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What is the SDQ?The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a brief behavioural screening questionnaire about 2-17 year olds. It exists in several versions to meet the needs of researchers, clinicians and educationalists. Each version includes between one and three of the following components:A) 25 items on psychological attributes.All versions of the SDQ ask about 25 attributes, some positive and others negative. These 25 items are divided between 5 scales:
B) An impact supplementSeveral two-sided versions of the SDQ are available with the 25 items on strengths and difficulties on the front of the page and an impact supplement on the back. These extended versions of the SDQ ask whether the respondent thinks the young person has a problem, and if so, enquire further about chronicity, distress, social impairment, and burden to others. This provides useful additional information for clinicians and researchers with an interest in psychiatric caseness and the determinants of service use (Goodman, 1999). C) Follow-up questions
The follow-up versions of the SDQ include not only the 25 basic items and
the impact question, but also two additional follow-up questions for use
after an intervention. Has the intervention reduced problems? Has the
intervention helped in other ways, e.g. making the problems more bearable?
To increase the chance of detecting change, the follow-up versions of the
SDQ ask about 'the last month', as opposed to 'the last six months or this
school year', which is the reference period for the standard versions.
Follow-up versions also omit the question about the chronicity of problems.
Last modified : 16/08/22 |