Measurement issues in longitudinal studies of mental health problems in children with neurodevelopmental disorders

Abstract

Purpose: To develop and test an approach for assessing the risk of bias in four measurement-related domains key to the study of mental health problem trajectories in children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD): (1) conceptual overlap between mental health problems and NDD diagnostic criteria, (2) over-reliance on a single informant, (3) unwarranted omission of the child’s perspective, and (4) the use of instruments not designed for or adapted to the population. Methods: Building upon a previous systematic review, this study established supplementary criteria for assessing the risk of bias domains. Following this, the criteria were applied to measures used in 49 longitudinal studies of m..