DEVELOPING A DIAGNOSTIC INTERVIEW FOR ABUSED CHILDREN

DESCRIPTION (Adapted from applicant's abstract): This proposal is for a Phase I study to develop and pilot test a preliminary version of the Child- SCIP, a diagnostic instrument for the assessment of posttraumatic dissociative symptoms and disorders in children and adolescents. Presently, no clinician administered tool exists to diagnose these disorders and screen for these specific symptoms in children. Posttraumatic disorders, which are typically connected with severe childhood abuse, may affect as much as 10 percent of the population and, if left undiagnosed and untreated, put children at great risk for substance abuse, chronic psychiatric disorders, and severe dysfunction in adult life. However, posttraumatic disorders respond well to appropriate treatment, particularly when diagnosed early. Thus, an inexpensive screening instrument for use with children with trauma histories would be both time- efficient and cost-effective. Phase I includes a pilot study involving the administration of the Child-SCIP to three groups of children/adolescents: normal controls, youths with psychiatric disturbances but no trauma histories, and youths with trauma histories. Phase II includes field testing of the final instrument with a larger sample size.