THE USE OF A STRUCTURED CHILD INTERVIEW (FINNDISC) IN A CHILD PSYCHIATRIC INPATIENT SAMPLE

A sample of consecutively admitted school-age child psychiatric inpati ents was interviewed on admission and at 5-month follow-up after disch arge, using the Finnish version of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule f or Children (FinnDISC). The commonest problems reported by children we re oppositional and depressive symptoms and problems at school. Childr en reported significant improvement in behaviour and emotional symptom s and in overall severity of dysfunction at follow-up. The correlation of total scores derived from FinnDISC was significant between admissi on and follow-up. However, the correlations of child interview total s cores with parental, teachers', and clinical evaluations of children's behaviour and emotional problems and global functioning were nonsigni ficant.