DSM Flashcards
Reliability
Agreement levels
DSM 5 field trials - impressive levels of agreement between clinicians for a variety of disorders
Clinicians adapted well to changes in criteria
Regier (2013) reported 3 disorders inc PTSD had Kappa values 0.6-0.79 (v good), while 7 others inc SZ had Kappa values 0.4- 0.59 (good)
Important as criteria for PTSD changed in terms of no symptoms for diagnosis & clinicans have adapted
Reliability
Falling standards
Cooper (2014)
DSM task force had levels to 0.2-0.4 as acceptable, major depressive disorder was 0.28
Suggests DSM 5 less reliable than previous
However, what counts as acceptable level of agreement has decreased in last 35 years
Assessing reliability
Kappa value was designed by Cohen to improve reliability as a decimal proportion of people that recieve the same diagnosis when assesses and then reassessed (test retest) by alternative practitioner (inter rater reliability)
Felt 0.7 indicated good agreement
Validity
In conduct disorder
Evidence supports validity of conduct disorder
E.g. Kim- Cohen et al (2005)
Demonstrated concurrent validity of conduct disorder through interviewing children and mothers, observing children’s anti social behaviour and using questionnaires completed by teachers
Specific risk factors e.g, psychological disorder in parents suggest aetiological validity
Predictive validity - 5yo children w CD behavioural difficulties and educational difficulties in 7 yo
Validity
Labels tell nothing
Many psychologists feel DSM lacks validity
Publication DSM5 lead to a storm of criticism from psychiatrists and psychologists claiming psychiatric diagnosis tells nothing about what causes a disorder
Diagnosis results in a label and nothing useful
How validity is assessed
Two people w same diagnosis exhibit sim symptoms - descriptive validity
Similar causal factor - aeteoligical validity
Clinician use multiple techniques to get diagnosis - concurrent validity
Predict accurately - predictive validity
