Members of the ARCH Lab, along with colleagues from the University of Calgary and University of Manitoba, recently published a paper titled “Response shift in parent-reported psychopathology in children with chronic physical illness” using data from the MY LIFE study.

This study tested for response shift in children with chronic physical illness using a parent-reported measure of child psychopathology. Response shift is when items in a measure start to mean something different to a participant over time. Their symptoms might not be objectively different, but the participant is subjectively experiencing them in a different way over time.   

Authors found that response shift was detected on the conduct disorder subscale of one of the measures used to assess child psychopathology (OCHS-EBS). This indicates that parents of children with physical illness may recalibrate their responses on child psychopathology over 24 months. Researchers and health professionals should be aware of response shift when using the OCHS-EBS to assess child psychopathology over time.