Cargando…

Validation of the Diagnostic Infant and Preschool Assessment in a Danish, trauma-exposed sample of young children

BACKGROUND: There exist only few developmentally sensitive assessment instruments for identifying posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other potentially comorbid affective and behavioral symptomatology in preschool children. Consequently, young children who exhibit post-trauma symptomatology ris...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Løkkegaard, Sille Schandorph, Elmose, Mette, Elklit, Ask
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Exeley Inc. 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7709942/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33520767
http://dx.doi.org/10.21307/sjcapp-2019-007
_version_ 1783617851654930432
author Løkkegaard, Sille Schandorph
Elmose, Mette
Elklit, Ask
author_facet Løkkegaard, Sille Schandorph
Elmose, Mette
Elklit, Ask
author_sort Løkkegaard, Sille Schandorph
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: There exist only few developmentally sensitive assessment instruments for identifying posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other potentially comorbid affective and behavioral symptomatology in preschool children. Consequently, young children who exhibit post-trauma symptomatology risk not being identified and not receiving the appropriate treatment. One of the few instruments that exist is the Diagnostic Infant and Preschool Assessment (DIPA). OBJECTIVE: To examine internal reliability and convergent validity of the Danish version of the DIPA, a semi-structured interview of caregivers about their child’s mental health. METHOD: In total, 62 caregivers of trauma-exposed children aged 1-6 years were interviewed with the DIPA and completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). RESULTS: The children had experienced between one and eight traumas (Mdn = 3). Based on the DIPA, 48.4% of the children exhibited PTSD. The DIPA showed good to excellent internal consistency for the disorders of major depressive disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, separation anxiety disorder and overall internal consistency of PTSD and reactive attachment disorder. Internal consistency was lower for each symptom cluster of PTSD and the overall consistency of sleep disorder with Cronbach’s alpha ranging between 0.54 and 0.69. Correlations between continuous scores of eight disorders of the DIPA and SDQ scales provided support for convergent validity of the DIPA. CONCLUSION: The study provides preliminary evidence to support the Danish version of DIPA as a valid measure of symptoms of young children exposed to psychological trauma. As a standardized assessment tool, the DIPA can aid in early and structured assessment of young children exposed to trauma and can help guide treatment for those in need.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7709942
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2019
publisher Exeley Inc.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-77099422021-01-28 Validation of the Diagnostic Infant and Preschool Assessment in a Danish, trauma-exposed sample of young children Løkkegaard, Sille Schandorph Elmose, Mette Elklit, Ask Scand J Child Adolesc Psychiatr Psychol Medicine BACKGROUND: There exist only few developmentally sensitive assessment instruments for identifying posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other potentially comorbid affective and behavioral symptomatology in preschool children. Consequently, young children who exhibit post-trauma symptomatology risk not being identified and not receiving the appropriate treatment. One of the few instruments that exist is the Diagnostic Infant and Preschool Assessment (DIPA). OBJECTIVE: To examine internal reliability and convergent validity of the Danish version of the DIPA, a semi-structured interview of caregivers about their child’s mental health. METHOD: In total, 62 caregivers of trauma-exposed children aged 1-6 years were interviewed with the DIPA and completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). RESULTS: The children had experienced between one and eight traumas (Mdn = 3). Based on the DIPA, 48.4% of the children exhibited PTSD. The DIPA showed good to excellent internal consistency for the disorders of major depressive disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, separation anxiety disorder and overall internal consistency of PTSD and reactive attachment disorder. Internal consistency was lower for each symptom cluster of PTSD and the overall consistency of sleep disorder with Cronbach’s alpha ranging between 0.54 and 0.69. Correlations between continuous scores of eight disorders of the DIPA and SDQ scales provided support for convergent validity of the DIPA. CONCLUSION: The study provides preliminary evidence to support the Danish version of DIPA as a valid measure of symptoms of young children exposed to psychological trauma. As a standardized assessment tool, the DIPA can aid in early and structured assessment of young children exposed to trauma and can help guide treatment for those in need. Exeley Inc. 2019-05-30 /pmc/articles/PMC7709942/ /pubmed/33520767 http://dx.doi.org/10.21307/sjcapp-2019-007 Text en © 2019 Authors https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
spellingShingle Medicine
Løkkegaard, Sille Schandorph
Elmose, Mette
Elklit, Ask
Validation of the Diagnostic Infant and Preschool Assessment in a Danish, trauma-exposed sample of young children
title Validation of the Diagnostic Infant and Preschool Assessment in a Danish, trauma-exposed sample of young children
title_full Validation of the Diagnostic Infant and Preschool Assessment in a Danish, trauma-exposed sample of young children
title_fullStr Validation of the Diagnostic Infant and Preschool Assessment in a Danish, trauma-exposed sample of young children
title_full_unstemmed Validation of the Diagnostic Infant and Preschool Assessment in a Danish, trauma-exposed sample of young children
title_short Validation of the Diagnostic Infant and Preschool Assessment in a Danish, trauma-exposed sample of young children
title_sort validation of the diagnostic infant and preschool assessment in a danish, trauma-exposed sample of young children
topic Medicine
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7709942/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33520767
http://dx.doi.org/10.21307/sjcapp-2019-007
work_keys_str_mv AT løkkegaardsilleschandorph validationofthediagnosticinfantandpreschoolassessmentinadanishtraumaexposedsampleofyoungchildren
AT elmosemette validationofthediagnosticinfantandpreschoolassessmentinadanishtraumaexposedsampleofyoungchildren
AT elklitask validationofthediagnosticinfantandpreschoolassessmentinadanishtraumaexposedsampleofyoungchildren