Evaluation of the Pediatric Symptom Checklist as a screening tool for the identification of emotional and psychosocial problems

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.