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The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in Africa: a scoping review of its application and validation

Overview of attention for article published in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, January 2018
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  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (83rd percentile)
  • Above-average Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (59th percentile)

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Title
The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in Africa: a scoping review of its application and validation
Published in
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, January 2018
DOI 10.1186/s13034-017-0212-1
Pubmed ID
Authors

Nikhat Hoosen, Eugene Lee Davids, Petrus J. de Vries, Maylene Shung-King

Abstract

Child and adolescent mental health in Africa remains largely neglected. Quick and cost-effective ways for early detection may aid early intervention. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is globally used to screen for mental health problems, but little is known about its use in Africa. We set out to perform a scoping review to examine existing studies that have used the SDQ in Africa. A comprehensive scoping review methodology was used to identify all peer-reviewed studies ever published that have used the SDQ in Africa. Data were extracted and analysed to assess the countries, languages and SDQ versions used, the purpose of the SDQ studies, psychometric properties of the SDQ, and to consider knowledge gaps for future in-country and cross-country studies. Fifty-four studies from 12 African countries were identified, most from South Africa. Many different languages were used, but authorized SDQs in those languages were not always available on the SDQinfo website. Authors frequently commented on challenges in the translation and backtranslation of mental health terminology in African languages. The SDQ was typically used to investigate internalisation/externalization disorders in different clinical populations, and was most frequently used in the evaluation of children and adolescents affected by HIV/AIDS. Sixteen studies (29.6%) administered the SDQ to participants outside the intended age range, only 4 (7.4%) used triangulation of all versions to generate assessments, and eight studies (14.8%) used only subscales of the SDQ. Only one study conducted thorough psychometric validation of the SDQ, including examination of internal consistency and factor analysis. Where 'caseness' was defined in studies, UK cut-off scores were used in all but one of the studies. The SDQ may be a very useful tool in an African setting, but the scoping review suggested that, where it was used in Africa researchers did not always follow instrument guidelines, and highlighted that very little is known about the psychometric properties of the SDQ in Africa. We recommend comprehensive evaluation of the psychometric properties of the SDQ in various African languages, including internal consistency, factor structure, need for local cut-off values and ensuring cultural equivalence of the instrument.

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X Demographics

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 206 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 206 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 29 14%
Researcher 23 11%
Student > Ph. D. Student 19 9%
Student > Postgraduate 14 7%
Student > Bachelor 11 5%
Other 37 18%
Unknown 73 35%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Psychology 40 19%
Medicine and Dentistry 28 14%
Nursing and Health Professions 18 9%
Social Sciences 18 9%
Economics, Econometrics and Finance 4 2%
Other 17 8%
Unknown 81 39%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 10. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 21 December 2018.
All research outputs
#3,204,211
of 23,016,919 outputs
Outputs from Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health
#146
of 662 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#74,582
of 443,312 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health
#11
of 27 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,016,919 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 86th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 662 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 10.2. This one has done well, scoring higher than 77% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 443,312 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 83% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 27 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 59% of its contemporaries.