SDQ
How valid and reliable is the SDQ in screening for mental disorders?
The Strengths and Difficulties Scale (SDQ) is used worldwide to diagnose mental disorders. In the Netherlands too. Scientific research has confirmed that the SDQ is appropriate for use with children. However, this was not yet confirmed in relation to adolescents, despite the instrument being widely used with this group. We therefore investigated whether the SDQ measures what it intends to measure when used with adolescents and whether the questionnaire outcome is reliable.
The results
The SDQ comprises both a questionnaire for adolescents to complete and a questionnaire for adults to complete for their child. The findings indicate that the SDQ is an appropriate tool to screen for psychosocial problems among adolescents. This is particularly true of the parent version. Our findings suggest it is reasonably helpful to use the SDQ at an early stage in the diagnostic process in order to direct the process and that, in many cases, using the parents as informants will suffice.
The findings indicate that the SDQ is an appropriate tool to screen for psychosocial problems among adolescents.
What do these results mean for practice?
The outcomes of this research study are important because the SDQ is a widely used instrument in diagnosing mental disorders - for adolescents too. Our findings support the way in which the SDQ is already used in practice. The outcomes are now also being incorporated in the manual for using the SDQ.
The research study
We researched both the questionnaire completed by the adolescents and the questionnaire completed by parents for their child. We compared adolescents aged between 12 and 17 years from the general population with adolescents already registered with Accare.
Collaboration
This research study is a collaboration between Accare and the Department of Psychology at the University of Groningen.