Methods of Assessment

Abstract

Careful and comprehensive assessment of anxiety and depression is essential to the accurate description and diagnosis that will help to inform and guide interventions. The clinical assessment of children requires a multimethod approach that includes (a) multiple measures, (b) multiple informants, (c) multiple settings, and (d) multiple time periods. Because young children often have not yet developed the cognitive and language ability and personal experiences to accurately self-report their subjective anxious and depressive symptoms, reliance upon observations and information from others, especially parents and teachers, is essential to obtain a thorough clinical picture. Typically, assessment in children using a multimethod approach involves seven components: (a) taking a thorough developmental and family history; (b) direct behavioral observations; (c) interviews with the child, parents, and teachers; (d) completion of behavior rating scales by parents, teachers, and the child; (e) completion of multidimensional personality inventories; (f) completion of self-report measures; and (g) informal methods. These methods provide objective information about the primary symptoms, behaviors, patterns, and their severity. Because anxiety and depression have a significant subjective component, it is necessary to obtain information from as many sources as possible using a multimethod approach. Depending on the developmental level of the child, some self-report methods may not be appropriate due to less developed language and reading skills. Few reliable and valid self-report measures are available for use with children younger than about 8 years of age.