Children's Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale Modified for Pervasive Developmental Disorders

• Published in: Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Vol. 45; no. 9; pp. 1114 - 1123
• Main Authors: Scahill, Lawrence, McDougle, Christopher J, Williams, Susan K, Dimitropoulos, Anastasia, Aman, Michael G, McCracken, James T, Tierney, Elaine, Arnold, L. Eugene, Cronin, Pegeen, Grados, Marco, Ghuman, Jaswinder, Koenig, Kathleen, Lam, Kristen S. L, McGough, James, Posey, David J, Ritz, Louise, Swiezy, Naomi B, Vitiello, Benedetto
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 01-09-2006
• Subjects: Antipsychotic Agents - therapeutic use; Antisocial Behavior; Autism; Behavior Disorders; Central Nervous System Stimulants - therapeutic use; Child; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive - diagnosis; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive - drug therapy; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive - psychology; Children; Correlation; Double-Blind Method; Female; Humans; Hyperactivity; Internal Consistency; Interrater Reliability; Intraclass Correlation; Male; Measures (Individuals); Methylphenidate - therapeutic use; Obsessive Compulsive Scale; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - diagnosis; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - drug therapy; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - psychology; Pervasive Developmental Disorders; Pharmacology; Psychological Patterns; Psychometrics; Reproducibility of Results; Risperidone - therapeutic use; Severity (of Disability); Severity of Illness Index; Surveys and Questionnaires; Test Reliability; Test Validity
• ISSN: 0890-8567
• DOI: 10.1097/01.chi.0000220854.79144.e7

Objective: To examine the psychometric properties of the Children's Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scales (CYBOCS) modified for pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs). Method: Raters from five Research Units on Pediatric Psychopharmacology (RUPP) Autism Network were trained to reliability. The modified scale (CYBOCS-PDD), which contains only the five Compulsion severity items (range 0-20), was administered to 172 medication-free children (mean 8.2 plus or minus 2.6 years) with PDD (autistic disorder, n = 152; Asperger's disorder, n = 6; PDD not otherwise specified, n = 14) participating in RUPP clinical trials. Reliability was assessed by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and internal consistency by Cronbach's [alpha] coefficient. Correlations with ratings of repetitive behavior and disruptive behavior were examined for validity. Results: Eleven raters showed excellent reliability (ICC = 0.97). The mean CYBOCS score was 14.4 (plus or minus 3.86) with excellent internal consistency ([alpha] = 0.85). Correlations with other measures of repetitive behavior ranged from r = 0.11 to r = 0.28 and were similar to correlations with measures of irritability (r = 0.24) and hyperactivity (r = 0.25). Children with higher scores on the CYBOCS-PDD had higher levels of maladaptive behaviors and lower adaptive functioning. Conclusions: The five-item CYBOCS-PDD is reliable, distinct from other measures of repetitive behavior, and sensitive to change. (Contains 1 figure and 3 tables.)