Developing an Epidemiological Tool Based on DSM-5 Criteria

Prudence Fisher, PhD, Principal Investigator, Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, Inc (Funded 2015-2016)

The purpose of the project is to update the DISC, an epidemiologic tool designed to assess common mental disorders of youth, so that it addresses the diagnostic criteria specified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (DSM-5). This tool will be appropriate for use by non-clinical staff in large epidemiological studies (e.g., PLAY-MH), in other research studies, and in health care settings; and the tool will be useful to assist in ongoing surveillance efforts that are critical to the understanding of the impact of child mental health disorders. The DISC-5 will assess all of the disorders contained in DISC-IV and include diagnoses not currently in DISC-IV (e.g., Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder, Intermittent Explosive Disorder, Binge Eating Disorder, Avoidant-Restrictive Food Intake Disorder, Non-Suicidal Self Injury and Suicide Behavior Disorder), be “backwards compatible” with DSM-IV, and include “severity” ratings for diagnoses, as specified in DSM-5. The revision will also include improvements over the current DISC-5 (e.g., streamlining some parts, optional skips, simplifying the “symptom readbacks” at the end of each section, and revising specific questions), based on analyses and user feedback. There will be parallel parent and youth interviews. As for the current DISC, scoring algorithms will conform precisely to DSM specifications based on youth information alone, parent information alone, or information combined across informants and will be programmed in SAS. Scoring for symptom and criterion scales will also be written, as well as for any DSM-5 scales. Manuals will be written to accompany the new DISC-5. Limited psychometric testing with an enriched sample of youth with known diagnoses (and their parents) will be carried out, focusing on Tic Disorders, OCD, and Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder.