Validating the Ontario Child Health Scale in a UK population

The Ontario Child Health Scale (OCHS) was one of the first scales to seek to assess a broad range of formally defined psychiatric disorders using a checklist format. The performance of the teacher version of this instrument is reported in a UK population of children attending a special educational provision for emotionally and behaviourally disordered (EBD) pupils. Against DSM-IV criteria the instrument proved to have retained its convergent and discriminant validity, although it was somewhat less effective in detecting internalising disorders and discriminating oppositional defiance from other behavioural disorders. Overall the results confirm the usefulness of this instrument as a screening tool in a UK population.