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Table 2 Descriptive statistics of subscales and items for Attitudes toward Standardized Assessment and Utility of diagnosis in CAP Stockholm (point scales, means, standard variation, N) and comparison to US (mean, standard deviation, N)

From: Clinicians’ attitudes toward standardized assessment and diagnosis within child and adolescent psychiatry

Subscales and items within each scale

CAP Stockholm

USa

Diff between CAP Stockholm—USc

Strongly disagree

 %

Disagree

 %

Neutral

 %

Agree

 %

Strongly agree

 %

M (SD) N

M (SD) N 

Benefit over clinical judgment

     

3.14 (0.65) 338

2.95 (0.68) 1439

***

 Using clinical judgment to diagnose children is superior to using standardized assessment measuresb

4.5

25.2

47.4

18.0

4.8

2.93 (0.90) 333

3.16 (0.96) 1439

***

 Standardized measures don’t capture what’s really going on with children and their familiesb

5.3

34.7

40.7

17.2

2.1

2.76 (0.87) 337

3.11 (0.95) 1439

***

 Clinical problems are too complex to be captured by a standardized measureb

5.4

31.8

29.5

27.1

6.3

2.97 (1.03) 336

3.02 (0.98) 1439

ns

 Standardized measures provide more useful information than other assessments like informal interviews or observations

7.5

34.4

42.2

13.2

2.7

2.69 (0.90) 334

2.5 (0.82) 1439

***

 Standardized measures don’t tell me anything I can’t learn from just talking to children and their familiesb

15.2

53.3

19.0

9.8

2.7

2.32 (0.94) 336

2.47 (1.06) 1439

*

Practicality

     

3.19 (0.44) 338

3.19 (0.56) 1404

ns

 Standardized measures can efficiently gather information from multiple individuals (e.g. children, parents, teachers)

0.6

3.0

11.9

57.3

27.3

4.08 (0.75) 337

3.91 (0.79) 1404

***

 Standardized assessments are readily available in the language my children and their families speak

21.4

29.4

41.5

6.5

1.2

2.38 (0.93) 337

3.34 (1.12) 1404

***

 There are few standardized measures valid for ethnic minority children and their familiesb

1.2

3.9

37.9

34.8

22.1

3.73 (0.89) 330

3.32 (0.82) 1404

***

 I have adequate training in the use of standardized measures

3.3

13.9

18.6

38.2

26.0

3.70 (1.10) 338

3.25 (1.24) 1404

***

 Standardized diagnostic interviews interfere with establishing rapport during an intakeb

15.4

28.8

27.0

18.4

10.4

2.80 (1.20) 337

3.04 (1.09) 1404

***

 Standardized measures take too long to administer and scoreb

7.4

31.0

35.1

21.4

5.1

2.90 (1.00) 336

2.99 (1.07) 1404

ns

 Standardized symptom checklists are too difficult for many children and their families to read or understandb

3.3

27.0

44.8

22.6

2.4

2.94 (0.85) 337

2. 72 (0.92) 1404

***

 Copyrighted standardized measures are affordable for use in practice

2.7

5.4

74.4

12.3

5.1

3.12 (0.69) 332

2.71 (0.99) 1404

***

 Completing a standardized measure is too much of a burden for children and their familiesb

13.9

45.7

33.8

6.2

0.3

2.33 (0.80) 337

2.69 (0.93) 1404

***

 The information I receive from standardized measures isn’t worth the time I spend administering, scoring and interpreting the resultsb

10.4

43.0

32.9

11.0

2.7

2.53 (0.92) 337

2.58 (1.08) 1404

ns

Psychometric quality

     

3.81 (0.49) 340

3.78 (0.50) 1428

ns

 Clinicians should use assessments with demonstrated reliability and validity

0.9

1.5

12.2

42.7

42.7

4.25 (0.79) 337

4.20 (0.83) 1428

ns

 Standardized measures help with accurate diagnosis

1.2

2.7

16.9

48.8

30.5

4.05 (0.83) 338

3.91 (0.77) 1428

**

 Standardized measures help detect diagnostic comorbidity (presence of multiple diagnoses)

0.3

2.4

24.8

53.7

18.8

3.90 (0.74) 335

3.67 (0.72) 1428

***

 Standardized measures help with differential diagnosis (deciding between 2 diagnoses)

0.6

5.4

29.0

49.6

15.5

3.74 (0.80) 335

3.64 (0.78) 1428

*

 Standardized measures overdiagnose psychopathologyb

6.0

25.7

47.2

19.4

1.8

2.85 (0.86) 335

2.84 (0.89) 1428

ns

 Most standardized measures aren’t helpful because they don’t map on to DSM diagnostic criteriab

14.3

38.7

42.9

3.6

0.6

2.38 (0.79) 336

2.45 (0.84) 1428

ns

 It is not necessary for assessment measures to be standardized in research studiesb

37.7

37.4

16.9

5.6

2.4

1.98 (0.99) 337

1.68 (0.84) 1428

***

Utility of diagnosis

     

3.60 (0.55) 330

3.15 (0.71) 1634

***

 Accurate diagnosis is an important part of my treatment planning.

0.3

0.0

9.9

39.2

50.6

4.40 (0.69) 330

3.96 (0.93) 1634

***

 Most children and families come to work on problems of daily life rather than being diagnosedb

1.2

7.6

26.8

48.2

16.2

3.70 (0.86) 328

3.72 (1.07) 1634

ns

 It is sometimes necessary to give a diagnosis that is not clinically indicated to qualify for servicesb

28.9

31.3

23.0

12.1

4.7

2.31 (1.15) 327

2.89 (1.22) 1634

***

 Making a diagnosis is more important for obtaining services or benefits than for planning of treatmentb

20.9

31.8

31.5

12.9

2.9

2.46 (1.05) 328

2.88 (1.23) 1634

***

 It is sometimes necessary to make a less serious diagnosis than clinically indicated to avoid stigma attached to serious diagnosesb

41.5

33.5

16.8

7.4

0.9

1.94 (0.98) 328

2.72 (1.14) 1634

***

  1. *** p < .001 ** p < .01 * p < .05
  2. aJensen-Doss and Hewley [24, 25]
  3. bItem was reverse scored before included in the scale score
  4. cUsing an immediate form of two-sample t-test, ttesti in Stata
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Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health

ISSN: 1753-2000