African Youth Psychosocial Assessment (AYPA)

/in /by
Information about Measure
First Name Theresa
Last Name Betancourt
Email [email protected]
Affiliation Boston College School of Social Work
Other means of contacting author (e.g., website, Academia.edu, ResearchGate) —
Mental health assessment tool that was adapted/developed/validated African Youth Psychosocial Assessment (AYPA)
Mental health condition assessed Emotional and Behavioral Problems
Idiom of distress included, if any Not Applicable
Lifestage of interest Childhood or Adolescence
Age range (age – age) —
Country or countries where tool was developed/adapted/validated Uganda
Language(s) of the adapted/developed/validated tool Acholi Luo
Clinical or community sample? Community
Subpopulation in which tool was developed/validated (e.g., tool was developed and tested among middle-class women)? Tool was developed and tested among adolescents that resided in a camp for internally displaced persons for at least 1 month
Development procedures Locally developed
If validated, what was the gold standard? Using a comparison of parent and self-reported ratings on presence of local syndrome terms
Description of other development procedures, if applicable —
Cronbach’s alpha —
Sensitivity —
Spec —
Other information about tool (e.g., additional psychometrics [NPV, PPV, Youden’s index, diagnostic odds ratio]) All sub-scales had satisfactory to excellent alpha values, listed as follows:prosocial/adaptive (α= 0.72), somatic complaints without medical cause (α= 0.74), externalizing problems (α=0.83),and internalizing problems (α= 0.88).
For the actual scale, see Appendix B- Table 1. https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/doi/epdf/10.1002/mpr.1420
Links to development/adaptation/validation studies and/or previous studies using the tool Betancourt, T. S., Yang, F., Bolton, P., Normand, S. (2014). Developing an African youth psychosocial assessment: An application of item response theory. International Journal of Methods Psychiatric Research, 23, 142–160. doi:10.1002/mpr.1420
Notes when administering the tool The assessment was designed to be administered verbally due to low literacy among respondents. A visual aid may be used to clarify response options for participants.

Depression Self-Rating Scale (DSRS)

/in /by
Information about Measure
First Name Brandon
Last Name Kohrt
Email [email protected]
Affiliation The George Washington University
Other means of contacting author (e.g., website, Academia.edu, ResearchGate) —
Mental health assessment tool that was adapted/developed/validated Depression Self-Rating Scale (DSRS)
Mental health condition assessed Depressive Disorders
Idiom of distress included, if any Not Applicable
Lifestage of interest Childhood or Adolescence
Age range (age – age) 11-15 years old
Country or countries where tool was developed/adapted/validated Nepal
Language(s) of the adapted/developed/validated tool Nepali
Clinical or community sample? Community
Subpopulation in which tool was developed/validated (e.g., tool was developed and tested among middle-class women)? Schoolchildren in 6th or 7th grade, many of whom may have experienced war-related trauma. This tool was developed through collaborations with local health workers and psychosocial counselors, and tested on 162 Nepali children.
Development procedures Culturally adapted, validated, and locally developed
If validated, what was the gold standard? Kiddie Scale for Affective Disorders and Schnizophrenea (K-SADS) and GAPD
Description of other development procedures, if applicable —
Cronbach’s alpha 0.67
Sensitivity 0.71
Spec 0.81
Other information about tool (e.g., additional psychometrics [NPV, PPV, Youden’s index, diagnostic odds ratio]) additional psychometric properties evaluated- PPV:0.36, NPV:0.95, AUC=0.82 psychometric properties for each item are included in the cited publication
Links to development/adaptation/validation studies and/or previous studies using the tool Kohrt BA, Jordans MJ, Tol WA, Luitel NP, Maharjan SM, Upadhaya N. Validation of cross-cultural child mental health and psychosocial research instruments: adapting the Depression Self-Rating Scale and Child PTSD Symptom Scale in Nepal. BMC Psychiatry. 2011;11(1):127. Published 2011 Aug 4. doi:10.1186/1471-244X-11-127
Notes when administering the tool The tool should be administered orally by a trained research assistant. This tool aims to estimate the prevalence of MHPS-related disability among children. Based off of this study, the suggested cut-off for diagnosis identified is a score of greater than or equal to 14.

Child PTSD Symptom Scale (CPSS)

/in /by
Information about Measure
First Name Brandon
Last Name Kohrt
Email https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Brandon_Kohrt
Affiliation The George Washington University
Other means of contacting author (e.g., website, Academia.edu, ResearchGate) —
Mental health assessment tool that was adapted/developed/validated Child PTSD Symptom Scale (CPSS)
Mental health condition assessed Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders
Idiom of distress included, if any Not Applicable
Lifestage of interest Childhood or Adolescence
Age range (age – age) 11-15 years old
Country or countries where tool was developed/adapted/validated Nepal
Language(s) of the adapted/developed/validated tool Nepali
Clinical or community sample? Community
Subpopulation in which tool was developed/validated (e.g., tool was developed and tested among middle-class women)? Schoolchildren in 6th or 7th grade, many of whom may have experienced war-related trauma. This tool was developed through collaborations with local health workers and psychosocial counselors, and tested on 162 Nepali children.
Development procedures Culturally adapted, validated, and locally developed
If validated, what was the gold standard? Kiddie Scale for Affective Disorders and Schnizophrenea (K-SADS) and GAPD
Description of other development procedures, if applicable —
Cronbach’s alpha 0.86
Sensitivity 0.68
Spec 0.73
Other information about tool (e.g., additional psychometrics [NPV, PPV, Youden’s index, diagnostic odds ratio]) Additional psychometric properties evaluated- PPV:0.35, NPV:0.92, AUC=0.77, psychometric properties for each item are included in the cited publication
Links to development/adaptation/validation studies and/or previous studies using the tool Kohrt, B. A., Jordans, M. J. D., Tol, W. A., Luitel, N. P., Maharjan, S. M., & Upadhaya, N. (2011). Validation of cross-cultural child mental health and psychosocial research instruments: adapting the Depression Self-Rating Scale and Child PTSD Symptom Scale in Nepal. BMC Psychiatry, 11(1), 127. http://doi.org/10.1186/1471-244X-11-127
Notes when administering the tool The tool should be administered orally by a trained research assistant. This tool aims to estimate the prevalence of MHPS-related disability among children. Based off of this study, the suggested cut-off for diagnosis identified is a score of greater than or equal to 20.

Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI)

/in /by
Information about Measure
First Name Brandon
Last Name Kohrt
Email https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Brandon_Kohrt
Affiliation The George Washington University
Other means of contacting author (e.g., website, Academia.edu, ResearchGate) —
Mental health assessment tool that was adapted/developed/validated Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI)
Mental health condition assessed Anxiety Disorders
Idiom of distress included, if any Not Applicable
Lifestage of interest Adult (General)
Age range (age – age) —
Country or countries where tool was developed/adapted/validated Nepal
Language(s) of the adapted/developed/validated tool Nepali
Clinical or community sample? Mixed clinical and community sample
Subpopulation in which tool was developed/validated (e.g., tool was developed and tested among middle-class women)? Four main populations were employed for this study: (1) an outpatient clinical population from Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Maharajgunj (TUTH); (2) a community sample with psychiatric illness from the district headquarters in Jumla, (3) a community sample with no psychiatric illness from the district headquarters in Jumla, (4) a community sample from Jumla that did not receive psychiatric diagnoses.
Development procedures Culturally adapted and validated
If validated, what was the gold standard? Diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder by a local psychiatric professional
Description of other development procedures, if applicable —
Cronbach’s alpha 0.89
Sensitivity 0.89
Spec 0.91
Other information about tool (e.g., additional psychometrics [NPV, PPV, Youden’s index, diagnostic odds ratio]) —
Links to development/adaptation/validation studies and/or previous studies using the tool Kohrt BA, Kunz RD, Koirala NR, Sharma VD, Nepal MK: Validation of the Nepali Version of the Beck Anxiety Inventory. Journal of the Institute of Medicine 2003, 25(1):1-4.
Notes when administering the tool  

This tool is intended for both clinical and research applications for the assessment of anxiety among adults in Nepal. The tool should be administered verbally in Nepali by a trained research assistant or clinician.

The psychometric properties listed in this entry reflect a cut-off score of 13/14. Psychometric properties for a range of cut-offs are included in the cited article. “The items “indigestion,” “sweating,” “face flushed,” and “feeling faint” may impair the validity and reliability of the instruments (for more information- see the cited article). Removal of some somatic items may be warranted because overall poor physical health, especially in rural Nepal, may inflate scores of psychological distress.

The Cambodian Somatic Symptom and Syndrome Inventory (CSSI)

/in /by
Information about Measure
First Name Devon
Last Name Hinton
Email [email protected]
Affiliation Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital
Other means of contacting author (e.g., website, Academia.edu, ResearchGate) —
Mental health assessment tool that was adapted/developed/validated The Cambodian Somatic Symptom and Syndrome Inventory (CSSI)
Mental health condition assessed Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders
Idiom of distress included, if any Not Applicable
Lifestage of interest Adult (General)
Age range (age – age) —
Country or countries where tool was developed/adapted/validated United States with Cambodian refugees
Language(s) of the adapted/developed/validated tool Khmer
Clinical or community sample? Clinical
Subpopulation in which tool was developed/validated (e.g., tool was developed and tested among middle-class women)? United States with Cambodian refugees at a psychiatric clinic
Development procedures Locally developed and culturally validated
If validated, what was the gold standard? —
Description of other development procedures, if applicable A list of somatic symptoms and cultural syndromes was compiled after long-term ethnographic and clinical work among Cambodian populations. From this list, tools were piloted and revised for enhanced clinical utility.
Cronbach’s alpha —
Sensitivity —
Spec —
Other information about tool (e.g., additional psychometrics [NPV, PPV, Youden’s index, diagnostic odds ratio]) For the somatic scale, the alpha was .91, and for the syndrome scale, .88, with the all the multi-item syndrome subscales having excellent internal consistency as well (all alphas > .84).
Links to development/adaptation/validation studies and/or previous studies using the tool Hinton, D. E., Alexandra Kredlow, M., Pich, V., Bui, E., & Hofmann, S. G. (2013). The relationship of PTSD to key somatic complaints and cultural syndromes among Cambodian refugees attending a psychiatric clinic: The Cambodian Somatic Symptom and Syndrome Inventory (CSSI). Transcultural Psychiatry, 50(3), 347–370. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363461513481187
Notes when administering the tool The CSSI is meant to be used alongside other standardized assessment tools such as the PTSD Checklist (PCL). The tool should be administered verbally by a trained research assistant who is fluent in Khmer.

Vietnamese Panic Disorder Survey

/in /by
Information about Measure
First Name Devon
Last Name Hinton
Email [email protected]
Affiliation Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital
Other means of contacting author (e.g., website, Academia.edu, ResearchGate) —
Mental health assessment tool that was adapted/developed/validated Vietnamese Panic Disorder Survey
Mental health condition assessed Anxiety Disorders
Idiom of distress included, if any Not Applicable
Lifestage of interest Adult (General)
Age range (age – age) —
Country or countries where tool was developed/adapted/validated United States with Vietnamese refugees
Language(s) of the adapted/developed/validated tool English; Vietnamese
Clinical or community sample? Clinical
Subpopulation in which tool was developed/validated (e.g., tool was developed and tested among middle-class women)? Vietnamese refugees attending psychiatric clinics in the United States
Development procedures Culturally adapted
If validated, what was the gold standard? —
Description of other development procedures, if applicable —
Cronbach’s alpha —
Sensitivity —
Spec —
Other information about tool (e.g., additional psychometrics [NPV, PPV, Youden’s index, diagnostic odds ratio]) —
Links to development/adaptation/validation studies and/or previous studies using the tool Hinton D, Chau H, Nguyen L, et al. Panic disorder among Vietnamese refugees attending a psychiatric clinic: prevalence and subtypes. Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 2001;23(6):337-344. doi:10.1016/s0163-8343(01)00163-3
Notes when administering the tool Tool is administered in a clinical setting by the physician. Patients are first asked 8 questions which are “panic probes.” If any question is answered affirmatively, proceed to the SCID-based panic interview.

Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale

/in /by
Information about Measure
First Name Devon
Last Name Hinton
Email [email protected]
Affiliation Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital
Other means of contacting author (e.g., website, Academia.edu, ResearchGate) —
Mental health assessment tool that was adapted/developed/validated Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale
Mental health condition assessed Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders
Idiom of distress included, if any Not Applicable
Lifestage of interest Adult (General)
Age range (age – age) —
Country or countries where tool was developed/adapted/validated United States with Cambodian Refugees
Language(s) of the adapted/developed/validated tool Khmer
Clinical or community sample? Clinical
Subpopulation in which tool was developed/validated (e.g., tool was developed and tested among middle-class women)? Refugees attending a psychiatric clinic in the United States.
Development procedures Culturally adapted
If validated, what was the gold standard? —
Description of other development procedures, if applicable —
Cronbach’s alpha .92
Sensitivity —
Spec —
Other information about tool (e.g., additional psychometrics [NPV, PPV, Youden’s index, diagnostic odds ratio]) The CAPS demonstrated good interrater (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] = .92) and test–retest (ICC = .84) reliability. For the 179 patients interviewed by the trained social worker, the CAPS coefficient alpha was .92, and the item–total correlations ranged from .48 to .85. The two items with the lowest item–subscale correlations were “inability to recall important aspects of the trauma” (.47) and “restricted range of affect” (.52).
Sub-scales:
Reexperiencing (cluster B: items 1–5): Coefficient alpha .91; Corrected item − total correlation .69–.84
Avoidance and numbing (cluster C: items 6–12): Coefficient alpha .87; Corrected item − total correlation
.47–.73
Hyperarousal (cluster D: items 13–17): Coefficient alpha .86; Corrected item − total correlation .56–.75
Links to development/adaptation/validation studies and/or previous studies using the tool Hinton, Devon E., Dara Chhean, Vuth Pich, M. H. Pollack, Scott P. Orr, and Roger K. Pitman. 2006. “Assessment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Cambodian Refugees Using the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale: Psychometric Properties and Symptom Severity.” Journal of Traumatic Stress 19 (3): 405–9. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.20115.
Notes when administering the tool Tool was translated and back-translated for use among Cambodian refugee populations in the United States. Weathers and associates (2001) suggested the following score categories: 0–19: asymptomatic/few symptoms; 20–39: mild PTSD/subthreshold; 40–59: moderate PTSD/threshold; 60–79: severe PTSD symptoms; and > 80: extreme PTSD symptoms.

Disruptive Behavior International Scale – Nepal Version

/in /by
Information about Measure
First Name Matthew
Last Name Burkey
Email Not Available
Affiliation University of British Columbia Associate Faculty, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
Other means of contacting author (e.g., website, Academia.edu, ResearchGate) https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Matthew_Burkey
Mental health assessment tool that was adapted/developed/validated Disruptive Behavior International Scale – Nepal Version
Mental health condition assessed Emotional and Behavioral Problems
Idiom of distress included, if any Not Applicable
Lifestage of interest Childhood or Adolescence
Age range (age – age) 5-15
Country or countries where tool was developed/adapted/validated Nepal
Language(s) of the adapted/developed/validated tool Nepali
Clinical or community sample? Community
Subpopulation in which tool was developed/validated (e.g., tool was developed and tested among middle-class women)? Children and adolescents, age 5-15
Development procedures Culturally adapted
If validated, what was the gold standard? —
Description of other development procedures, if applicable —
Cronbach’s alpha 0.84
Sensitivity —
Spec —
Other information about tool (e.g., additional psychometrics [NPV, PPV, Youden’s index, diagnostic odds ratio]) Test-retest reliability was 0.93 for the scale. Classification accuracy and area under the
curve (AUC) were 0.83 and 0.85.
Links to development/adaptation/validation studies and/or previous studies using the tool Burkey, M. D., Adhikari, R. P., Ghimire, L., Kohrt, B. A., Wissow, L. S., Luitel, N. P., Jordans, M. J. (2018). Validation of a cross-cultural instrument for child behavior problems: The Disruptive Behavior International Scale – Nepal version. BMC Psychology, 6(1). doi:10.1186/s40359-018-0262-z
Notes when administering the tool Scale should be administered verbally in Nepali to the child/adolescent and/or the primary caregiver.

Tension Scale

/in /by
Information about Measure
First Name Lesley Jo
Last Name Weaver
Email [email protected]
Affiliation University of Oregon
Other means of contacting author (e.g., website, Academia.edu, ResearchGate) lesleyjoweaver.com
Mental health assessment tool that was adapted/developed/validated Tension scale
Mental health condition assessed Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders
Idiom of distress included, if any Tension
Lifestage of interest Adult (General)
Age range (age – age) —
Country or countries where tool was developed/adapted/validated India
Language(s) of the adapted/developed/validated tool Hindi
Clinical or community sample? Clinical
Subpopulation in which tool was developed/validated (e.g., tool was developed and tested among middle-class women)? Women with and without type 2 diabetes
Development procedures Locally developed and validated
If validated, what was the gold standard? The Hopkins Symptoms Checklist-25, translated and adapted for use in Hindi
Description of other development procedures, if applicable —
Cronbach’s alpha >0.8
Sensitivity —
Spec —
Other information about tool (e.g., additional psychometrics [NPV, PPV, Youden’s index, diagnostic odds ratio]) The tool’s main prompt (“Since getting diabetes, do you feel any of the following mood-related items much more, somewhat more, or the same as before?”) could be changed to something generic such as, “In the past [time period], have you felt any of the following mood-related items much more, somewhat more, or the same as usual?”
Links to development/adaptation/validation studies and/or previous studies using the tool Weaver, L.J. Cult Med Psychiatry (2017) 41: 35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11013-016-9516-5
Weaver, L. J., & Kaiser, B. N. (2015). Developing and Testing Locally Derived Mental Health Scales: Examples from North India and Haiti. Field Methods, 27(2), 115–130. https://doi.org/10.1177/1525822X14547191
Notes when administering the tool Tool can be administered by anyone who can read and write Hindi; deliver the tool verbally and record scores; sum scores with all items equally weighted. Responses are scored as much more=2, somewhat more=1, no change=0. Standard cutoffs for clinically significant symptomatology have not been developed. “Tension” scores are used as a continuous variable in analyses.

UCLA Child Post traumatic stress disorder-reaction index (PTSD-RI)

/in /by
Information about Measure
First Name Laura
Last Name Murray
Email [email protected]
Affiliation Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Other means of contacting author (e.g., website, Academia.edu, ResearchGate) https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Laura_Murray
Mental health assessment tool that was adapted/developed/validated UCLA Child Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder-Reaction Index (PTSD-RI)
Mental health condition assessed Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders
Idiom of distress included, if any Not Applicable
Lifestage of interest Childhood or Adolescence
Age range (age – age) 6-15
Country or countries where tool was developed/adapted/validated Zambia
Language(s) of the adapted/developed/validated tool Nyanja
Clinical or community sample? Clinical
Subpopulation in which tool was developed/validated (e.g., tool was developed and tested among middle-class women)? Youth attending a clinic specializing in sexual abuse
Development procedures Culturally adapted, validated, and locally developed
If validated, what was the gold standard? Validated using local responses to three cross-cultural criterion validity questions
Description of other development procedures, if applicable —
Cronbach’s alpha 0.94
Sensitivity 0.66
Spec 0.76
Other information about tool (e.g., additional psychometrics [NPV, PPV, Youden’s index, diagnostic odds ratio]) Area Under the Curve (SE) and [Confidence Interval] is as follows: 0.73 (0.06), [0.60-0.85]. The optimal cut-off was determined to be 31 points for the scale including the local items.
Links to development/adaptation/validation studies and/or previous studies using the tool Murray, L. K., Bass, J., Chomba, E., Imasiku, M., Thea, D., Semrau, K., Bolton, P. (2011). Validation of the UCLA Child Post traumatic stress disorder-reaction index in Zambia. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 5(1), 24. doi:10.1186/1752-4458-5-24
Notes when administering the tool The tool should be administered verbally by a trained research assistant or clinician. Scores on each item should be recorded by the interviewer, and then summed with all items equally weighted to calculate the total score.

Anyone interested in using this tool should inform Laura Murray about their intent to use it. Any reports or publications arising from use of the tool should acknowledge the Global Mental Health group at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health as well as the funder who supported initial development of the tool: the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH: K23MH077532) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Zambia (CDC-Zambia).