Parent reports on internalising difficulties in child-adolescent psychiatric outpatient setting using Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and their relation to clinical diagnosis

Aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of parent reported internalising difficulties in outpatient child and adolescent psychiatry setting using SDQ (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) and examine the relation between parent reported results and clinical diagnosis set by a child-adolescent psychiatry specialist. The study was conducted in two outpatient centers in Latvia. The study group was 370 patients aged 2-17 y.o. who received outpatient child-adolescent psychiatry care, and their parents. Parent reported internalising difficulties were assessed using SDQ parent version – emotional and peer problem subscale (combined – internalising difficulties scale). Internalising disorders in this study were F3x, F4x, F50, F92, F93 – according to ICD-10. When analysing the score, 4-band categorisation was used, 3rd and 4th band were defined as “high”. 337 valid parent reports were analysed. And internalising disorder was diagnosed in 37% (N=126) of children. The levels of parent reported internalising symptoms by SDQ were high, with 60,2% of parents reporting high level of peer problems and 48,7% of parents reporting high level of emotional problems. Patients with internalising disorder diagnosis had higher parent reported results in emotional sub-scale of the SDQ (mean - 5,56 points vs 3,95), p=0,000, and internalising disorder scale – (mean - 9,17 points vs 8,18), p=0,043, than those who did not have the diagnosis. Parents reported high levels of internalising difficulties, higher than the prevalence of diagnosed disorders. For patients with internalising disorder parent reports were higher in emotional subscale and internalising disorder scale, accordingly to the diagnosis. This suggests scale validity and reliability as well as cut-off values should be explored in Latvian population.