THE DIAGNOSTIC INTERVIEW SCHEDULE FOR CHILDREN REVISED VERSION (DISC-R) .1. PREPARATION, FIELD TESTING, INTERRATER RELIABILITY, AND ACCEPTABILITY

Objective: To describe the history and assessment strategies used to i nvestigate and revise the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children ( DISC), a highly structured interview form used by lay interviewers to elicit diagnostic criteria for the common psychiatric disorders of chi ldhood and adolescence. Method: Revision was based on clinical and com munity data that identified unreliable and undiscriminating items in a n earlier version of the instrument (DISC-1). A field study was carrie d out with 74 parent-child pairs. Interrater reliability and acceptabi lity to patients was high. Accompanying papers describe the test-retes t and construct validity of the instrument. Conclusions: Taken togethe r, the findings suggest that the DISC is an acceptable, brief, inexpen sive, and convenient instrument for ascertaining a comprehensive range of child and adolescent diagnoses whose methodological properties are comparable with other child diagnostic instruments.