The ARCH Lab contributed to two papers on The 2014 Ontario Child Health Study Emotional Behavioural Scales (OCHS-EBS), Part I “A checklist for dimensional measurement of selected DSM-5 disorders” and Part II “Psychometric adequacy for categorical measurement of selected DSM-5 disorders”.

The aim of the first paper was to describe the development and psychometric properties of the OCHS-EBS for the measurement of seven disorders based on criteria from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). In a sample of 280 children and their caregivers, the OCHS-EBS was found to be a reliable and valid measurement of: Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Separation Anxiety (SA), Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Social Phobia (SA), Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) and Conduct Disorder (CD).

The second article sought to compare the reliability and validity of the OCHS-EBS to the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview for Children and Adolescents (MINI-KID) – a widely used structured diagnostic interview for youth. Specifically, using a sample of 283 parent-youth pairs, the authors compared the OCHS-EBS and the MINI-KID in classifying CD, ODD, ADHD, MDD, GAD and SAD based on DSM-5 criteria. Results indicated that the OCHS-EBS and MINI-KID achieved comparable levels of reliability and validity when classifying child psychiatric conditions.

Together the results of these two papers highlight the validity of the OCHS-EBS as a reliable measure for the presence of DSM-5 disorders in child and adolescent populations.