Reliability of the services assessment for children and adolescents

Objective: This study examined the test-retest reliability of a new instrum ent, the Services Assessment for Children and Adolescents (SACA), for child ren's use of mental health services. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was undertaken at two sites. The St. Louis site used a volunteer sample recruit ed from mental health clinics and local schools. The Ventura County, Califo rnia, site used a double-blind, community-based sample seeded with cases of service-using children. Participating families completed the SACA and were retested within four to 14 days. The reliability of service use items was calculated with use of the kappa statistic. Results: The SACA-Parent Versio n had excellent test-retest reliability for both lifetime service use and p revious 12-month use. The SACA also had good to excellent reliability when administered to children aged 11 and older for lifetime and 12-month use. R eliability figures for children aged nine and ten years were considerably l ower for lifetime and 12-month use. The younger children's responses sugges ted that they were confused about some questions. Conclusions: This study d emonstrates that parents and older children can reliably report use of ment al health services by using the SACA. The SACA can be used to collect curre ntly unavailable information about use of mental health services.