child-psychology-2017-posters-accepted-abstracts

6 / 22

Page 60
Notes:
conferenceseries.com
Volume 5, Issue 5(Suppl) J Child Adolesc Behav, an open access journal
ISSN: 2375-4494 Child Psychology 2017
September 28-29, 2017
September 28-29, 2017 Berlin, Germany
23rd International Conference on
Adolescent Medicine &
Child Psychology
Measuring irritability / emotional dysregulation in children and adolescents with ADHD
Jenna Pylypow1, Lloyd Balbuena1, Declan Quinn1 and Don Duncan2
University of Saskatchewan, Canada
Objective: Previous studies found oppositional defiant disorder to be primarily a problem of irritability/emotional dysregulation
when studied using symptoms of ADHD, ODD, conduct, and affective disorders. This study analysed items which were found to load
on emotional dysregulation, with the objective of developing a reliable and valid rating scale for measuring emotional dysregulation
in children and youth.
Method: Two random samples of 360 were drawn from 3,374 SNAP-IV 90-item rating scales which were then used as calibration and
validation samples for Rasch modelling. Each of 18 symptoms of emotional dysregulation was examined for fit with the Rasch model
and evaluated for local independence and differential item performance. Items that violated Rasch assumptions were eliminated and
the internal reliability and person separation index of the remaining items were studied. The resulting scale was validated using the
Conners’ Emotional Lability scale as a standard. We then analysed the items on the 3,374 SNAP-IV scales to calculate the rates of
current emotional dysregulation in those meeting criteria for ADHD using both our scale, the CEER-9, and the Conners.
Results: A nine-item scale for emotional regulation has been developed that satisfies the Rasch model, a form of item response theory.
This scale reliably separates emotionally dysregulated / irritable children and adolescents from healthy ones and is invariant with
respect to child sex and age and rater type (parent or teacher). Area under the curve analysis showed that a threshold score of 4 in
our scale has optimal accuracy for identifying children and adolescents with current significant dysfunction in emotional regulation.
Among youth with ADHD inattentive, hyperactive-impulsive, and combined types, 78 percent, 85 percent, and 88 percent met the
cut-off score for Conners emotional lability index. By comparison, the rates were 60 percent, 67 percent, and 71 percent using the
CEER-9.
Conclusion: This study reports a nine-item rating scale, the Clinical Evaluation of Emotional Regulation-9 (CEER-9), an observer
rating scale developed in children and adolescents, whose sum is a measure of emotional regulation, with a score of 4 or more out of
9 indicating current emotional dysregulation/irritability. Having the properties of good measurement, the CEER-9 is a valuable tool
for clinical and research applications. Within children and youth with ADHD, current emotional dysregulation/irritability is highly
prevalent.
Biography
Jenna Pylypow is pursuing her Residency in Psychiatry, and fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at University of Saskatchewan. She previously completed
her Medical degree at University of Alberta, as well as Honours degree in Psychology at University of Calgary.
Jenna Pylypow et al., J Child Adolesc Behav 2017, 5:5(Suppl)
DOI: 10.4172/2375-4494-C1-003