reliability and validity study of a rating scale for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in Egyptian children and adolescents

ABSTRACT

The Conners Parent-Teacher Rating Scale has been used widely in assessment and treatment studies of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder [ADHD] and proved to be of high reliability and validity. This study reports on the reliability and validity of the Arab version of Conners Rating Scale as used by parents, teachers and other raters in three different groups of Egyptian children and adolescents. A healthy group of normal preschoolers, a medically referred group of children, and a group of children and adolescents with the diagnosis of ADHD. Test-retest and inter-rater reliability were analyzed. The high digrees of reliability for the normal preschoolers [r=0.96] and the ADHD group [r=0.64 and 0.68] in contrast to the medically referred group [r=0.53] are discussed. It is emphasized that such a scale should be under no circumstances used as a means for diagnosing ADHD in children, rather it should be viewed as providing additional data that may facilitate the interpretation of other clinical material and assist in the assessment of treatment efficacy