Abstract
Assessing mental health problems cross-culturally for children exposed to war and violence presents a number of unique challenges. One of the most important issues is the lack of validated symptom measures to assess these problems. The present study sought to evaluate the psychometric properties of two measures to assess mental health problems: the Achenbach Youth Self-Report and the Child Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Scale. We conducted a validity study in three refugee camps in Eastern Ethiopia in the outskirts of Jijiga, the capital of the Somali region. A total of 147 child and caregiver pairs were assessed, and scores obtained were submitted to rigorous psychometric evaluation. Excellent internal consistency reliability was obtained for symptom measures for children and their caregivers. Validation of study instruments based on local case definitions was obtained for the caregivers but not consistently for the children. Sensitivity and specificity of study measures were generally low, indicating that these scales would not perform adequately as screening instruments. Combined test–retest and inter-rater reliability was low for all scales. This study illustrates the need for validation and testing of existing measures cross-culturally. Methodological implications for future cross-cultural research studies in low- and middle-income countries are discussed.
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Acknowledgments
The present research was made possible by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation: Changing Lives: A Learning Initiative to End Violence Against Women and Children in Emergencies. Dr. Hall was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health T32 in Psychiatric Epidemiology T32MH014592-35 and through the Fogarty Global Health Fellows Program Consortium comprised of the University of North Carolina and John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Morehouse and Tulane (1R25TW009340-01). We thank the dedicated study interviewers, Sarah Katherine Baird, IRC Community Well-Being Initiative Manager, Aden Abdi Hiss, IRC Transportation Officer, Asyia Abdulahi Elabe, IRC Caring for Child Survivors Officer, Tensay Tefera IRC CYPD-Child, Youth and Protection Department Manager, Shewaye, IRC CYPD Coordinator, Ayalew, IRC Child Protection Manager, Anjuli Shivshanker, IRC Research and Evaluation Officer, for her assistance with data collection, and the children and caregivers who participated in this study.
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Hall, B.J., Puffer, E., Murray, L.K. et al. The Importance of Establishing Reliability and Validity of Assessment Instruments for Mental Health Problems: an Example from Somali Children and Adolescents Living in Three Refugee Camps in Ethiopia. Psychol. Inj. and Law 7, 153–164 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12207-014-9188-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12207-014-9188-9