Screen for child anxiety related disorders

The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders, or SCARED, is a screening measure developed by Boris Birmaher (MD), Suneeta Khetarpal (MD), Marlane Cully (M.ED), David Brent (MD), and Sandra Mackenzie (PhD). It is a 41 question (originally 38 question), self-report, multiple choice questionnaire designed for children ages 8–18 to screen for anxiety disorders in the child such as panic disorder (significant somatic symptoms), generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and significant school avoidance or refusal.[1][2][3]

Each question measures the frequency or intensity of a variety of symptoms or behaviors and the questionnaire takes about ten minutes to complete.[2] The participant is asked to answer each question with one of three possible answer choices: "Not true or hardly every true", "Somewhat true or sometimes true", or "Very true or often true".[4] Through research, this assessment has been proven to be both valid and reliable.[1][5][6]

History and development

Anxiety disorders can be diagnosed with structured interviews, but such methods can be time-consuming and require trained professionals. Prior to the development of SCARED, three rating scales were used to measure anxiety in children and adolescents: the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale, the Revised Fear Survey Schedule for Children, and the Somatic State and Trait Anxiety Scale. While these methods were useful in assessing general anxiety symptoms, they were unable to discriminate between anxiety disorders. To address this shortcoming, the SCARED was developed based on DSM-IV classification to screen specifically for general anxiety disorder (GAD), separation anxiety disorder (SAD), panic disorder, social phobia, and school phobia.[1]

Children were diagnosed with anxiety disorders through either a clinical interview or the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children-Present Episode. After diagnosis, a test of 85 items was given to 341 children and 300 parents. Factor analysis was used to derive five factors which were labelled somatic/panic, general anxiety, separation anxiety, social phobia, and school phobia. Item analysis was used to reduce the number of questions to 38.

The short questionnaire was used on a smaller sub-sample of 86 children and 88 parents. The SCARED demonstrated good reliability and validity as well as the ability to discriminate between children with and without anxiety as well as between specific anxiety diagnoses.[1]

Psychometrics

The SCARED has been used in both clinical and community settings. Reports on the SCARED’s psychometric properties show high internal consistency, test-retest reliability, positive construct validity, and applicability across various countries as a screener for anxiety disorders.[1][7][8][9] This index has also been found to correlate significantly with other measures for anxiety in children and adolescents.[7]

See also

Scoring


Practice parameters

Guidelines on anxiety treatment

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Birmaher, B; Khetarpal, S; Brent, D; Cully, M; Balach, L; Kaufman, J; Neer, SM (April 1997). "The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED): scale construction and psychometric characteristics.". Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 36 (4): 545–53. doi:10.1097/00004583-199704000-00018. PMID 9100430.
  2. 1 2 Osborn, J., & Gately, B. (2014, January 13). SCARED-child – Screen for child anxiety related disorders – Child version. Retrieved from https://valant.atlassian.net/wiki/display/KB/SCARED-Child++Screen+for+Child+Anxiety+Related+Disorders+-+Child+Version
  3. ↑ The California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare (2011, August). Screen for childhood anxiety related emotional disorders (SCARED). Retrieved from http://www.cebc4cw.org/assessment-tool/screen-for-childhood-anxiety-related-emotional-disorders-scared
  4. ↑ http://www.psychiatry.pitt.edu/sites/default/files/Documents/assessments/SCARED%20Child.pdf
  5. ↑ Birmaher B.; Brent D. A.; Chiappetta L.; Bridge J.; Monga S.; Baugher M. (1999). "Psychometric properties of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED): A replication study". Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 38: 1230–1236. doi:10.1097/00004583-199910000-00011.
  6. ↑ Monga, S., Birmaher, B., Chiappetta, L., Brent, D., Kaufman, J., Bridge, J., & Cully, M. (2000). Screen for Child Anxiety-Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED): Convergent and divergent validity. Depression and Anxiety, 12, 85-91.
  7. 1 2 Essau, Cecilia A.; Anastassiou-Hadjicharalambous, Xenia; Muñoz, Luna C. (March 2013). "Psychometric Properties of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) in Cypriot Children and Adolescents". European Journal of Psychological Assessment. 29 (1): 19–28. doi:10.1027/1015-5759/a000116.
  8. ↑ Arab, A; El Keshky, M; Hadwin, JA (30 September 2015). "Psychometric Properties of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) in a Non-Clinical Sample of Children and Adolescents in Saudi Arabia.". Child psychiatry and human development. doi:10.1007/s10578-015-0589-0. PMID 26424720.
  9. ↑ Hale, WW; Crocetti, E; Raaijmakers, QA; Meeus, WH (January 2011). "A meta-analysis of the cross-cultural psychometric properties of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED).". Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines. 52 (1): 80–90. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2010.02285.x. PMID 20662993.


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