Update, July 2014: During Stage 1, which was completed in April and May, 2014, teachers from 30 different Aurora Public Schools screened over 4,000 students for mental health disorders using the BASC-2 Behavioral and Emotional Screening System (BASC-2 BESS) (Kamphaus, et al., 2007) and the Proxy Report Questionnaire (PRQ) (Linazasoro, et al., 2006). During Stage 2, which will begin in August, 2014, a diagnostic interview using the NIMH Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children IV (NIMH DISC-IV) (Shaffer, et al., 2000) will be conducted by research staff , with parents of a sub-sample of approximately 1200 children who were rated either high or low on the mental health screen. Participants will be sampled from several strata, including gender, grade, and screening status. Stage 2 interviews will be conducted through July, 2015.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Lorraine Kubicek, PhD, Principal Investigator, University of Colorado – Denver. The goal of this project is to adapt and test an existing two-stage methodology to assess the prevalence, treated prevalence, and co-occurrence of internalizing, externalizing, and tic disorders in elementary- and secondary school-aged-youth in Colorado. The method has previously been used to estimate the prevalence of ADHD in a school-aged population.
Participants will be public school students attending grades K through 12. It is anticipated that approximately 25% will come from homes where Spanish is the preferred language. In stage 1, approximately 5,000 children will be screened for mental health disorders by their teachers using the BASC-2 Behavioral and Emotional Screening System (BASC-2 BESS) (Kamphaus, et al., 2007) and the Proxy Report Questionnaire, a standardized screener for tic disorders (PRQ) (Linazasoro, et al., 2006). In stage 2, a diagnostic interview using the NIMH Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children IV (NIMH DISC-IV) (Shaffer, et al., 2000) will be conducted by research staff with parents of a sub-sample of children who were rated either high or low on the mental health screen. Careful tracking of response rates will be done throughout all stages of the study. Following data collection, a series of sampling weights will be calculated that will adjust the estimates for response rates at both stages of the study, sampling characteristics and other demographic characteristics. This will provide a more accurate estimate of population prevalence.