Development of a Very Brief Measure of ADHD: The CHAOS Scale.
OBJECTIVE
We sought to develop a brief, easy to use behavior checklist to address common limitations in the use of ADHD rating scales in busy clinical settings.


METHOD
Items for the CHAOS ( Conduct- Hyperactive- Attention Problem- Oppositional Symptom) scale were developed based on the ratings of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV) criteria provided by experienced clinicians. The scale was administered to mothers of 205 clinically referred children for the purpose of subscale creation based on principal components analysis (PCA). Reliability and validity were analyzed using a separate sample of 139 children referred for psychological testing.


RESULTS
PCA resulted in four subscales (Attention Problems, Hyperactivity-Impulsivity, Oppositional Behavior, and Conduct Problems), which demonstrated moderate to high test-retest and interrater reliability. Subscale scores correlated significantly with subscales from a DSM-referenced behavior checklist, along with tests of executive functioning.


CONCLUSION
These data suggest that the CHAOS scale is a brief, psychometrically sound tool for evaluation and monitoring of ADHD symptoms.
['Levy|Jess D|JD|', 'Kronenberger|William G|WG|', 'Dunn|David W|DW|']
D000293:Adolescent D000328:Adult D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity D019958:Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders D057189:Checklist D002648:Child D019955:Conduct Disorder D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders D056344:Executive Function D005260:Female D006801:Humans D006948:Hyperkinesis D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D009035:Mothers D015203:Reproducibility of Results D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity D063189:Symptom Assessment
ADD/ADHD ADHD informant ratings Conduct Disorder Oppositional Defiant Disorder assessment