Assessment of Autism Spectrum Disorders: The use of a diagnostic Interview and a screening questionnaire (2021-2022)

Project Team Members (OUS): Beate Ørbeck, 

Collaborators Hans Jørgen Berntsen (Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, AHUS)

The main aim was to provide increased knowledge about the assessment of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) by the use of a diagnostic interview as well as a screening questionnaire. 

The projects were innovative in that they examined the usefulness of a relatively new databased interview for diagnosing ASD in Norway and an internationally much used screening questionnaire. Increased knowledge about the assessment of ASD, can improve treatment options for children with ASD in the healthcare services.

ASD is characterized by persistent difficulties in social communication and interaction, as well as restricted, repetitive behavior patterns and interests. Children with ASD often have additional challenges, necessitating a detailed assessment of difficulties to provide the best possible treatment. A relatively new parent-based interview; "The Developmental, Dimensional and Diagnostic Interview"; (3Di (Skuse et al., 2004)) has been translated into Norwegian, but its usefulness in the assessment of ASD in Norway had not been studied. In this project, we investigated how accurately the interview identified clinically diagnosed ASD. We also investigated how accurate the screening instrument Social Communication Questionnaire (Berument et al., 1999) was in identifying clinically diagnosed ASD.

Publications:

Berntsen, Hans Jørgen, Ørbeck, Beate, Øvergaard Kristin Romvig (2021). Utredning av autismespekterforstyrrelser i BUP – hvor godt samsvar er det mellom instrumenter og endelig klinisk diagnose? Tidsskrift for Norsk psykologforening Vol. 58 Issue 10. doi: 10.52734/N27qU88p

Ørbeck, Beate, Berntsen, Hans Jørgen, Øvergaard Kristin Romvig (2022). En undersøkelse av hvor nøyaktig screeninginstrumentet Social Communication Questionnaire identifiserer autismespekterforstyrrelser i BUP Tidsskrift for Norsk Psykologforening. Vol 59, Issue 8, doi: https://doi.org/10.52734/4853DTCx