Using a Brief Parent-Report Measure to Track Outcomes for Children and Teens with Internalizing Disorders

Hayley S Kamin; Alyssa E McCarthy; Madelaine R Abel; Michael S Jellinek; Lee Baer; J Michael Murphy

doi:10.1007/s10578-014-0525-8

Using a Brief Parent-Report Measure to Track Outcomes for Children and Teens with Internalizing Disorders

Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2015 Dec;46(6):851-62. doi: 10.1007/s10578-014-0525-8.

Authors

Hayley S Kamin¹, Alyssa E McCarthy², Madelaine R Abel³, Michael S Jellinek^{3

4

5}, Lee Baer^{3

4}, J Michael Murphy^{6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
² Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
³ Child Psychiatry Service, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit Street, YAW 6A, Boston, MA, 02114, USA.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
⁵ Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
⁶ Child Psychiatry Service, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit Street, YAW 6A, Boston, MA, 02114, USA. mmurphy6@partners.org.
⁷ Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. mmurphy6@partners.org.

PMID: 25476666
DOI: 10.1007/s10578-014-0525-8

Abstract

The Pediatric Symptom Checklist (PSC) is a widely-used, parent-completed measure of children's emotional and behavioral functioning. Previous research has shown that the PSC and its subscales are generally responsive to patient progress over the course of psychiatric treatment. In this naturalistic study, we examined the performance and utility of the five-item PSC Internalizing Subscale (PSC-IS) as an assessment of routine treatment in outpatient pediatric psychiatry. Parents and clinicians of 1,593 patients aged 17 or younger completed standardized measures at intake and three-month follow-up appointments. Comparisons between PSC-IS scores and clinician-reported diagnoses, internalizing symptoms, and overall functioning showed acceptable levels of agreement. Change scores on the PSC-IS were also larger among patients with internalizing diagnoses than those with non-internalizing diagnoses. As a brief measure of internalizing symptoms, the PSC may be particularly useful to mental health clinicians treating youth with depression and anxiety as a quality assurance or treatment outcome measure.

Keywords: Anxiety disorders; Child psychiatry; Depression; Outcome assessment; Pediatrics.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Anxiety Disorders / psychology
Anxiety Disorders / therapy*
Checklist
Child
Defense Mechanisms
Depressive Disorder / psychology
Depressive Disorder / therapy*
Female
Humans
Male
Parents / psychology
Psychotherapy*
Treatment Outcome