Patalay, Praveetha, Deighton, Jessica, Fonagy, Peter, Vostanis, Panos and Wolpert, Miranda
(2014)
Clinical validity of the Me and My School questionnaire: a self-report mental health measure for children and adolescents
CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRY AND MENTAL HEALTH, 8 (1).
17-.
ISSN 1753-2000, 1753-2000
Abstract
Background: The Me and My School Questionnaire (M&MS) is a self-report measure for children aged eight years and above that measures emotional difficulties and behavioural difficulties, and has been previously validated in a community sample. The present study aimed to assess its clinical sensitivity to justify its utility as a screening tool in schools.Methods: Data were collected from service-users (n = 91, 8-15 years) and accompanying parent/carer in outpatient mental health services in England. A matched community sample (N = 91) were used to assess the measure's ability to discriminate between low- and high-risk samples.Results: Receiver operating curves (area under the curve, emotional difficulties = .79; behavioural difficulties = .78), mean comparisons (effect size, emotional difficulties d = 1.17, behavioural difficulties = 1.12) and proportions above clinical thresholds indicate that the measure satisfactorily discriminates between the samples. The scales have good internal reliability (emotional difficulties α = .84; behavioural difficulties α = .82) and cross-informant agreement with parent-reported symptoms is comparable to existing measures (r = .30).Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate that the M&MS sufficiently discriminates between high-risk (clinic) and low-risk (community) samples, has good internal reliability, compares favourably with existing self-report measures of mental health and has comparable levels of agreement between parent-report and self-report to other measures. Alongside existing validation of the M&MS, these findings justify the measures use as a self-report screening tool for mental health problems in community settings for children aged as young as 8 years. © 2014 Patalay et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Mental health, Children, Self-report, Validity, Me and My School, Screening |
| Depositing User: | Symplectic Admin |
| Date Deposited: | 12 Jul 2016 09:35 |
| Last Modified: | 22 May 2026 23:47 |
| DOI: | 10.1186/1753-2000-8-17 |
| Open Access URL: | http://download.springer.com/static/pdf/752/art%25... |
| Related Websites: | |
| URI: | https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3002260 |
| Disclaimer: | The University of Liverpool is not responsible for content contained on other websites from links within repository metadata. Please contact us if you notice anything that appears incorrect or inappropriate. |
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