Questionnaire-Description

The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED-41) is a questionnaire designed to assess emotional disorders related to anxiety in children and adolescents. The SCARED-41 includes 41 questions that cover five major anxiety disorders: generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, agoraphobia, panic disorder, and performance anxiety.

Data Analysis and Usage

Data analysis from the SCARED-41 involves evaluating responses to the 41 items of the questionnaire, which are typically rated on a Likert scale. Responses are rated based on the frequency or severity of the symptoms experienced by the child or adolescent.
Data Usage:
Data Collection: Participants, usually parents or teachers, complete the questionnaire about the children or adolescents.
Score Calculation: Scores for each item are aggregated to produce a total score for each anxiety disorder.
Score Analysis: The total scores are used to assess the intensity of the emotional disorders related to anxiety. Additionally, analysis may focus on specific domains to understand the different aspects of anxiety experienced by the child or adolescent.
Analysis includes statistical evaluation of the scale’s reliability (e.g., internal consistency using Cronbach’s alpha) and its validity (e.g., comparative studies with other anxiety scales).

Purpose

The primary goal of the SCARED-41 is to provide a reliable tool for assessing emotional disorders related to anxiety in children and adolescents. The tool aims to understand the level of anxiety-related disorders affecting the mental health of young individuals and supports the identification of areas needing intervention.

Calibration

The calibration of the SCARED-41 involves validating the scale through reliability and validity assessments:
Internal Consistency: Assessed using Cronbach’s alpha to ensure that the questionnaire items are well correlated.
Validity: Includes comparisons with other anxiety scales and clinical assessments to confirm that the SCARED-41 effectively measures anxiety disorders.

References

Birmaher, B., Brent, D. A., Chiapetta, L., & Bridge, J. (1999). The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED): Development, reliability, and validity. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 38(4), 510-518.
Birmaher, B., & Brent, D. A. (2007). SCARED-41: Clinical use and validation. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 16(3), 661-678.
Silverman, W. K., & Albano, A. M. (1996). The structure and validity of the SCARED-41 in a clinical and community sample. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 25(2), 209-215.