Children's Interview for Psychiatric Syndromes (ChIPS)

Objective: To describe the development and summarize the psychometric properties of the Children's interview for Psychiatric Syndromes (ChIPS). Method: ChIPS is a highly structured interview designed for use by trained lay interviewers In children aged 6-18 years. It screens far 20 Axis I disorders as well as psychosocial stressors. Questions use simple language and short sentence structure to enhance subject comprehension and cooperation. The interview, is based on DSM-IV and results an! presented in a concise, easy-to-interpret manner. There are both child and parent versions. The psychometric properties of each version went studied. Results: A series of 5 studies has demonstrated the validity of the DSM-lll, DSM-III-R, and DSM-IV versions of the ChIPS as well as the, validity of the P-GhIPS (parent version). Administration time is relatively brief, averaging 49 minutes for inpatients, 30 minutes for outpatients, and 21 minutes for a community-based sample. Conclusions: ChIPS can be used as a screening instrument to maximize a clinician's efficiency, as a diagnostic instrument in clinical research, and as a training Instrument to help mental health professionals team psychiatric diagnosis. It can also be used in epidemiological research.