Abstract
Clinician generated diagnoses are subject to heuristic biases, and structured diagnostic interviews are useful but costly diagnostic aids. Because dimensional rating scales may hold potential to improve diagnostic practices in community mental health settings, we examined how community clinicians incorporate the results of the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC; Briere 1996) into their diagnostic practices. Results suggest clinicians may attend to the TSCC anxiety and depression scores, but most scales agreed poorly with diagnoses assigned. While dimensional rating scales do hold potential as diagnostic aids, additional work on how to increase their utility to clinicians is needed.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 497-507 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Community Mental Health Journal |
Volume | 45 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 1 2009 |
Keywords
- Child diagnosis
- Child trauma
- Diagnostic agreement
- Diagnostic practices
- Trauma symptom checklist for children
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
- Psychiatry and Mental health
- Health(social science)