This study examines the relevance of a psychosocial diagnostic system devel
oped by the World Health Organization (WHO; International Classification of
Diseases [ICD] 10 axis V) for psychiatrically hospitalized inpatient adole
scents and assesses the reliability of semistructured interviews for making
these psychosocial diagnoses. Seventy-one consecutive patients admitted to
an adolescent unit and their parents were interviewed. The semistructured
interviews were derived from the criteria for each psychosocial taxis V) di
agnosis. Inter-rater and test-retest reliability were measured for both chi
ld and parent interviews on a subsample of 57 and 25 subjects, respectively
. Results showed high inter-rater reliability (kappa = 0.8 to 1.0). Some te
st-retest reliabilities were high and others were low (K = 0.4 to 1.0). Par
ent-child agreement was erratic (kappa = 0.2 to 0.7). All of the psychosoci
al diagnostic entities were common and relevant to our patient population.
We conclude that it is possible to make reliable and relevant psychosocial
diagnoses in severely ill adolescents. Copyright (C) 2001 by W.B. Saunders
Company.