A systematic review of some reliability and validity issues regarding the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire focusing on its use in out-of-home care.

Purpose: A systematic review was conducted to analyze the inter-rater
reliability, cross-informant consistency, test-retest reliability, and temporal
stability of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ),
and its ability to discriminate.
Method: We searched three databases for articles about the SDQ
(parent, teacher, and self-report version), used samples of children
up to age 18 and reported inter-rater reliability, cross-informant reliability,
test-retest reliability, temporal stability, specificity, sensitivity,
positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV).
Results: Focusing on the TDS, inter-rater, and cross-informant reliability
showed acceptable values, but respondent types (e.g., mothers
and fathers) are not interchangeable. Test-retest reliability and temporal
stability were also acceptable, and not excessively high.
Specificity and NPV were acceptable but not sensitivity and PPV.
Discussion and Conclusion: Greater transparency is needed about
who the respondent is when the term “parents” is used. The SDQ is an
important supplement to service-as-usual assessments by social care
professionals.