A comparison of four scoring methods based on the parent-rated Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire as used in the Dutch preventive child health care system

Table 2 Test characteristics of the SDQ using clinical CBCL scores and treatment status as criterion; Area under Curve (AUC), Sensitivity, Specificity and 95% Confidence Intervals (95% CI), in relation to four scoring methods (n = 707).

	Elevated SDQ TDS*			Parent-defined difficulties			High sub-scale score/impairment			Combination of these three scores*
	Kappa 95% CI	Sens. 95% CI	Spec. 95% CI	Kappa 95% CI	Sens. 95% CI	Spec. 95% CI	Kappa 95% CI	Sens. 95% CI	Spec. 95% CI	Kappa 95% CI	Sens. 95% CI	Spec. 95% CI
CBCL Total problems	0.64 (0.54–0.74)	0.75 (0.63–0.86)	0.96 (0.94–0.97)	0.45 (0.33–0.57)	0.50^a (.37–0.63)	0.95 (0.94–0.97)	0.54 (0.42–0.66)	0.52 (0.39–0.65)	0.97 (0.96–0.99)	0.55 (0.45–0.65)	0.80^a (0.70–0.91)	0.92 (0.90–0.94)
CBCL Internalising problems	0.47 (0.36–0.58)	0.51 (0.40–0.63)	0.95 (0.93–0.97)	0.46 (0.35–0.57)	0.46 (0.34–0.57)	0.96 (0.95–0.98)	0.43 (0.32–0.55)	0.39^b (0.28–0.50)	0.97 (0.96–0.99)	0.50 (0.40–0.60)	0.65^b (0.54–0.76)	0.92 (0.90–0.94)
CBCL Externalising problems	0.50 (0.38–0.61)	0.73 (0.59–0.86)	0.94 (0.92–0.96)	0.37 (0.24–0.49)	0.50 (0.35–0.65)	0.94 (0.93–0.96)	0.46 (0.33–0.60)	0.53 (0.37–0.68)	0.96 (0.95–0.98)	0.39 (0.29–0.50)	0.75 (0.62–0.88)	0.90 (0.88–0.92)
Treatment status	0.32 (0.20–0.44)	0.46 (0.32–0.60)	0.93 (0.91–0.95)	0.37 (0.24–0.49)	0.46 (0.32–0.60)	0.94 (0.93–0.96)	0.32 (0.19–0.45)	0.35 (0.22–0.49)	0.96 (0.94–0.97)	0.34 (0.24–0.45)	0.60 (0.46–0.74)	0.90 (0.87–0.92)

*Using an adapted Clinical SDQ cut-off; ≥ 14.
^a Sensitivity is significantly lower with a scoring method based on parent-defined difficulties than with a scoring method based on the combination score.
^b Sensitivity is significantly lower with a scoring method based on high subscale score and impairment than with a scoring method based on the combination score

ISSN: 1471-2458