Добавил:
Sekretar
kiopkiopkiop18@yandex.ru
t.me/Prokururor I Вовсе не секретарь, но почту проверяю
Опубликованный материал нарушает ваши авторские права? Сообщите нам.
Вуз:
Предмет:
Файл:Ординатура / Хирургия / Библиотека им академика М.И. Перельмана / Книга_5541_Библиотеки_им_академика_М_И_Перельмана.pdf
X
- •Brief Contents
- •Contents
- •About the Authors
- •Preface
- •Acknowledgments
- •Defining Disorders of Infancy, Childhood, and Adolescence
- •What Is Normal?
- •Rates of Disorders in Infancy, Childhood, and Adolescence
- •The Role of Values
- •Definitions of Psychopathology and Developmental Psychopathology
- •The Role of Theory in Developmental Psychopathology
- •Physiological Models
- •Psychodynamic Models
- •Behavioral and Cognitive Models
- •Humanistic and Positive Psychology Models
- •Family Models
- •Sociocultural Models
- •The Framework of Developmental Psychopathology
- •Developmental Pathways, Stability, and Change
- •Competence and Incompetence
- •Risk and Resilience
- •Research Strategies in Developmental Psychopathology
- •Classification
- •Assessment and Diagnosis
- •Intervention
- •Developmental Tasks and Challenges Related toPhysiological Functioning, Temperament, and Attachment
- •Disorders of Early Development
- •Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder
- •Disorders of Attachment
- •Developmental Tasks and Challenges Related to Intelligence and Cognition
- •Intellectual Developmental Disorder
- •Etiology
- •Developmental Course
- •Assessment and Diagnosis
- •Intervention
- •Learning Disorders
- •Developmental Course
- •Etiology
- •Historical and Current Conceptualizations of Autism Spectrum Disorder
- •Developmental Tasks and Challenges Related to the Coordination of Social, Emotional, and Cognitive Domains
- •Autism Spectrum Disorder
- •Developmental Course
- •Etiology
- •Assessment and Diagnosis
- •Intervention
- •Developmental Tasks and Challenges Related to Stress and Coping
- •Maltreatment
- •Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders
- •Developmental Course
- •Etiology
- •Assessment and Diagnosis
- •Intervention
- •Developmental Tasks and Challenges Related to Self-Regulation, Effortful Control, and Executive Function
- •Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
- •Developmental Course
- •Etiology
- •Assessment and Diagnosis
- •Intervention
- •Oppositional Defiant Disorder
- •Conduct Disorder
- •Developmental Course
- •Etiology
- •Assessment and Diagnosis
- •Intervention
- •Developmental Tasks and Challenges Related to Emotion Experiences, Fears, and Worries
- •Anxiety Disorders
- •Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
- •Somatic Symptom Disorders
- •Developmental Course
- •Etiology
- •Assessment and Diagnosis
- •Intervention
- •Developmental Tasks and Challenges Related to the Construction of Self and Identity
- •Depressive Disorders
- •Bipolar Disorders
- •Developmental Course
- •Etiology
- •Assessment and Diagnosis
- •Intervention
- •Suicidality
- •Developmental Tasks and Challenges Related to Eating and Appearance
- •Eating Disorders
- •Developmental Course
- •Etiology
- •Assessment and Diagnosis
- •Intervention
- •Developmental Tasks and Challenges Related to Brain Development, Self-Regulation, and Personality
- •Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders
- •Developmental Course
- •Etiology
- •Intervention
- •Personality Disorders in Adolescence and Young Adulthood
- •Psychotic Disorders in Adolescence and Young Adulthood
- •Closing Comments
- •Glossary
- •References
- •Name Index
- •Subject Index

54 Chapter 4 Classification, Assessment and Diagnosis, and Intervention
a diagnosis of anxiety disorder with some shared symptoms,
but also nonshared symptoms. Each child’s experience may
differ in terms of the settings that elicit anxiety, the length
of time the anxiety lasts, and whether support from a parent
improves the short-term outcome.
Comorbidity across categories or groups of disorders
involves the co-occurrence of two or more disorders in one
individual. An adolescent might be struggling, for example,
with a mood disorder and a substance use disorder, or an
anxiety disorder and an eating disorder. A more specific way
that researchers and clinicians have defined comorbidity
involves the co-occurrence of two or more disorders where
the cooccurrence is greater than chance. That is, we are
iStock.com/Skynesher
Developmental contributions to classification emphasize
the ways in which relationship factors influence the
development of problems and disorders.
not looking for any two disorders but rather two disorders
that are frequently observed together. This definition
makes explicit the idea that comorbid conditions are not
random. Common, nonrandom pairings in youth include
ADHD and conduct disorder, autism spectrum disorder
psychological involvement. In the most recent update,
diagnoses of relationship disorders include information
about the young child’s relationships with caregivers as well
as relationships with other adults such as daycare providers
or teachers.
Another perspective on developmental approaches
to classification involves explicit appreciation of the
principles and practices of developmental psychopathology.
Yates, Burt, and Troy (2011) describe several ways to
improve classification efforts. The first is an emphasis on
developmental pathways and increased focus on the timing
of the disorder’s onset. Whether a disorder has an early or
later onset may point toward different etiological factors
or provide information about the timing of interventions.
The second way to improve classification is to focus on
age-salient references, with a better understanding of the
expression and meaning of disorder given a child’s age,
developmental challenges, and available resources. Another
way to improve classification is to include multilevel analyses,
with consideration of genetic, physiological, psychological,
familial, and sociocultural influences on the emergence and
maintenance of disorder.
and intellectual developmental disorder, and depression and
anxiety.
Comorbidity happens for several reasons. First, given
that all classification emphasizes group similarities rather
than unique variations, some children and adolescents are
not going to match up well with strictly defined categories.
The clinical picture for these individuals may include a mix
of symptoms from different disorders. Clinicians may then
diagnose two disorders, neither of which is quite right (or
quite wrong). Alternatively, diagnostic categories that are too
loosely or vaguely defined, with lots of common symptoms,
also contribute to instances of comorbidity, with some
children and adolescents meeting overlapping sets of criteria.
Comorbidity may provide important information
beyond multiple diagnoses. There are data that suggest,
for example, that children and adolescents at greatest
risk for adverse outcomes display both internalizing and
externalizing problems (Sallis et al., 2019). Accurate
assessments of disorders and comorbidity clearly require
careful consideration of both classification information and
child or adolescent information.
Transdiagnostic symptoms are patterns of emotion,
thought, and behavior that cut across traditional diagnostic
Heterogeneity, Comorbidity,
andTransdiagnostic Symptoms
All classification efforts must contend with several real-life
concerns: heterogeneity, comorbidity, and transdiagnostic
symptoms. Heterogeneity within categories or groups
of disorders involves the ways in which children and
adolescents with the same disorder or diagnosis (e.g.,
ADHD or generalized anxiety disorder) display their own
particular sets of difficulties or symptoms. We expect some
degree of similarity, of course, in the clinical presentations
of individuals with the same disorder. But the DSM-5-TR
description of any specific disorder usually includes a
variety of domains and symptoms, allowing for countless
combinations. For instance, two children may each receive
boundaries, helping to explain the overlap between
individual disorders (e.g., depression and anxiety, or conduct
disorder and anxiety) and between categories of internalizing
and externalizing disorders. An example of a transdiagnostic
symptom is emotion dysregulation, “a pattern of emotional
experience and/or expression that interferes with appropriate
goal-directed behavior” (Beauchaine & Cicchetti, 2019,
p. 800). Emotion dysregulation is observed in children
and adolescents diagnosed with many different disorders,
both internalizing and externalizing. Depending on the
combination of various other risk factors and environments,
young children who struggle with emotion may go on to
display distinctive developmental pathways, experiencing
different types of difficulties and receiving different
diagnoses. Another example of a transdiagnostic symptom is
Copyright 2024 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.

Assessment and Diagnosis 55
maladaptive thinking, with patterns of overly negative, poorly
reasoned, and self-focused beliefs (Schweitzer et al., 2020).
Similar to emotion dysregulation, these cognitive patterns
are also observed in children and adolescents diagnosed with
many different disorders.
Coghill and Sonuga-Barke (2012) address concerns about
classification from another perspective. They note the many
ways in which competing views on classification are embedded
in larger sociocultural contexts. In a discussion of classification
as a practical clinical reality, they state, “It is a clinician’s job to
make difficult practical decisions about whether an individual
should receive specialist health interventions and which
interventions they should receive” (Coghill & Sonuga-Barke
2012, p. 470). Discussing the role of politics and economics
in classification and diagnosis, they assert that “childhood
disorders arouse strong, but very different, public and political
reactions from different groups and individuals with different
agendas” (p. 470). These types of classification concerns will be
explored in upcoming chapters.
Alternative Approaches
to Classification
The Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) is a researchoriented dimensional system. Launched in 2009 by the
National Institute of Mental Health, RDoC identifies a set of
neurobiological and behavioral dimensions that are believed
to underlie typical and atypical functions and outcomes
(Cuthbert & Insel, 2013). These dimensions include negative
valence systems (e.g., fear, anxiety); positive valence systems
(e.g., approach motivation, reward learning); cognitive
systems (e.g., attention, memory); arousal/modulatory
systems (e.g., arousal, sleep); and systems for social processes
(e.g., affiliation, social communication). One important
goal of the RDoC project is to better understand how to
match treatments to individuals.
As noted in the previous section, there are a lot of data
that emphasize the overlap among categories and types
of disorder. RDoC specifically targets that overlap and
explores transdiagnostic risks and patterns. One example
of this type of transdiagnostic research is focused on the
neuropsychology of decision-making difficulties across
different types of disorders. Researchers reported that
the impaired decision making observed in children with
ADHD reflected impulsivity and disinhibition, while
the impairments observed in children with conduct
disorder reflected risk taking and a failure to learn from
consequences. For children with anxiety, impaired decision
making involved being oversensitive to negative reactions;
children with depression displayed a lack of motivation and
indecision (Sonuga-Barke et al., 2016). So there is a shared
dimension of impaired decision making in many children
who struggle, but there are also important distinctions. “A
depressed teenager may find it hard to motivate herself to
go to a party, whereas someone with ADHD may find it
hard to generate and follow through a plan to get there… . A
person with anxiety might attend the party but spend most
of the night scrutinizing their own actions and worrying
about how they are perceived by others” (Sonuga-Barke
et al., 2016, p. 322).
Although there is much potential value in the RDoC
framework and the research being conducted, important
concerns remain. The most significant of these concerns
is likely the emphasis on neurobiology. Although
conceptualized as a classification system that balanced
neurobiological dimensions and behavioral dimensions,
the research so far appears to place more emphasis on
neurobiology. From a developmental psychopathology
perspective, there is a current prioritizing of more explicit
integration of development, relationships and environmental
contexts, and pathways into the RDoC system (Conradt
et al., 2021; King et al., 2021).
The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology
(HiTOP) is an empirically based dimensional classification
model. The model is designed to provide reliable and valid
information about the structure of psychopathology that can
be used to inform clinical practice and improve outcomes
for individuals experiencing distress and dysfunction
(Kotov et al., 2017; Kotov et al., 2021). Figure 4.3
illustrates the hierarchical organization of dimensions and
domains.
Theory and research on the HiTOP model overlaps
theory and research focused on a general factor of
psychopathology, the p factor. Following consistent
observations of overlap among diagnostic categories and
clinical presentations, statistical analyses reveal a heritable,
stable factor that contributes to many different patterns of
disorder (Pettersson et al., 2018; Smith et al., 2020). In the
HiTOP model, the p factor is represented at the top or the
broadest level. A comparison of the RDoC and HiTOP
models is provided in Box 4.1.
Assessment and Diagnosis
Definitions of Assessment
and Diagnosis
When a child or adolescent is evaluated, we need some
orderly way of gathering information. Assessment involves
the systematic collection of relevant information and is used
to solve two kinds of practical problems: (1) differentiating
everyday problems or transient difficulties from clinically
significant psychopathology, and (2) classifying and caring
for those who have been identified as having disorders.
The first practical problem for assessment involves a
decision about whether diagnosis is necessary or appropriate,
and that necessitates thinking about disorder within a
developmental framework. After collecting information about
a child’s or adolescent’s various difficulties (and strengths),
current distress and dysfunction (and achievements), and
likely outcomes, a clinician may conclude that the child
Copyright 2024 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.

56 Chapter 4 Classification, Assessment and Diagnosis, and Intervention
Homogeneous
Symptom
Components /
Maladaptive traits
Disorders and
Related Constructs
Linked to Subfactors
and Spectra
Subfactors
Spectra
Syndromes
Superspectra
Symptoms
Figure 4.3 The hierarchical taxonomy of psychopathology: An alternative dimensional approach
to classification
General Factor of Psychopathology (p-factor)
Externalizing
Somatoform
Components
Conversion
Somatization
Malaise
Head Pain
Gastro-
intestinal
Cognitive
Illness Anxiety
Disorder
Somatic
Symptom
Disorder
Traits
Anxiousness
Emotional
lability
Hostility
Perseveration
(low) Restricted
affectivity
Separation
insecurity
Submissive-
ness
Identity
problems
Negative
relationships
Fragility
Ineptitude
(low)
Invulnerability
Sexual
Problems
Arousal
Difculties
Low Desire
Orgasmic
Dysfunction
Sexual Pain
Internalizing
Eating
Pathology
Anorexia
Nervosa
Binge Eating
Disorder
Bulimia
Nervosa
Detachment
Fear
Distress
Thought Disorder
Mania
Dimensional Syndromes
Components
spaces
Blood-
panic
panic
Rituals
Dysphoria
Lassitude
Anhedonia
Insomnia
Suicidality
Agitation
Retardation
Appetite loss
Appetite gain
(low) Wellbeing
GAD
Symptoms
Re-
experiencing
Avoidance
Hyperarousal
Numbing
Dissociation
Irritability
Pure
obsessions
Components
Euphoric
activation
Hyper-active
cognition
Reckless
over-
condence
Components
Psychotic
Disorganized
Inexpressivity
Avolition
Traits
Eccentricity
Cognitive/
perceptual
dysregulation
Unusual beliefs
and
experiences
Fantasy
proneness
Traits
Anhedonia
Depressivity
Intimacy
avoidance
Suspicious-
ness
Withdrawal
Interpersonal
passivity
Disafliative-
ness
(low) Attention
seeking
Components
Interactive
anxiety
Performance
anxiety
Public places
Enclosed
Animal phobia
Situational
phobia
injection-injury
Physiological
Psychological
Cleaning
Checking
Individual Signs, Symptoms, and Maladaptive Behaviors
Agoraphobia
OCD
Panic Disorder
SAD
Social Phobia
Specic Phobia
Borderline PD
Dysthymia
GAD
MDD
PTSD
Bipolar I & II
Mood
Disorders with
Psychosis
Paranoid PD
Schizophrenia
Spectrum
Schizoid PD
Schizotypal PD
Avoidant PD
(low) Histrionic
PD
Schizoid PD
Traits
Problematic
impulsivity
Irresponsibility
Theft
Distractibility
Risk taking
(low) Rigid
perfectionism
(low)
Ruminative
deliberation
(low)
Workaholism
Disinhibited
Externalizing
Substance
Abuse
Components
Alcohol use
Alcohol
problems
Marijuana use
Marijuana
problems
Drug use
Drug problems
Substance-
Related
Disorders
Antisocial
Behavior
Components
Physical
aggression
Destructive
aggression
Relational
aggression
Fraud
Traits
Impatient
urgency
(low) Planful
control
(low)
Dependability
Alienation
Boredom
proneness
Blame
externalization
(low) Honesty
Rebelliousness
(low) Empathy
Excitement
seeking
Antisocial PD
Conduct
Disorder
IED
ODD
ADHD
Antagonistic
Externalizing
Traits
Attention
seeking
Callousness
Deceitfulness
Grandiosity
Manipulative-
ness
Rudeness
Egocentricity
Dominance
Flirtatiousness
(low)
Timorousness
Borderline PD
Histrionic PD
Narcissistic PD
Paranoid PD
Source: Kotov et al. (2017). The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP): A dimensional alternative to traditional nosologies.
or adolescent is functioning within the normal range or is
experiencing a “bump-in-the-road” kind of problem. In
these cases, although education, advice, or support may be
provided, a diagnosis is not made. In other cases, a clinician
may become convinced that the child or adolescent displays
more serious maladaptation. Assessment, then, would likely
result in a specific diagnosis.
method of assigning individuals to specific classification
categories. Diagnosis becomes particularly important when
psychologists or other mental health professionals talk to
parents about the nature of their child’s disorder, when clinical
decisions about treatments are made, or when insurance
companies require verification of a disorder to approve
reimbursements for the cost of c are. With respect to these pract ical
issues, assessment certainly depends on gathering information
about the specific distress and dysfunction experienced by
a child, but it also must include information about a child’s
strengths and accomplishments. We need to know what a child
does well not only to help with accurate diagnosis but also to
provide valuable insights about effective plans for treatment.
After evaluating the intensity, frequency, duration, and
pattern of difficulties in a developmental context, we need to
decide what the best fit is between the clinical presentation
and available classification categories. When choosing the
The second practical problem involves diagnosis, the
correct category, it is also important to consider whether a
child’s clinical presentation reflects a single case of disorder,
an atypical or mixed-symptom case, or a combination of
comorbid conditions. At times, DSM-5-TR classification
requires clinicians to make differential diagnoses, decisions
about mutually exclusive categories of disorder. For example,
a child would not receive a diagnosis of oppositional defiant
disorder and disruptive mood dysregulation disorder
because the defining symptoms of the former diagnosis
are subsumed in the larger symptom set of the latter
diagnosis. Overall, researchers and clinicians are concerned
Copyright 2024 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.

Assessment and Diagnosis 57
Box 4.1 Emerging Science
A Comparison of the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) and the Hierarchical Taxonomy
of Psychopathology (HiTOP) Models
The developmental psychopathology approach, at its core, is
focused on how adaptation and maladaptation unfold over time,
on continuity as well as discontinuity, and on the continuum of
typical to atypical functioning (Cicchetti, 2020). Consequently,
although diagnostic categories are entirely relevant to the
field, categorical diagnostic systems alone cannot sufficiently
inform or serve as the organizing framework of developmental
psychopathology. Clinical models that include both dimensions
and hierarchal structure are needed as context within which
developmental psychopathology can be defined and advance.
Although categorical diagnostic systems, like DSM-5-TR,
allow for a familiar and standardized approach to diagnosis, they
do so at some cost. Among the necessary compromises of such
systems is the trade-off of descriptions of psychopathology that
reflect the complexity of clinical phenomena for clear diagnostic
criteria defining non-overlapping diagnoses. There are many
practical reasons for the current ascendency of categorical
approaches to diagnosis, but a developmental psychopathology
perspective calls for, at a minimum, additional and different
models of psychopathology, especially ones that better account
for continuity and discontinuity of clinical presentations. Such
alternative approaches are necessary for the task of elucidating
the origins of clinical disorders, including a process-level
understanding of both typical and atypical developmental
trajectories.
The Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) is one such
approach. The RDoC system represents a research framework
developed by the NIMH with a focus on the neurobiological
processes underlying psychopathology. By integrating multiple
levels of information (e.g., genetics, neuropathways, behaviors),
it allows for a dimensional approach to investigating and
understanding the range of typical to atypical behaviors. In
addition to being dimensional, it is also transdiagnostic. RDoC
is not meant to be an alternative diagnostic system but rather to
provide a conceptual model that better reflects the underlying
(true) nature of the signs and symptoms of interest to mental
health researchers and clinicians (refer to the information in
the main text for additional details).
The more recently developed Hierarchical Taxonomy of
Psychopathology (HiTOP) is meant to stand in contrast to both
the traditional categorical approach of the DSM system and the
primary research focus of the RDoC system. HiTOP is a
dimensional classification system based on empirically derived
domains of clinical functioning across hierarchical levels. Unlike
RDoC, the purpose of developing the HiTOP model was to create
more robust, non-overlapping, valid domains of clinical disorder
relevant to clinical practice. With its emphasis on dimensions, it is
analogous to how the medical field thinks about blood pressure or
weight. Both are expressed as continuous variables with clinical
categories defined by cut points reflecting clinical outcomes. So,
for example, in the HiTOP system, social anxiety can be described
not as rule-in or rule-out category but rather as a continuum
ranging from mild discomfort in a limited number of social
settings to disabling distress in most social situations. Like the
RDoC system, it stands in contrast to DSM by relying primarily
on statistically derived clusters rather than categories based on
expert opinion.
Utilizing statistical analysis based on symptom patterns
and with an emphasis on validity data, HiTOP yields a
hierarchical structure of psychopathology. At the broadest
level, it defines a general factor of psychopathology with lower
order subfactors becoming increasingly refined and discrete.
Included in this structure is a level of syndromes and disorders
that genera lly align with the more familiar diagnostic categories
of DSM-5-TR. For example, the higher order factor of
“Thought Disorder” includes lower order categories such as
Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders, Mood Disorders with
Psychosis, and Paranoid Personality Disorder. These, in turn,
can be defined by more specific symptoms.
Both R DoC and HiTOP are based on dimensional, empirically
based models. However, while RDoC is largely focused on the
genetic and neurobiological basis for behavioral functioning,
HiTOP is primarily focused on psychopathological symptoms,
syndromes, and broad functional domains. It is important to note
that these are not two competing clinical models but rather two
complementary approaches allowing the clinical field to move
beyond the limitations of the categorical medical model of the
DSM diagnostic approach (Michelini et al, 2021). Both represent
conceptual models that better match the complexity and dynamic
phenomena of human functioning, including, but not limited to,
mental health problems. Indeed, the HiTOP approach can inform
RDoC by identifying clinical dimensions that should be the focus
of research, and RDoC research can help clarify the nature and
validity of HiTOP dimensions (Kotov et al., 2018). Both models
have the potential to accelerate progress in how we understand,
classify, and treat psychopathology and, in many ways, are better
aligned with the developmental psychopathology approach than
categorical classification systems.
with diagnostic efficiency, the degree to which clinicians
maximize diagnostic hits and minimize diagnostic misses.
With all these diagnostic issues in mind, it is important to
remember that we will always have more children with more
kinds of problems than we have categories in which to place
them. As we continue to improve classification and diagnosis,
we emphasize that naming a disorder or diagnosing a child
is not the same thing as understanding the disorder or the
Copyright 2024 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
child. Naming is the first step, not the only step. We also
need to remember that assigning a particular child’s disorder
to a classification category is accomplished at a moment in
time. Because children change and continue to develop after
a diagnosis is made, diagnoses must be periodically reviewed
and reevaluated.
A final concern about diagnosis relates to the effects
of labeling. As discussed at the end of Chapter 1, the

58 Chapter 4 Classification, Assessment and Diagnosis, and Intervention
stigmatization of mental illness is difficult for children
and their families to manage. “It is essential to remember
that people are not defined by their psychiatric diagnoses.
Individuals may have a disorder, but they also possess a core
human dignity as well as areas of experiences where they
function flexibly, competently, and creatively” (Lieberman
et al., 1997, p. 12). The effects of labeling are often viewed
as damaging. For example, we are concerned with the
self-fulfilling prophecy of children who internalize adult
expectations for struggle or failure given a particular
diagnosis (such as autism spectrum disorder or ADHD).
We must also recognize, however, that labels may have
some positive impact. Parents who have been confused and
upset by their children’s behavior, who have questioned
their own competence, and who have worried about their
children’s futures may view labels as providing some
validation for their experiences. In addition, labels may
provide both parents and children with knowledge about
ways to deal with the difficulties of disorders as well as
connections to other parents and other youth in similar
situations. Given these multiple perspectives, negotiation
among professionals, parents, and children for particular
labels with particular meanings is an ever-present issue.
Methods and Processes of Assessment
The Case of Eden
Eden is a nine-year-old fourth grader referred for a
psychological evaluation by her parents at the suggestion
of her teacher. Eden began to experience school difficulties
in third grade that continued into fourth grade and that
have gotten considerably worse as the school year goes on.
She has difficulties with completing work, especially on
long-term projects, and often fails to turn in assignments.
Her grades are consistently lower than what either her
parents or her teachers believe she is capable of.
The Case of Kai
Kai is a 12-year-old sixth grader referred by their parents
for evaluation. Kai currently resists going to school in the
mornings due to their extreme and disabling anxiety. Kai
also experiences severe headaches before leaving home.
Socially, Kai has become increasingly isolated from their
classmates and is usually alone after school or hanging out
with a neighbor who is two years younger.
The Case of Rohan
Rohan is a 4½-year-old boy referred for assessment
and therapy by his pediatrician after she noted that
Rohan and his mother’s interactions in the office were
characterized by frustration and conflict. Additional
concerns expressed by Rohan’s mother and his day
care provider included oppositionality, frequent temper
tantrums, and occasional physical aggression. There
have been several instances when Rohan has kicked and
bitten others at preschool and at home.
In the real world, clinical assessments begin with a specific
concern, question, or problem. In these case examples, we
think about whether Eden’s school difficulties are the result
of anxiety, ADHD, or a learning disorder. We think about
whether Kai’s distress is best characterized as anxiety or
depression, whether it may resolve on its own, and options
for treatment. We think about whether Rohan’s dysfunction
reflects the emergence of a more severe psychopathology
such as disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, which
requires intensive intervention, or whether we are dealing
with less severe psychopathology, such as oppositional
defiant disorder, which calls for treatment focused on
temperament and parenting issues.
Specific concerns influence the assessment strategy that
is selected, but most assessments include a more general
overview of the child’s circumstances. Clinicians should, of
course, respond to the presenting concern, but they need to
remain alert to many kinds of contextual information, other
possible problems, and the child’s positive characteristics.
A narrow focus early in the assessment process may lead
to diagnostic error, with a quick confirmation of the
initial hypothesis without consideration of alternatives. A
limited focus may also lead to a failure to appreciate childenvironment contexts in all their complexity.
In a comprehensive assessment, there are many potential
participants with different perspectives and agendas.
We can expect that information provided by individuals
will vary from parent to child/adolescent, from parent to
teacher, from parent to clinician, and so on. Each informant
provides unique and useful data (Achenbach et al., 1987; De
Los Reyes et al., 2015). Different information from different
individuals makes sense. We don’t expect children and
adolescents to struggle in the exact same ways in different
contexts (at home vs. at school), or with different people
(parents vs. teachers vs. peers), or with different challenges
(self-control vs. academic achievement vs. friendship stress)
(Makol et al., 2020). It is also possible that individuals
may interpret problematic behaviors in different ways (as
something wrong with a child or as something wrong with
the child’s environment) (Goolsby et al., 2018).
When considering data from multiple informants,
clinicians might be expected to pay extra attention to areas
of agreement. For externalizing disorders, there tends to be
greater agreement among informants and that agreement is
helpful to note (De Los Reyes et al., 2015). When parents
and teachers agree, for example, about a child’s autism
symptoms, that agreement may point to increased problem
severity (Makol et al., 2020).
Disagreements, or discrepant information, may also be
meaningful. Parents are usually able to provide helpful
data about their children and, in many cases, are the ones
Copyright 2024 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.

Assessment and Diagnosis 59
most likely to detect problems in their early stages. By early
adolescence, however, youth reports of their own distress
and dysfunction are increasingly valuable as parents may
have a harder time recognizing difficulties such as anxiety
or depression (Ford & McCoy, 2021). Teachers may
provide information that differs from parents or youth.
Given teachers’ experience with many typically-developing
or atypically-developing children or adolescents, their
information may be especially significant (Curhan et al.,
2020; De Los Reyes et al., 2019). Discrepancies may also
signal potential problems with treatment decisions and
outcomes, such as when parents and adolescents disagree
about whether treatment is necessary or what types of
treatment might be most useful (Goolsby et al., 2018).
Parental and family characteristics, such as personality,
psychopathology, and life events, are important to keep in
mind because these kinds of characteristics appear to affect
reports and ratings of child or adolescent functioning.
Parents who struggle with their own mental illnesses or with
social and environmental adversities, for instance, may have
lower thresholds for identifying behavior as problematic.
Parents may also differ with respect to the levels of concern
they display, with some parents more likely to believe that
their children will grow out of their problems and improve
over time. Accurate assessment of children and adolescents
should also consider the cultural background of parents and
families. Parents from certain cultures, for example, may
be more sensitive to internalizing or externalizing kinds of
problems (Rescorla et al., 2019).
In addition to seeking input from multiple informants,
using different assessment measures allows the clinician
to also gather important information from children or
adolescents themselves. For example, interview data helps
the clinician understand relevant issues from the child’s
perspective. Norm-based symptom checklists generate
scores that indicate whether symptoms are diagnostically
significant. And projective techniques, as performancebased measures, bring psychological functioning more
directly into the clinician’s office.
Assessment Technique: The Interview
Assessments usually begin with interviews. Initial interviews
allow parents and children to explain their concerns and,
more broadly, to tell their stories. Interviews also provide
opportunities to start building the helping relationship, an
especially important consideration when clinicians know that
they will be working closely with various family members.
In interviews with Eden’s mother, father, and stepmother,
each emphasized that school is becoming increasingly
stressful for both Eden and for them, with much more
time spent closely monitoring assignments, homework, and
teacher concerns. In addition, Eden has begun to complain
about stomachaches and has missed school as a result. Her
mother and father are particularly upset about the fact
that Eden has lied to them about schoolwork because they
have always felt that they could trust their daughter. Eden’s
parents also provided information about the extended
family, noting that two of Eden’s cousins have been
diagnosed with ADHD. They believe that Eden does not
display the increased activity or impulsiveness observed in
these other children. In contrast to these recent difficulties,
her parents report that she seemed relaxed and happy during
the summer and enjoys playing with her younger sister and
in community sports programs. When the focus is not on
school, Eden can be very pleasant and can entertain herself
for long periods of time by coloring and doing crafts.
Kai’s mother and father noted that, in addition to seeming
anxious, Kai is increasingly irritable at home and angry and
aggressive when frustrated. They described Kai as having a
“short fuse” and as being both oppositional and inflexible.
They also reported that the summer prior to this school year,
Kai seemed to lose interest and enjoyment in their usual
activities. Kai has identified as nonbinary for several years,
and both parents report that Kai has received affirmation
and support from immediate and extended family, friends at
school, and teachers. Kai’s parents are not sure whether or how
Kai’s gender identity influences Kai’s current difficulties.
Rohan’s mother, a single parent, reported that he had
been a difficult infant, easily upset and difficult to comfort.
His infancy was a challenging time for her because she was
in the middle of ending an abusive relationship. She reported
that by the age of 2, Rohan was consistently aggressive with
others and seemed especially stressed in social situations.
She talked about feeling very guilty about her current anger
and resentment toward him. She said that although she does
love him, she no longer expects to have a pleasant and easy
time with him and is resigned to the belief that each day
with him will be a struggle. She also acknowledged that she
feels exhausted and impatient, and she despairs of finding
any helpful way to deal with her son.
Interviews with children are also critical sources of
information, although the types of interviews conducted
with Kai, Eden, and Rohan are going to be very different.
The format of child interviews ranges from structured
play to highly planned sets of questions to open-ended
conversations, and takes into account characteristics such
as age and whether the child is comfortable interacting with
a clinician apart from parents. Even the youngest children
with limited verbal skills can be expected to provide unique
assessment data through, for example, their emotional,
behavioral, and play patterns. As with parents, ethnicity and
cultural background influences on children’s self-reports
must be taken into account (Vaughn-Coaxum et al., 2016).
In the interview with 9-year-old Eden, she was subdued
and reluctant to talk at first, but she was easily reassured and
quickly became more open and communicative. Eden is very
aware of her current school difficulties and said she thinks that
she needs to try harder. She said that she tries to pay attention
in class, but when she later tries to complete assignments
at home, she has forgotten what the teacher talked about.
She acknowledges that she has sometimes told her parents
that she does not have homework because the work is too
Copyright 2024 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.

60 Chapter 4 Classification, Assessment and Diagnosis, and Intervention
Assessment Technique:
The Standardized Test
In addition to the rich information that can be gathered
from interviews, data from standardized tests are almost
always part of an assessment. Standardized tests are
assessments in which the data from a particular child
can be compared to data gathered from large samples
of children, including typically developing children and
children with various diagnoses. The use of norms allows
for the individual’s score to be interpreted relative to age,
gender, or both. For example, a result from a five-yearold girl is compared to the results of other girls of similar
age, and a result from a 14-year-old boy is compared to
iStock.com/Mmpile
Assessment of young children often involves interviews,
tests, and observations in age-appropriate, comfortable
settings.
hard, and she wants to have more free time at home. Eden
was able to describe many activities that she enjoys, including
time spent with a best friend, and talked excitedly about a
planned trip with her father, stepmother, and sister. She did
describe having trouble falling asleep at night because she
is worried about things such as upcoming tests and about
someone breaking into the house. When this happens, she
leaves her room and crawls into bed with a parent.
In the interview with 12-year-old Kai, Kai agrees with
their parents that they do not like to go to school, which they
describe as “mostly boring.” Kai says that they used to do
well in school but does not talk about prior accomplishments
with any sense of pride or joy. Kai disputes their parents’
description of their behavior at home, saying that they would
prefer to be left alone but that their parents are “always
bugging me about everything” and that these conflicts are
upsetting. Kai said that they frequently worry that they
will get sick in school and throw up in the classroom. This
worry has led Kai to go to the school nurse almost every day
and to resist going to school at all if they are feeling even
somewhat ill. In response to questions about their interests,
Kai said that they used to like playing soccer and practicing
the piano. Now, however, Kai describes these as “boring and
dumb” and has dropped both activities. Kai says that their
gender identification does not cause any specific problems
but acknowledges that a few peers seem to avoid them at
school, and it has been difficult to make a new close friend
after their previous best friend moved several states away.
In the interview with 4½-year-old Rohan, he was briefly
seen alone and then with his mother. Rohan had no difficulty
separating from his mother and played enthusiastically but
carelessly with various toys in the office. He generally ignored
the clinician and rebuffed attempts to engage in shared play
activities. When joined by his mother, however, Rohan
became impulsive and aggressive. At one point, he hit his
mother with a toy car and laughed. Rohan’s mother told him
that he had hurt her, and that if he did it again, she would not
allow him to watch television when they got home.
the results of other adolescent boys. The most common
standardized tests are rating scales, checklists, and basic
questionnaires completed by parents, children and
adolescents, and teachers. As noted previously, we expect
some areas of agreement and some areas of disagreement
when reviewing and integrating information from various
individuals.
There are global measures of personality functioning
and problem areas, such as the Child Behavior Check
List (CBCL), a component of the Achenbach System of
Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA), the Behavior
Assessment System for Children (BASC), developed by
Reynolds and colleagues, and the Strengths and Difficulties
Questionnaire (SDQ), developed by Goodman and
colleagues. There are also disorder- or symptom-based tests,
such as the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and
Schizophrenia (K-SADS), used in both research and clinical
settings, that measure symptoms of mood disorders, anxiety
disorders, disruptive behavior disorders, and psychotic
disorders. Other examples include Reynold’s Adolescent
Depression Scale (RADS) and the Yale Brown Obsessive
Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS).
Other tests examine risk factors, providing meaningful
information about a child’s problematic functioning. For
example, the Early Child Irritability-Related Impairment
Interview is intended to distinguish typical bad moods
and tantrums from more clinically significant irritability
in young children (Wakschlag et al., 2020). Standardized
tests for ratings of child and adolescent symptoms and
disorders may be completed by adults and youth from
many countries and cultures, with reliability and validity
demonstrated for many of the most common tests (e.g.,
Achenbach et al., 2012).
Other common standardized tests include measures
of general cognitive or intellectual functioning, such as
the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children (WISC) or
the Stanford-Binet. Neurological and neuropsychological
evaluations are sometimes also included as part of a
comprehensive assessment plan.
Other traditional measures of personality and clinical
symptoms include projective measures such as the
Rorschach inkblots and the Thematic Apperception
Copyright 2024 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.

Assessment and Diagnosis 61
Test (TAT), a storytelling task. Projective measures
are based on the premise that, given an ambiguous
stimulus, individuals’ responses will reflect the projection
of unconscious motivations, concerns, and conflicts.
Although academic researchers frequently decry the
continued use of projective measures, given the relatively
poor data on their reliability and validity (Hunsley et al.,
2015), clinicians counter that these measures often allow
them to engage children in ways that enable them to
talk about difficult feelings or experiences indirectly
and in ways that are developmentally more familiar and
appropriate.
Assessment Technique: Physiological
Measures
Most clinical assessments do not involve physiological
measures. With increased attention to physiological
functioning and neurobiological dimensions of disorder,
however, there is a lot of interest in physiological assessment,
and there are many innovative tools and techniques for
diagnosis and intervention (Langnecker & Phillips, 2021).
Concerns about cost, feasibility, and usefulness must be
addressed before these kinds of assessments are routine (De
Los Reyes & Aldao, 2015). In the meantime, physiological
assessments will continue to be part of research designs that
inform clinical practice.
Assessment Technique: Observation
Another source of valuable information comes from
observations made by the clinician. Clinicians usually
observe children in clinical settings, such as offices, but also
may observe children in home, daycare, or school settings.
These observations can provide specific sorts of contextual
data, including analyses of what comes before and what
follows a child’s dysfunctional behavior. Observations may
also be more encompassing. For example, a clinician might
focus on evaluating children’s relationships to determine
whether the relationship is itself the cause of disorder
or how it plays a part in the maintenance of a child’s
disturbance.
Many structured observations use an explicit developmental
framework. The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule
(ADOS and ADOS-2), for example, is used in the evaluation
of autism spectrum disorder in children. As a developmentally
informed assessment, it is designed to elicit atypical examples
of problem behavior. Structured observations also address the
context specificity of problem behaviors—that is, problem
behaviors that appear in one context and not another, such as at
home and not at preschool, or at preschool and not at home (Yates
et al., 2011).
Because many of the initial concerns about children are
related to school functioning, teachers and schools can be
important sources of clinical data. In some cases, teachers
complete parallel forms of parent questionnaires. Many
times, teachers’ information is consistent with that provided
by parents and children; other times, different information
becomes available. Teacher characteristics related to
training and experience may influence the information
provided about children. Teacher ratings of students can
be influenced by students’ ethnicity and race, with Black
children rated as having more difficulties compared to
similar White children (Barbarin et al., 2020; Shonkoff
et al., 2021). Other differences in teacher ratings may be
tied to actual differences in children’s behaviors in various
settings (at home versus in school). In addition to teacher
ratings and school records, a large collection of possible tests
is available, designed to examine many different aspects of
ability and achievement and to measure cognitive processes
that might affect learning, such as inattention and memory.
Another perspective on the central roles of the school
classroom, teachers, and school psychologists emphasizes
the need to coordinate diagnoses of children using the
DSM with the special education categories delineated in the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement
Act (IDEA) of 2004 (Wodrich et al., 2008). Because the
special education categories are broad and the criteria
are general, the students in any category have “decidedly
heterogeneous problems and diverse educational needs”
(p. 627). For example, children diagnosed with ADHD often
improve with a combination of medication and classroom
interventions; this information should be part of schoolbased planning. Another example of necessary coordination
and planning involves the identification of children whose
disorders place them at higher risk for poor outcomes and
in greater need of limited school services. Finally, from
a developmental view, children’s functioning in school
(both academic and social) is a key marker of well-being.
Understanding children’s school adaptation or impairment
is a necessary component of any comprehensive assessment.
Eden’s Diagnostic Summary
Eden’s current difficulties are most consistent with a DSM5-TR diagnosis of ADHD. The diagnosis of ADHD with
a predominant clinical presentation of inattention is often
made later in the elementary school years, when demands
for organization and independent functioning in school
begin to increase. Eden’s academic achievement is generally
consistent with her intellectual functioning, and there is no
evidence that she responds poorly to instruction, so there is
no strong case to be made for a learning disorder. Clearly,
Eden is a somewhat anxious child, and the problems that she
is experiencing in school have exacerbated this vulnerability.
Although a case can be made for diagnosing an anxiety
disorder as well, it may be most reasonable to monitor Eden’s
anxiety symptoms as the ADHD is addressed.
For Eden, the set of tests included the parent version
of the CBCL; the teacher version of the CBCL; the
Vanderbilt ADHD Diagnostic Rating Scale; two selfreport questionnaires including the Depression SelfRating Scale and the Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety
Scale; the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children; the
Copyright 2024 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.

62 Chapter 4 Classification, Assessment and Diagnosis, and Intervention
Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement; and the
Integrated Visual and Auditory Continuous Performance
Test, which is designed to measure one’s ability to inhibit
response, remain vigilant, demonstrate consistency of
attentional focus, and respond quickly.
Kai’s Diagnostic Summary
Taken together, the data provided suggest that Kai is
experiencing both an anxiety disorder and a depressive
disorder. Kai’s symptoms meet the DSM-5-TR criteria for
both disorders. Both disorders contribute to significant
distress and dysfunction, and both disorders appear to
require immediate intervention.
For Kai, a set of tests similar to Eden’s was used. However,
because there were no concerns about academic problems, the
cognitive and attentional measures were not administered. To
better understand the presence and extent of specific anxiety
symptoms in Kai’s clinical presentation, the Screen for Child
Anxiety Related Disorders was included. Because emotional
difficulties were especially problematic along with social
adjustment, some projective techniques were used during the
assessment. The Rorschach and the TAT provided additional
ways to understand Kai’s subjective experience of the world
around them. In completing the self-report measures of
emotional functioning, Kai denied most of the obvious
symptoms of depression and anxiety, with the exception of
anxiety related to being physically ill. Projective data (e.g.,
repeated sad and discouraging themes in Kai’s TAT stories),
however, suggested depressed mood, relative developmental
immaturity, and a poor sense of self-efficacy. Kai’s parents
independently completed the CBCL. There were striking
consistencies in their reports, wit h highly signif icant elevations
on the three internalizing scales reflecting symptoms of social
withdrawal, anxiety, and depression.
Rohan’s Diagnostic Summary
Although ADHD is a reasonable diagnosis given the clinical
presentation, it is a difficult diagnosis to make confidently
given Rohan’s very young age, the high level of stress he and
his mother have experienced, and their relative lack of social
support. A diagnosis of oppositional defiant disorder was made
as a way of capturing the most important concern at this time,
which centers on Rohan’s difficulty with developmentally
appropriate self-control and his mother’s difficulty managing
day-to-day routines and interactions with him.
For Rohan, age and presenting concerns influence a
different selection of tests. Because of his age, Rohan did
not complete any assessment measures himself. His mother
completed the Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment
questionnaire and the parent version of the CBCL. The
resulting CBCL profile had extremely high scores on all the
externalizing scales, indicating that aggression, impulsivity,
and hyperactivity were all significant problems for Rohan.
Because some of the initial concerns reflected a high level
of discomfort in social situations and some other atypical
behaviors and developmental patterns, the Children’s Autism
Rating Scale was completed by the psychologist. The score
on this scale was not in the clinically significant range.
Psychological assessment, broadly defined, is
fundamental to a differential diagnostic process that allows
clinical concerns to be considered from both dimensional
and categorical perspectives. Keep in mind that, in many
ways, assessments are a combination of clinical science,
expertise, and art. Children, adolescents, and their families
seek mental health care because they are experiencing
distress and dysfunction. Mental health professionals
engage in painful conversations and balance the privacy of
children and adolescents with a need to gather meaningful
information and share assessment results with responsible
adults. Indeed, some of the most important aspects of
communication between mental health professionals and
parents are to help parents make sense of a difficult situation
and to keep them engaged with and supportive of their
children. According to Yates, Burt, and Troy (2011, p. 256),
the “developmental formulation paints a hopeful picture in
which there is an enduring capacity for change and, even in
the midst of extreme maladaptation, a shared humanity in
which we are all more alike than we are different.”
Intervention
Classification, assessment, and diagnosis are most practical
when they provide information about what can be done
to help distressed children. This section provides an
introduction to the topic of interventions for children and
adolescents, with an emphasis on the progress that has
already been made as well as the potential that has yet to
be fully achieved. The basic notion that age-related norms
and expectations must be considered when designing
any youth intervention strategy is a key contribution
from the developmental psychopathology framework.
This framework informs decisions about whether and
when to intervene, the goals of intervention, and the
most effective types of treatments. The developmental
perspective emphasizes the unique context of treatment for
each child, taking into account factors that have contributed
to the child’s disorder, including those related to family and
peer networks, those related to schools, and those related
to other environmental and sociocultural settings. The
developmental psychopathology framework’s emphasis
on risk and resilience also enriches ongoing intervention
efforts.
When effective treatments are available, we need to
publicize that information and identify the best ways
to implement and scale up treatments to reach as many
struggling children and adolescents as possible. We
also need to be concerned about transitions and gaps in
mental health care treatment from child to adolescent
to young adult care. Relatively few older adolescents,
for example, receive information and support related to
planning for shifts from one provider to another (Leeb
et al., 2020).
Copyright 2024 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.

Nontraditional interventions, such as those provided by
(Uni
Ta rgets of Preventive Interventions
paraprofessionals and those delivered in new formats (e.g.,
internet- or app-based) are increasingly prevalent (Schueller
& Torous, 2020). Regardless of the provider or format,
ethical issues related to child and adolescent psychotherapy,
including issues involving autonomy, confidentiality,
protection, and communication (with parents, with teachers,
and with other mental health professionals) must always be
addressed.
The Efficacy of Psychotherapy
for Children and Adolescents
Research on youth psychotherapy generally can be
sorted by whether it is focused on outcome or process.
Outcome research has to do with whether children
and adolescents have improved at the end of treatment
compared to their pretreatment distress and dysfunction
as well as compared to others who have not received
treatment. Results of numerous meta-analytic studies
confirm that psychotherapy works, with statistically
significant and clinically meaningful effects for infants,
toddlers, children, and adolescents (Vaughn-Coaxum &
Weisz, 2021). Therapies that focus on helping children
by working with their parents and families also have
received a great deal of research support (Twum-Antwi
et al., 2020).
It is important to understand that not all children who
receive or participate in an evidence-based intervention
improve in the same ways (or improve at all). Youth
who share a diagnosis may differ on many other factors
(e.g., number of adverse experiences; specific adversities
such as maltreatment; caregiver support or ability to
follow the treatment plan; family-level risks), each of
which may influence treatment response and outcome.
Disparities in outcomes may also be influenced by
sociocultural factors such as poverty or discrimination
(Slopen & Williams, 2021; Vaughn-Coaxum & Weisz,
2021). Adaptation or modification of evidence-based
treatments for use with varied groups of individuals may
also influence outcomes.
Process research deals with the specific mechanisms
and common factors that account for therapeutic
change. Examples of process research include studies that
deconstruct multi-part interventions to identify the parts
with the most positive impacts or studies that explore the
ways in which the therapeutic alliance—the collaborative
bond between therapist and child/adolescent—influences
the course and outcome of treatment. Reviews of processrelated research have focused on shifts from one-size-fitsall models of treatment to models that emphasize specific
pairings (or matching) of disorders, treatments, and client
characteristics. Beyond matching disorders and treatments,
researchers and clinicians look forward to the design of
individualized interventions that address each child’s
particular set of difficulties.
Intervention 63
asiseeit/Getty Images
The therapeutic alliance, a collaborative bond between
therapist and child, contributes to good treatment outcomes.
Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary
Interventions
An intervention can be characterized in a variety of ways
based on the target (child, parent, or school) or the timing
of the intervention. Differences in primary, secondary,
and tertiary interventions are related to timing. Primary
prevention involves reducing or eliminating risks as well as
reducing the incidence of disorder in children (McLaughlin,
2014; refer to Figure 4.4).
There are three types of preventive measures: (1)
universal preventive measures, which are provided for
entire populations (e.g., mandatory immunizations for
children); (2) selective preventive measures, provided
for groups at above-average risk (e.g., Head Start programs
for preschoolers from disadvantaged backgrounds); and (3)
indicated preventive measures, provided for groups with
specific risk factors that include more extensive interventions
(e.g., packages of services for families with prematurely
born infants). Primary interventions that begin early, last
longer, and are more intensive are more likely to be effective.
Examples of primary prevention efforts include nutrition
and caregiving education provided in hospitals for parents
Figure 4.4 Targets of primary, secondary,
and tertiary interventions
Exposure
Primary
versal)
Source: McLaughlin (2014). Developmental epidemiology.
Secondary
(Selective)
Disorder Outcome
Tertiary
(Indicated)
Copyright 2024 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Соседние файлы в папке Библиотека им академика М.И. Перельмана
