorder, GAD; panic disorder; obsessive-compulsive disorder; social phobia). Of various structural models evaluated, the best fitting involved a structure consistent with the tripartite model (e.g., the higher order factors, negative affect and positive affect, influenced emotional disorder factors in the expected manner). The latent factor, GAD, influenced the latent factor, autonomic arousal, in a direction consistent with recent laboratory findings (autonomic suppression). Findings are discussed in the context of the growing literature on higher order trait dimensions (e.g., negative affect) that may be of considerable importance to the understanding of the pathogenesis, course, and co-occurrence of emotional disorders. Over the past few decades, the number of diagnostic categories has increased markedly with each edition of the major classification systems for mental disorders (e.g., the Diagnostic an

A Psychometric Analysis of the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale—Parent Version in a Clinical Sample

The Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale—Parent Version (RCADS-P) is a 47-item parent-report questionnaire of youth anxiety and depression, with scales corresponding to the DSM-IV categories of Separation Anxiety Disorder, Social Phobia, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Panic Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). The RCADS-P is currently the only parent-report questionnaire that concurrently assesses youth symptomatology of individual anxiety disorders as well as depression in accordance with DSM-IV nosology. The present study examined the psychometric properties of the RCADS-P in a large (N = 490), clinic-referred sample of youths. The RCADS-P demonstrated favorable psychometric properties, including high internal consistency, convergent/divergent validity, as well as strong discriminant validity—evidencing an ability to discriminate between anxiety and depressive disorders, as well as between the targeted anxiety disorders. Support for the DSM-related six-factor RCADS-P structure was also evidenced. This structure demonstrated superior fit to a recently suggested alternative to the DSM-IV classification of anxiety and affective disorders—namely, the MDD/GAD “distress” factor

A Framework for Measurement Feedback to Improve Decision-Making in Mental Health

The authors present a multi-level framework for conceptualizing and designing measurement systems to improve decision-making in the treatment and prevention of child and adolescent mental health problems as well as the promotion of well-being. Also included is a description of the recommended drivers of the development and refinement of these measurement systems and the importance of the architecture upon which these measurement systems are built. The authors conclude with a set of recommendations for the next steps for the field

Integrity of Evidence-Based Practice: Are Providers Modifying Practice Content or Practice Sequencing?

This study examined patterns of evidence-based treatment (EBT) implementation within community settings by evaluating integrity along separate dimensions of practice content (PC; a session included the prescribed procedure) and practice sequencing (a session occurred in the prescribed sequence) within a recent randomized effectiveness trial. We measured whether sessions showed integrity to PC and to flexible or linear practice sequences. Findings revealed that providers tended to incorporate content from the EBT protocol in most treatment sessions, but that the sequencing of the sessions was often modified, suggesting that providers are amenable to evidence-based procedures, but not necessarily their prescribed arrangement.Psycholog

The Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale-Short Version: Scale reduction via exploratory bifactor modeling of the broad anxiety factor.

Using a school-based (N = 1,060) and clinic-referred (N = 303) youth sample, the authors developed a 25-item shortened version of the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS) using Schmid-Leiman exploratory bifactor analysis to reduce client burden and administration time and thus improve the transportability characteristics of this youth anxiety and depression measure. Results revealed that all anxiety items primarily reflected a single “broad anxiety” dimension, which informed the development of a reduced 15-item Anxiety Total scale. Although specific DSM-oriented anxiety subscales were not included in this version, the items comprising the Anxiety Total scale were evenly pulled from the 5 anxiety-related content domains from the original RCADS. The resultant 15-item Anxiety Total scale evidenced significant correspondence with anxiety diagnostic groups based on structured clinical interviews. The scores from the 10-item Depression Total scale (retained from the original version) were also associated with acceptable reliability in the clinic-referred and school-based samples (α = .80 and .79, respectively); this is in contrast to the alternate 5-item shortened RCADS Depression Total scale previously developed by Muris, Meesters, and Schouten (2002), which evidenced depression scores of unacceptable reliability (α = .63). The shortened RCADS developed in the present study thus balances efficiency, breadth, and scale score reliability in a way that is potentially useful for repeated measurement in clinical settings as well as wide-scale screenings that assess anxiety and depressive problems. These future applications are discussed, as are recommendations for continued use of exploratory bifactor modeling in scale development.Psycholog

A Psychometric Analysis of the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scales—Parent Version in a School Sample

The Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale—Parent Version (RCADS-P) is a parent-report questionnaire of youth anxiety and depression with scales corresponding to the DSM diagnoses of separation anxiety disorder, social phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and major depressive disorder. The RCADS-P was recently developed and has previously demonstrated strong psychometric properties in a clinic-referred sample (Ebesutani et al., Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 38, 249–260, 2010b). The present study examined the psychometric properties of the RCADS-P in a school-based population. As completed by parents of 967 children and adolescents, the RCADS-P demonstrated high internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and good convergent/divergent validity, supporting the RCADS-P as a measure of internalizing problems specific to depression and five anxiety disorders in school samples. Normative data are also reported to allow for the derivation of T-scores to enhance clinicians’ ability to make classification decisions using RCADS-P subscale scores

Concurrent Validity of the Child Behavior Checklist DSM-Oriented Scales: Correspondence with DSM Diagnoses and Comparison to Syndrome Scales

This study used receiver operating characteristic (ROC) methodology and discriminative analyses to examine the correspondence of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) rationally-derived DSM-oriented scales and empirically-derived syndrome scales with clinical diagnoses in a clinic-referred sample of children and adolescents (N = 476). Although results demonstrated that the CBCL Anxiety, Affective, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity, Oppositional and Conduct Problems DSM-oriented scales corresponded significantly with related clinical diagnoses derived from parent-based structured interviews, these DSM-oriented scales did not evidence significantly greater correspondence with clinical diagnoses than the syndrome scales in all cases but one. The DSM-oriented Anxiety Problems scale was the only scale that evidenced significantly greater correspondence with diagnoses above its syndrome scale counterpart —the Anxious/Depressed scale. The recently developed and rationally-derived DSM-oriented scales thus generally do not add incremental clinical utility above that already afforded by the syndrome scales with respect to corresponding with diagnoses. Implications of these findings are discussed