NCJ Number
180691
Journal
Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Volume: 39 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2000 Pages: 59-66
Date Published
January 2000
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This paper describes the evolution of the Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents (DICA) as well as the goals of the instrument and the issues surrounding its use.
Abstract
The 1997 DICA is a semistructured, glossary-based interview with which highly trained raters ask the questions and probes provided; raters use the skills they have been taught to determine the presence or absence of symptoms and other criteria required for DSM-III-R, DSM-IV, and most ICD-10 diagnostic criteria. The DICA shows good reliability and validity data and is widely used throughout the United States and Canada as well as in other countries. Younger children are more difficult to interview, since they require simple, concrete explanations, coupled with empathy, patience, and a certain amount of entertainment. The DICA is criteria-based and makes diagnoses according to the book; however, the DICA team views part of its mission as improving diagnostic assessment both in adolescents and in young children, with emphasis on the kind and the extent of information the youths, especially the younger children, can report. For this reason some of the instrument's future goals are to include non-DSM questions to capture disorders at different developmental levels. The team also plans to study the use of cartoons, puppets, videos, and other child-friendly devices that may help the children better understand the questions and to learn more about different ways of assessing children and adolescents. Since only so much information can be retrieved directly from children the goal for the future is to use interview information in conjunction with that of multiple informants. 2 tables and 11 references