The Validity of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders Revised (SCARED-R) Scale and Sub-Scales in Swedish Youth

Abstract

We evaluated the clinical utility of the Swedish SCARED-R in child- and adolescent psychiatric outpatients (n = 239) and validated it against Longitudinal Expert All Data (LEAD) DSM IV diagnoses based on the Children’s Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (KSADS) and subsequent clinical work-up and treatment outcome. The SCARED-R total score and subscales had acceptable sensitivity/specificity for child and parent reports for cut-offs based on Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curves, with mostly moderate area under the curve. Sensitivity ranged from 75% (parent rated social anxiety) to 79% [child rated Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)]. Specificity, ranged from 60% for child-rated GAD to 88% for parent rated social anxiety. Parent-child agreement was moderate, and each informant provided unique information contributing to most diagnoses. In conclusion, the SCARED-R is useful for screening anxiety symptoms in clinical populations. However, it cannot replace interview based diagnoses, nor is it adequate to use just one informant.

Feasibility, Acceptability, and Effectiveness of Enhanced Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (eCBT) for Children and Adolescents With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Protocol for an Open Trial and Therapeutic Intervention

“…Effectiveness involves the following: CY-BOCS [ 38 ], primary outcome; Child Obsessive-Compulsive Impact Scale-Revised (COIS-R) [ 39 ]; and Family Accommodation Scale for OCD–Self-Rated Version (FAS-SR) [ 40 ]. Comorbidity/psychological well-being involves the following: Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) [ 41 ]; Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) [ 42 ]; Youth Self-Report Questionnaire (YSR) [ 42 ]; Screen for Child Anxiety-Related Emotional Disorders-Revised (SCARED-R) [ 43 , 44 ]; Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ) [ 45 ]; KINDL-R [ 46 ]; Children’s Global Assessment Scale (CGAS) [ 47 ]; and Clinical Global Impressions Scale-Severity/Improvement (CGI-S, CGI-I) [ 48 ]. Other study parameters include the following: study-specific treatment integrity forms completed by the therapist following each treatment session and the Trimbos/iMTA Questionnaire for Costs associated with Psychiatric Illness (TiC-P) [ 49 ].…”

The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED): Informant Discrepancy, Measurement Invariance, and Test–Retest Reliability

“…Research investigating informant discrepancy as a function of child's sex have yielded mixed results. Several studies have found no significant differences in informant agreement between girls and boys [6,8,11,12], while others report moderate differences [7,10,13,14]. Ethnicity [8], socioeconomic status (SES [8,14]), parental psychopathology, and a variety of other family-related factors [7,9,14] have also been investigated as potential predictors of discrepancy, though this research has been sparser.…”

Evaluation of self-report screening measures in the detection of depressive and anxiety disorders among children and adolescents with systemic lupus erythematosus

“…31,32 The SCARED offers the opportunity for the parentreport measure to complement the self-report measure, however, most studies show low to moderate agreement between parent and child reported anxiety symptoms. 33 Unfortunately, ROC-analysis of SCARED parent report measures was limited by missing parent-report data, and the lack of statistical significance of the result did not allow for a direct comparison of diagnostic performances of SCARED parent and self-report measures in cSLE. Correlation (r ¼ 0.33) between parent and self-report SCARED measures suggested weak agreement between parent and child informants as seen in other studies of healthy children, 34 in which children have repeatedly been found to be more accurate informants of their anxiety than their parents.…”