The diagnostic efficiency of selected items from the behavior assessment system for children (BASC), parent rating and self-report of personality when used with an Attention Deficit Dirorder population /

Ninety-six children diagnosed as Attention Deficit

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Nation, Patricia Lynn
Format: Thesis Book
Language:English
Published: [Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified] ; 1996.
Subjects:
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Description
Summary:Ninety-six children diagnosed as Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and a comparable control sample
of 160 children selected from the Behavioral Assessment
System for Children (BASC) standardization archive were
matched with respect to gender, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic
status, and region of the United States. The resulting 144
participants (72 matched pairs of ADHD and control children)
were administered the components of the BASC known as Self-
report of Personality-Child (SRP-C) and the Parent Rating
Scale-Child (PRS-C) in an effort to determine the diagnostic
utility of items from these scales with respect to
establishing inclusion and exclusion criteria for identifying
ADHD. Of specific interest was: (a) regarding inclusion
criteria, which items on the BASC (self report and parent
report) possess the highest positive predictive power (PPP)
when assessing the disorder of ADHD, and (b) regarding
exclusion criteria, which items on the BASC (self report and
parent report) possess the highest negative predictive power
(NPP) when assessing the disorder of ADHD. In addition to
the BASC, all children were administered the WRAT-111, The
Coloured Progressive Matrices, and the TOMAL assessment
instruments as an adjunct to the primary purpose of the
study. Conditional probabilities (positive and negative
predictive power) were determined for items from the Anxiety
Subscale and the Depression Subscale of the SRP-C where
individual items were either endorsed (true) or not endorsed
(false). For the PRS-C the Aggression, Anxiety, Attention
Problems, Conduct Problems, Depression, and Hyperactivity
subscales were analyzed using one of two coding schemes. For
"Coding Scheme I" response alternatives on the PRS-C of
"Sometimes," "Often," and "Almost Always, " were coded as
endorsement of the item, and alternative "Never" was coded as
a failure to endorse the item. For "Coding Scheme 2"
response alternatives on the PRS-C of "often" and "always"
were coded as endorsement, and alternatives on the PRS-C of
"often" and "always" were coded as endorsement, and
alternatives "sometimes" and "never" were coded as failure to
endorse. The results of the study showed that while the SRP-
C items were generally not useful with respect to diagnosing
ADHD, several items from PRS-C possess quite high positive or
negative predictive power, with coding scheme I yielding more
useful information for exclusion (negative predictive power)
and coding scheme 2 yielding more useful information for
inclusion (positive predictive power). Although medical
convention favors an inclusion strategy, and therein the
employment of coding scheme 2, it is recommended that
clinical decision-making incorporate data from both coding
schemes. Additionally, item analysis methods were contrasted
with the more traditional method of using several items to
form a scale intended to assess specific contructs.
Item Description:Vita.
"Major Subject: School Psychology".
Physical Description:x, 193 leaves : illustrations ; 28 cm.
Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilms Inc.
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references: pages 147-192.