research
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Head:Dr. Ruth von Brachel |
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Principal Investigator and Team
Prof. Dr. Silvia Schneider
Eva Charlotte Merten, M.Sc.
Duration
2013 – 2017
Description
The aim of this project was to develop a diagnostic instrument to assess young children’s self-report regarding externalizing disorders. In diagnostics in child mental disorders, especially in ADHD, self-report of children is often neglected. Particularly for preschool children, there is a lack of age-appropriate instruments, which further complicates the inclusion of their view within the diagnostic process. Therefore we developed the Picture Test for ODD, CD and ADHD (P-OCA), a pictorial instrument which assesses 4-8 year old children’s self-report regarding externalizing disorders. Two pilot-studies demonstrated the P-OCA’s comprehensibility, acceptance, quality and utility from both children’s and practitioners’ point of view. In the main-study, the findings regarding acceptance were replicated and further high internal consistencies and good test-retest-reliability of the P-OCA were revealed. Additionally, first hints regarding validity in the sense of discriminating children with and without a diagnosis and an association between children’s perceived distress and child-reported symptom severity were found. These findings suggest the P-OCA is an age-appropriate instrument for reliably assessing self-report in young children. With this, it can contribute to the improvement of the diagnostic process for clinicians working with young children.