Mental Health and Cognitive Dysfunction: A Multicenter Study at Pediatric Rehabilitation Clinics in North Norway

Mental Health and Cognitive Dysfunction: A Multicenter Study at Pediatric Rehabilitation Clinics in North Norway

Patients referred to pediatric rehabilitation services have often cognitive deficits/intellectual disabilities.Neurocognitive assessment is, hence, important when designing treatment plans.

Children and adolescents with cognitive deficits and intellectual disabilities (ID) have a high risk of developing mental health problems. There is lack of knowledge about such comorbid mental disorders in the health service. There are also few validated instruments for assessing mental disorders among children and adolescents with cognitive deficits and ID both in Norway and abroad.

The main aims of the current multicentre study are to:

Investigate psychometric properties of different psychiatric instruments for children and adolescents. Investigate change and stability of symptoms over time. Investigate user satisfaction. The study will include Pediatric Rehabilitation Services at hospitals in Tromsø, Hammerfest and Bodø and will include in total 320 patients aged 4 to 18. We will use information from parents, teachers and patients, in addition to clinician-rated measures. Patients will be assessed at intake and after six months. We have conducted a pilot study in the period from 2012 to 2013.

1. Investigate psychometric properties of a structured psychiatric interview

   (DAWBA) and a symptom measure (SDQ) in clinical samples of children and

   adolescents with cognitive deficits and intellectual disabilities. We will

   investigate the instruments' reliability and convergent validity with the

   Aberrant Behavior checklist (ABC), the DBC and the Social Responsiveness

   Scale (SRS), in addition to the clinician-rated severity of children's mental

   health problems measured with the CGAS and HoNOSCA.

2. The psychiatric instruments will be administrated at intake and after six

   months. We will investigate prevalence rates and indicators of disorder

   severity (comorbidity and persistence), including risk factors (socioeconomic

   status, parenting styles).

3. Investigate user satisfaction with the health service, i.e., the Pediatric

Rehabilitation Services.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Age from 4 years to 18 years

2. Written informed consent to participate

3. Fluent in Norwegian

4. Normal or corrected to normal vision and hearing

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   Exclusion Criteria:

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