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Diagnostic Scale (diagnostic + scale)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	75%

Selected Abstracts

Psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Bipolar Spectrum Diagnostic Scale

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 19-20 2010
Hsin Chu
Aim and objectives., The aim of this study was to test the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Bipolar Spectrum Diagnostic Scale (C-BSDS) in a Chinese population to serve as an aid to clinical diagnosis of bipolar disorders. Background., Bipolar spectrum disorders are often misdiagnosed because of the wide range of symptoms seen in patients. The consequences of delayed diagnoses or misdiagnoses can be devastating. Design., A cross-sectional research design. Method., Two hundred patients with affective disorders from a psychiatric outpatient clinic in Taiwan were enrolled. Internal consistency reliability and two-week test,retest reliability were performed to evaluate the reliability of the C-BSDS. Expert content validity and factor analysis were used for testing construct validity. To evaluate sensitivity and specificity, the Chinese version of the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) was used as the gold standard for diagnosis. Results., The internal consistency coefficient measured by intra-class correlation (ICC) was 0·81, the test,retest reliability coefficient was 0·85 and the expert validity was 0·85. For construct validity, ,irritable and hyper-energetic factors' and ,depressed and lack of energy factors' were extracted by factor analysis. These two factors reflected the structure of the original scale and accounted for 33·27% of the variance. The optimal cut-off was 12, which yielded a sensitivity of 74 and a specificity of 0·97 for detecting bipolar disorder and for bipolar II disorder these were 0·79 and 0·68, respectively. Conclusions., The C-BSDS showed good reliability and validity, and the results were consistent with the English version of the BSDS. Therefore, the C-BSDS is an effective tool for evaluation of a Chinese population. Relevance to clinical practice., The BSDS can further increase the detection rate of bipolar disorders, especially bipolar II disorder, with satisfactory sensitivity and specificity. It can effectively assist with clinical screening of patients for bipolar spectrum disorders. [source]

Which instruments are most commonly used to assess traumatic event exposure and posttraumatic effects?: A survey of traumatic stress professionals

JOURNAL OF TRAUMATIC STRESS, Issue 5 2005
Jon D. Elhai
We report findings from a Web-based survey of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies' members (n = 227) regarding use of trauma exposure and posttraumatic assessment instruments. Across clinical and research settings, the most widely used tests included the Posttraumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale, Trauma Symptom Inventory, Life Events Checklist, Clinician-Administered Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Scale, PTSD Checklist, Impact of Event Scale,Revised, and Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children. Highest professional degree, time since degree award, and student status yielded no differences in extent of reported trauma assessment test use. [source]

Development of a Brief Mental Health Screen for Intimate Partner Violence Victims in the Emergency Department

ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 3 2007
Debra Houry MD
Background: Emergency physicians routinely treat victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) and patients with mental health symptoms, although these issues may be missed without routine screening. In addition, research has demonstrated a strong association between IPV victimization and mental health symptoms. Objectives: To develop a brief mental health screen that could be used feasibly in an emergency department to screen IPV victims for depressive symptoms, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and suicidal ideation. Methods: The authors conducted a pretest/posttest validation study of female IPV victims to determine what questions from the Beck Depression Inventory II, Posttraumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale, and Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation would predict moderate to severe levels of depressive symptoms, PTSD symptoms, and suicidal ideation. A principal components factor analysis was conducted to determine which questions would be used in the brief mental health screen. Scatter plots were then created to determine a cut point. Results: Scores on the brief mental health screen ranged from 0 to 8. A cutoff score of 4 was used, which resulted in positive predictive values of 96% for the brief mental health screen for depression, 84% for PTSD symptoms, and 54% for suicidal ideation. In particular, four questions about sadness, experiencing a traumatic event, the desire to live, and the desire to commit suicide were associated with moderate to severe mental health symptoms in IPV victims. Conclusions: The brief mental health screen provides a tool that could be used in an emergency department setting and predicted those IPV victims with moderate to severe mental health symptoms. Using this tool can assist emergency physicians in recognizing at-risk patients and referring these IPV victims to mental health services. [source]