Assessing the Value of and Contextual and Cultural Acceptability of the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in Evaluating Mental Health Problems in HIV/AIDS Affected Children

Skinner, Donald G.; Sharp, Carla; Marais, Lochner; Serekoane, Motsaathebe; Lenka, Molefi

doi:10.1080/00207411.2015.1009314

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Of these, eight translations were not listed as authorized on the SDQ website and have not been translated in consultation with the tool developers, namely Nyanja [ 29 ], Dholou [ 39 ], Sesotho [ 44 , 49 , 50 , 52 ], Luganda [ 46 ], Swati [ 52 ], Shangaan [ 52 , 63 ], Twi [ 53 ] and Ga [ 53 ]. Challenges raised in the process of translations and adaptions included absence of a linguistic equivalent in some of the local languages for words such as ‘fidget’ [ 80 ], ‘nervous’ or ‘fidgeting’ [ 35 ]. Of the studies in the review, the SDQ was available in seventeen different languages, while twenty studies did not specify language(s) used.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in Africa: a scoping review of its application and validation

Hoosen

Davids

Vries

et al. 2018

Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health

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BackgroundChild and adolescent mental health in Africa remains largely neglected. Quick and cost-effective ways for early detection may aid early intervention. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is globally used to screen for mental health problems, but little is known about its use in Africa. We set out to perform a scoping review to examine existing studies that have used the SDQ in Africa.MethodsA comprehensive scoping review methodology was used to identify all peer-reviewed studies ever published that have used the SDQ in Africa. Data were extracted and analysed to assess the countries, languages and SDQ versions used, the purpose of the SDQ studies, psychometric properties of the SDQ, and to consider knowledge gaps for future in-country and cross-country studies.ResultsFifty-four studies from 12 African countries were identified, most from South Africa. Many different languages were used, but authorized SDQs in those languages were not always available on the SDQinfo website. Authors frequently commented on challenges in the translation and backtranslation of mental health terminology in African languages. The SDQ was typically used to investigate internalisation/externalization disorders in different clinical populations, and was most frequently used in the evaluation of children and adolescents affected by HIV/AIDS. Sixteen studies (29.6%) administered the SDQ to participants outside the intended age range, only 4 (7.4%) used triangulation of all versions to generate assessments, and eight studies (14.8%) used only subscales of the SDQ. Only one study conducted thorough psychometric validation of the SDQ, including examination of internal consistency and factor analysis. Where ‘caseness’ was defined in studies, UK cut-off scores were used in all but one of the studies.ConclusionsThe SDQ may be a very useful tool in an African setting, but the scoping review suggested that, where it was used in Africa researchers did not always follow instrument guidelines, and highlighted that very little is known about the psychometric properties of the SDQ in Africa. We recommend comprehensive evaluation of the psychometric properties of the SDQ in various African languages, including internal consistency, factor structure, need for local cut-off values and ensuring cultural equivalence of the instrument.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in Africa: a scoping review of its application and validation

Hoosen

Davids

Vries

et al. 2018

Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health

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“…The test was administered in Arabic, French, English, Somali, and Albanian. Then, the validity and reliability of the test have been confirmed in both developed and developing countries and also in non-Western populations (Mullick & Goodman, 2001;Skinner et al, 2014;Woerner et al, 2004). Finally, SDQ is an internationally recognized screening instrument for emotional and behavior problems among children and adolescents.…”

Section: Materials and Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 93%

Psychological vulnerability of unaccompanied refugee minors: a controlled cohort study using Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire

Natalucci

Faedda

Fegatelli

et al. 2022

Migration and Development

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In recent years, the prevalence of Unaccompanied Refugee Minors (URMs) in Europe has increased and not much research has been carried out in the area of quantifying the psychological problems facing such minors. The aim of this study is to assess whether URMs have more emotional and behavioral difficulties than Italian children and if there were any significant differences in psychological problems comparing URMs who come from different countries. The URM group, composed of 98 males aged 11-17 years, was compared with 103 Italian adolescents aged 12-17 years. Psychological vulnerabilities were assessed using Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. What we found with our research is that URMs would seem to be much more pro-social than Italian boys, although they would seem to have more problems with peers and in managing their emotions. This high pro-sociality could be useful for the purposes of support and prevention of possible future psychological problems. Furthermore, Italian children scored higher in behavioural problems subscale than URMs, suggesting a probable relationship between low prosociality and high behavioural problems.

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“…The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a screening tool that has been translated into many languages, has been implemented in mental health settings in many countries around the globe, and is considered a valid, rapid measure for emotional and behavioural problems in a number of settings (Goodman et al 2000a, b;Skinner et al 2014). It is a 25-item measure and consists of five sub-scales: emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity/ inattention, peer problems, and prosocial behaviour.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring adolescent mental health around the globe: psychometric properties of the self-report Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire in South Africa, and comparison with UK, Australian and Chinese data

Vries

Davids

Mathews

et al. 2017

Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci

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Aims. This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire Self-Report (SDQ-S) in South African adolescents, and compared findings with data from the UK, Australia and China.Methods. A sample of 3451 South African adolescents in grade 8, the first year of secondary school (M age = 13.7 years), completed the SDQ-S in Afrikaans, English or isiXhosa. Means, group differences and internal consistency were analysed using SPSS V22, and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted using MPlus V7.Results. In the South African sample, significant gender differences were found for four of the five sub-scale means and for total difficulties, but gender differences of alpha scores were negligible. The internal consistency for the total difficulties, prosocial behaviour and emotional symptoms sub-scales were fair. UK cut-off values for caseness (set to identify the top 10% of scores in a UK sample) led to a higher proportion of South African adolescents classified in the 'abnormal' range on emotional and peer difficulties and a lower proportion classified in the 'abnormal' range for hyperactivity. South African cut-offs were therefore generated. The cross-country comparison with UK, Australian and Chinese data showed that South African adolescent boys and girls had the highest mean scores on total difficulties as well as on the subscales of emotional symptoms and conduct problems. In contrast, South African boys and girls had the lowest mean scores for hyperactivity/inattention. The UK boys and girls had the highest mean scores for hyperactivity/inattention, while the Australian sample had the highest scores for prosocial behaviours. The Chinese boys had the highest peer problem mean scores and Chinese boys and girls had the lowest means on prosocial behaviours. Confirmatory factor analyses showed significant item loadings with loadings higher than 0.40 for the emotional and prosocial behaviour sub-scales on the five-factor model, but not for all relevant items on the other three domains.Conclusions. Findings support the potential usefulness of the SDQ-S in a South African setting, but suggest that the SDQ-S should not be used with UK cut-off values, and indicate the need for further validation and standardisation work in South African adolescents. We recommend that in-country cut-offs for 'caseness' should be used for clinical purposes in South Africa, that cross-country comparisons should be made with caution, and that further examination of naturalistic clusters and factors of the SDQ should be performed in culturally and contextually diverse settings.

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Assessing the Value of and Contextual and Cultural Acceptability of the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in Evaluating Mental Health Problems in HIV/AIDS Affected Children

Cited by 9 publications

References 25 publications

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in Africa: a scoping review of its application and validation

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in Africa: a scoping review of its application and validation

Psychological vulnerability of unaccompanied refugee minors: a controlled cohort study using Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire

Measuring adolescent mental health around the globe: psychometric properties of the self-report Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire in South Africa, and comparison with UK, Australian and Chinese data

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