Validating the Pediatric Symptoms Checklist–17 in the Preschool Environment

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 460-474
Author(s):  
Jin Liu ◽  
Yin Burgess ◽  
Christine DiStefano ◽  
Fan Pan ◽  
Ning Jiang

In the Response to Intervention framework, a psychometrically sound screening tool is essential for identification of children with emotional and behavioral risk. The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of the Pediatric Symptom Checklist–17 (PSC-17) screener in school-based settings. Forty-four teachers rated 738 preschoolers using the PSC-17; children were later assessed using long forms of the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC-2) Preschool form or the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA) Caregiver–Teacher Report Form to identify emotional and behavioral disorder. Validity evidence including examinations of a multilevel factor structure, internal consistency, and criterion-related validity supported the conclusion that the PSC-17 is a high-quality universal screening tool in school-based settings. Finally, to identify emotional and behavioral risk with young children, receiver operating characteristic curve analyses with the PSC-17 yielded a lower cutoff score (i.e., 7) than the original cutoff score (i.e., 15) based on a clinical sample.

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (6) ◽  
pp. 611-616
Author(s):  
Tarik Qassem ◽  
Mohamed S. Khater ◽  
Tamer Emara ◽  
Doha Rasheedy ◽  
Heba M. Tawfik ◽  
...  

<b><i>Background:</i></b> The mini-Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination (m-ACE) is a brief cognitive battery that assesses 5 subdomains of cognition (attention, memory, verbal fluency, visuospatial abilities, and memory recall). It is scored out of 30 and can be administered in under 5 min providing a quick screening tool for assessment of cognition. <b><i>Objectives:</i></b> We aimed to adapt the m-ACE in Arabic speakers in Egypt and to validate it in dementia patients to provide cutoff scores. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> We included 37 patients with dementia (Alzheimer’s disease [<i>n</i> = 25], vascular dementia [<i>n</i> = 8], and dementia with Lewy body [<i>n</i> = 4]) and 43 controls. <b><i>Results:</i></b> There was a statistically significant difference (<i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.001) on the total m-ACE score between dementia patients (mean 10.54 and standard deviation [SD] 5.83) and controls (mean 24.02 and SD 2.75). There was also a statistically significant difference between dementia patients and controls on all sub-score domains of the m-ACE (<i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.05). Performance on the m-ACE significantly correlated with both the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination-III (ACE-III). Using a receiver operator characteristic curve, the optimal cutoff score for dementia on the m-ACE total score was found to be 18 (92% sensitivity, 95% specificity, and 94% accuracy). <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> We adapted the m-ACE in Arabic speakers in Egypt and provided objective validation of it as a screening tool for dementia, with high sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy.


2013 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Regina B. Muzzolon ◽  
Mônica Nunes L. Cat ◽  
Lúcia Helena C. dos Santos

OBJECTIVE To investigate the Brazilian version of Pediatric Symptom Checklist (PSC) as a screening tool to identify psychosocial and emotional problems in schoolchildren from six to 12 years old. METHODS Diagnostic test conducted in a public school of Curitiba, Paraná (Southern Brazil), to evaluate the PSC accuracy and consistency, considering the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) as the gold standard. Among 415 parents invited for the study, 145 responded to both PSC and CBCL. The results of the two instruments were compared. PSC and CBCL were considered positive if scores ≥28 and >70 respectively. RESULTS Among the 145 cases, 49 (33.8%) were positive for both PSC and CBCL. The ROC curve showed the PSC score of 21 as the best cutoff point for screening psychosocial and emotional problems, with a sensitivity of 96.8% and a specificity of 86.7%. Regarding the reference cutoff (score ≥28 points), the sensitivity was 64.5% and the specificity, 100.0%, similar to those found in the original version of the tool. CONCLUSIONS The Portuguese version of PSC was effective for early identification of emotional and/or psychosocial problems in a schoolchildren group and may be useful for pediatricians.


2020 ◽  
pp. 073428292095172
Author(s):  
Jiandong Wang ◽  
Jin Liu ◽  
Christine DiStefano ◽  
Gaofeng Pan ◽  
Ruiqin Gao ◽  
...  

Deep neural network (DNN) has been widely used in various artificial intelligence applications and is, unsurprisingly, penetrating the field of school psychology. In the school environment, universal screening is used by teachers to identify children’s emotional and behavioral risk (EBR) within a screener. EBR can be used to predict possible emotional and behavioral disorders, which impact children’s educational and social outcomes. Using the BASC-2 Behavioral and Emotional Screening System Teacher Rating Scale (BASC-2 BESS TRS; Reynolds & Kamphaus (2004). Behavior Assessment System for Children (2nd ed.). Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service) norm data, we classified children’s EBR status from normal to at-risk using DNN. Data oversampling was used to overcome the imbalanced sample feature (i.e., few cases with emotional and behavioral disorder). Traditional machine learning methods, such as Naïve Bayes and logistic regression, were included for comparison. The results indicated that the DNN with oversampling achieved the highest performance levels with accuracy (ACC) of .957, precision (PPV) of .545, true positive rate (TPR or sensitivity) of 1.000, and true negative rate (TNR or specificity) of .942 compared with the other methods. This novel method is helpful to provide accurate screening results for early identification of children’s EBR. The current study provides a useful guide for researchers to apply the DNN and oversampling to classification in assessment-related research.


2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Dowdy ◽  
Christine DiStefano ◽  
Fred Greer ◽  
Stephanie Moore ◽  
Kelvin Pompey

Screening for emotional and behavioral risk at the preschool level provides an opportunity to inform early intervention and prevention efforts. This study reports initial validation information for the Behavioral Assessment System for Children–Third Edition, Behavioral and Emotional Screening System, Parent Form–Preschool (BASC-3 BESS Parent-P). Using an Integrative Data Analysis framework, the BASC-3 BESS Parent-P latent structure was investigated using the norming sample from the BASC-3 ( n = 459) as well as two randomly split samples from the BASC-2 norming sample (development sample n = 770; validation sample n = 799). Five models were tested using confirmatory factor analyses; findings suggested a four-factor oblique solution, including Internalizing Risk, Externalizing Risk, Adaptive Skills, and Attention Problems factors. Future research directions and use in school-based screening applications are presented.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 2499
Author(s):  
Víctor-María López-Ramos ◽  
Benito León-del-Barco ◽  
Santiago Mendo-Lázaro ◽  
María-Isabel Polo-del-Río

Last year, the COVID-19 pandemic had severe consequences on the health and well-being of millions of people. Different studies try to identify the main effects that the crisis and several lockdowns have had on the citizens’ mental health. This research analyses the coping strategies generated by students from a community group and a clinical group in response to this crisis, using the Coping Responses Inventory—Adult Form (CRI-A) by Moos with a sample of 1074 students of Universidad de Extremadura. Multivariate analysis and receiver operating characteristic curve analysis have been carried out, revealing, amongst other things, a greater predisposition of the clinical sample towards factors such as seeking guidance and support, cognitive avoidance or emotional discharge. Results show that students with prior mental health problems perform an unhealthy coping response based on avoidance strategies. This group of students suffers a double source of distress and anxiety, one derived from their prior psychopathologic problems and the stress of the lockdown and another one originating from an inefficient coping response, which makes coping strategies raise levels of distress and anxiety.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S188-S189
Author(s):  
C Canaletti ◽  
F Colombo ◽  
A Dessì ◽  
E Geccherle ◽  
A Tongiorgi ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Roughly 50% of patients with IBD have symptoms of psychological distress (Mikocka-Walus et al. 2019) but only 15.2% receive attention for their mental health although the effect on disease severity can be profound. It is necessary to have an easy-to-administer psychological distress screening tool. The distress thermometer (DT) is a single-item distress screening scale with 11-likert response widely used in oncological patients. The aim of study was to determine whether the single-item DT compared favourably with IBD clinical indices and time consuming measures currently used to screen for distress. Methods Two hundered and twenty IBD patients (51.43% male) who were recruited in eight Italian hospitals completed the DT and identified the presence or absence of 34 problems using standardised problem list (PL). They completed the 14-item Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the 32-item Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (IBDQ). Disease clinical indices have been collected for each patient (Mayo score, Harvey–Bradshaw Index–HBI, years of illness, and exacerbation in the last year). Using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses validated the use of the DT in Italian IBD population. Results 47.6% reported anxiety and depression symptoms (HADS ≥15) and needs emotional care. Anxiety is much more associated (43.8%) than depressive problems (26.2%). Data are confirmed by responses to DT and PL: 44.5% of patients reported moderate–severe emotional distress (TD ≥ 5), 43.1% of patients report nervousness and worry, 27.1% reported depression. We observed a strong positive correlation between IBDQ and HADS (r = 0.74, p &lt; 0.001) and DT (r = 0.58, p &lt; 0.001), while there was a slightly smaller association with Mayo score (r = 0.46, p &lt; 0.001) and HBI (r = 0.39, p &lt; 0.001). There was not a statistical significant correlation between disease indices and the emotional distress as measured by HADS or DT. ROC analyses showed that a DT cutoff score of 5 or higher had optimal sensitivity (83%) and specificity (68%) relative to the HADS score as ‘gold’ standard. DT scores yielded area under the curve estimates relative to the HADS cutoff score indicative of good overall accuracy (AUC = 0.81–95% CI: 0.77–0.85). Conclusion Our study confirms that anxiety and depression symptoms are associated with IBD. This is the first study that demonstrated that DT is an easy-to-administer screening tool of psychosocial distress in IBD population. We propose that gastroenterologists use DT to identify patients with psychological distress: an early psychological support and a multidisclinar equipe can determinate a patient’s better disease course (Mawdsley et al. 2005). Our analyses indicated that using a DT’s cutoff of 5 to indicate high levels of distress.


2021 ◽  
pp. 089719002199701
Author(s):  
Eileen D. Ward ◽  
Whitney A. Hopkins ◽  
Kayce Shealy

Background: The American Diabetes Association (ADA) Diabetes Risk Test (DRT) is a screening tool to identify people at risk for developing diabetes. Individuals with a DRT score of 5 or higher may have prediabetes or diabetes and should see a healthcare provider. Objective: To determine how many additional employees are identified as being at risk for developing diabetes during an employee wellness screening by using a more stringent DRT cutoff score of 4 instead of 5. Methods: During an annual employee wellness screening event, a hemoglobin A1C (A1c) was drawn for participants with a DRT score of > 4 or by request regardless of risk score. A1C values were classified as normal (<5.7%), prediabetes (>5.7 and <6.5%) or diabetes (>6.5%). Risk scores and A1C values were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Cost of additional laboratory testing was also reviewed. Results: An A1C was collected for 158 participants. Fourteen of 50 (28%) participants with a DRT of 4 had A1c values in the prediabetes range and no history of diabetes or prediabetes. Using the lower DRT score of 4 resulted in an additional expenditure of $305 with $85.40 resulting in the identification of an otherwise unaware person at risk for developing diabetes. Conclusion: Using a DRT cutoff score of 4 as part of an employee wellness screening program resulted in additional laboratory costs to identify persons at risk for developing diabetes but also allowed for earlier education to slow or stop the progression to diabetes which may reduce healthcare costs over time.


BMC Cancer ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Junren Kang ◽  
Hailong Li ◽  
Xiaodong Shi ◽  
Enling Ma ◽  
Wei Chen

Abstract Background Malnutrition is common in cancer patients. The NUTRISCORE is a newly developed cancer-specific nutritional screening tool and was validated by comparison with the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) and Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST) in Spain. We aimed to evaluate the performance of the NUTRISCORE, MST, and PG-SGA in estimating the risk of malnutrition in Chinese cancer patients. Methods Data from an open parallel and multicenter cross-sectional study in 29 clinical teaching hospitals in 14 Chinese cities were used. Cancer patients were assessed for malnutrition using the PG-SGA, NUTRISCORE, and MST. The sensitivity, specificity, and areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve were estimated for the NUTRISCORE and MST using the PG-SGA as a reference. Results A total of 1000 cancer patients were included. The mean age was 55.9 (19 to 92 years), and 47.5% were male. Of these patients, 450 (45.0%) had PG-SGA B and C, 29 (2.9%) had a NUTRISCORE ≥5, and 367 (36.7%) had an MST ≥ 2. Using the PG-SGA as a reference, the sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve values of the NUTRISCORE were found to be 6.2, 99.8%, and 0.53, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve values of the MST were 50.9, 74.9%, and 0.63, respectively. The kappa index between the NUTRISCORE and PG-SGA was 0.066, and that between the MST and PG-SGA was 0.262 (P < 0.05). Conclusions The NUTRISCORE had an extremely low sensitivity in cancer patients in China compared with the MST when the PG-SGA was used as a reference.


2020 ◽  
Vol 137 ◽  
pp. 106128
Author(s):  
Thatiana J.P. Pinto ◽  
Eliane P. Mendonça ◽  
Katia V. Bloch ◽  
Geraldo M. Cunha ◽  
Evandro S.F. Coutinho

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 857-862 ◽  
Author(s):  
April L. McPherson ◽  
Julian A. Feller ◽  
Timothy E. Hewett ◽  
Kate E. Webster

Background: Psychological responses after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury and ACL reconstruction (ACLR) have been identified as predictors of return to sport but have not been investigated in relation to further injury. Purpose/Hypothesis: To determine whether psychological readiness to return to sport is associated with second ACL injury. It was hypothesized a priori that at both preoperative and 12-month postoperative time points, patients who sustained a second ACL injury would have lower psychological readiness than patients who did not have a second injury. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 2. Methods: Patients who had a primary ACLR procedure between June 2014 and June 2016 completed the ACL–Return to Sport after Injury (ACL-RSI) (short version) scale before their ACLR and repeated the scale at 12 months after surgery to assess psychological readiness to return to sport. Patients were followed for a minimum of 2 years (range, 2-4 years) after surgery to determine further injury. The primary outcome was the relationship between ACL-RSI scores and the incidence of second ACL injury. Results: In 329 patients who returned to sport after ACLR, 52 (16%) sustained a second ACL injury. No difference in psychological readiness was observed at the preoperative time point, but patients who sustained a second injury trended toward lower psychological readiness at 12 months compared with noninjured patients (60.9 vs 67.2 points; P = .11). Younger (≤20 years) patients with injury had significantly lower psychological readiness to return to sport than young noninjured patients (60.8 vs 71.5 points; P = .02), but no difference was found in older patients (60.9 vs 64.6 points; P = .58). In younger patients, receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed a cutoff score of 76.7 points with 90% sensitivity to identify younger patients who sustained a second ACL injury. Conclusion: Younger patients with lower psychological readiness are at higher risk for a second ACL injury after return to sport.


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