Psychometric properties of a pictorial instrument for assessing psychopathology in youth aged 12 to 15 years: the Dominic Interactive for Adolescents.

OBJECTIVES: Over the last 15 years, adequate psychometric properties of the different versions of the Dominic led to the development of the Dominic Interactive for Adolescents (DIA). The DIA is a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), Fourth Edition, Text Revision-based self-administered computerized pictorial instrument for assessing the most frequent mental disorders in adolescents aged 12 to 15 years. Our study aims to verify the internal consistency, the test-retest estimate of reliability, and the criterion-related validity of this instrument. METHOD: The total sample included 607 adolescents living in the Montreal urban area recruited from the community (465 French-speaking) and the clinical population (142 French-speaking). Internal consistency was evaluated by Cronbach's alpha coefficients and test-retest estimate of reliability by the kappas and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). Two criteria are indicative of criterion-related validity of the DIA: clinical judgment on the presence or absence of symptoms (scored independently by 3 judges) and the adolescents' referrals to outpatient psychiatric clinics. RESULTS: For most symptom scales of the DIA, Cronbach's alpha coefficients varied from 0.69 to 0.89, test-retest kappas were 0.50 or greater, and ICCs ranged from 0.78 to 0.87. The criterion-related validity was demonstrated for symptoms, symptom scales, and the categories based on the symptom scale cut-off points. CONCLUSION: As no informant can be considered the criterion standard of psychopathology, the interview with adolescents regarding their own symptoms is necessary. Findings from our study reasonably support adequate psychometric properties of the DIA in adolescents aged 12 to 15 years.

Psychometric properties of the Dominic Interactive in a large French sample.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the psychometric properties of the Dominic Interactive (DI) in school-aged children in a different cultural environment than Quebec. METHODS: In a large French region, 100 schools and 25 children (aged 6 to 11 years) per school were randomly selected. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires to children (DI), parents (sociodemographic characteristics, mental health services use), and teachers (child school achievement). DI psychometric properties were assessed by examining: the distribution of each DI diagnosis; comorbidity between diagnoses; alpha coefficients measuring internal consistency; and correlates of psychopathologies with sociodemographic status and health care services use. Estimates of DI properties were compared with those from a sample of community children in Quebec. RESULTS: Complete data were available for 1274 children (54.4%). The internal consistency of each DI diagnosis of the French version was reasonable, with Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranging from 0.62 to 0.89. The psychometric properties and comorbidity were consistent with the version from Quebec. CONCLUSIONS: The satisfactory psychometric properties of the DI along with other demonstrated advantages of this instrument (children enjoy the activity, parents approve of it, and it is cost-effective) and its cultural adaptability support the consideration of the DI for epidemiologic studies in diverse cultures.

Correlates of depressive disorders in the Quebec general population 6 to 14 years of age.

There are relatively few community-based epidemiological studies in which correlates of depressive disorders were identified through multivariate analyses in children and adolescents aged 6--14 years. Moreover, several family characteristics (e.g., parent-child relationship) have never been explored in this regard. The purpose of this study was twofold. Using data from the Quebec Child Mental Health Survey, it sought: (1) to identify psychosocial correlates associated with depressive disorder in two age-groups (6--11 and 12-14 years) according to informant (child/adolescent, parent); and (2) to interpret the relative importance of correlates by ranking variables according to strength and consistency of association across age-groups. Logistic regression models show correlates to be inconsistent across informants. The ranking of correlates indicates a major contribution of only-child status/ordinal position, parent's major depressive disorder, stressful family events, and parent-child relationship, thereby supporting the hypothesis of the relevance of family context in the development of depression.

Development and reliability of a pictorial mental disorders screen for young adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: To report psychometric data from preliminary studies of the Adolescent Dominic (AD), a pictorial screen for the most frequent Axis I youth mental disorders. METHODS: We created 113 picture items based on DSM-III-R diagnostic criteria and assessed them for comprehension (sample 1, n = 114; sample 2, n = 40) and reliability (sample 3, n = 128) in a group of adolescents aged 12 to 16 years living in the community. We used the kappa statistic to estimate test-retest reliability of symptoms, criteria and diagnoses, and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) for symptom and criterion scores. We assessed internal consistency of symptom scores with the alpha coefficient. RESULTS: For symptoms, 54.4% of kappas were higher than 0.60, while only 2% were poor. ICCs for symptom scores yielded higher values (0.81 to 0.89) than for criterion scores (0.51 to 0.86). Internal consistency of symptom scores ranged from 0.52 to 0.83. Kappas for diagnoses ranged from 0.52 to 0.76. CONCLUSIONS: Symptom reliability compared favourably with data from other assessment interviews of youth mental disorders. Following these positive results, a computerized DSM-IV version of the AD has focused on the assessment of symptoms and is currently being tested for reliability and criterion validity.