Revised Children's Anxiety and Depression Scale RCADS Parent Version
Revised Children's Anxiety and Depression Scale RCADS Parent Version overview
Creator and Context
The Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale, Parent Version (RCADS-P) is a 47 item measure in which a parent or carer reports on a young person's anxiety and depression symptoms.
It mirrors the child self report version item for item and subscale for subscale. Copyright is held by Chorpita and Spence. The parent version psychometrics were established by Ebesutani and colleagues in 2010 and 2011.
Presenting Conditions
The same six subscales as the child version:
Separation anxiety disorder
Social phobia
Generalised anxiety disorder
Panic disorder
Obsessive compulsive disorder
Major depressive disorder
Plus Total Anxiety and Total Internalising scores.
Administration
Self completed by the parent or carer. Each item is rated Never, Sometimes, Often or Always, scored 0 to 3. It takes approximately 5 to 10 minutes.
Desired Audience
Parents and carers of children and young people aged 8 to 18. Separate T score conversion tables are used for the parent version, indexed by the child's gender and school grade band.
The parent version is not a substitute for the child version. It is a second lens. Where the two disagree, that gap is often the most useful clinical information in the file, particularly with young people who mask distress at home or at school.
Considerations
Not a diagnostic instrument.
Parent and child agreement on internalising symptoms is typically modest. Collect both where you can.
T scores use US school grade bands and require conversion for UK school years.
Copyright terms restrict third party commercial distribution and unauthorised scoring tools. Confirm permission before commercial deployment.
How to score the Revised Children's Anxiety and Depression Scale RCADS Parent Version
Conducting the assessment
The parent rates all 47 items from Never (0) to Always (3). Subscale raw scores are summed, then converted to T scores using the parent version tables. Do not score a subscale with more than two missing items.
Interpretation
Raw subscale scores are converted to T scores with a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10, using the parent specific tables.
A T score of 65 or above is the borderline clinical threshold.
A T score of 70 or above is above the clinical threshold.
Raw score ranges match the child version.
Clinical Considerations
Use the parent and child versions together and treat any disagreement as data, not noise.
Read the subscale profile rather than the totals alone.
Keep the informant consistent when tracking change over time.
Revised Children's Anxiety and Depression Scale RCADS Parent Version use cases
Collecting a parent or carer perspective on a young person's symptoms
Corroborating or challenging a child self report
Routine outcome monitoring in CAMHS and school based services
Research in child and adolescent mental health
Category
Anxiety
Research Summary
Ebesutani, C., Bernstein, A., Nakamura, B., Chorpita, B. F., & Weisz, J. (2010). A psychometric analysis of the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale, Parent Version in a clinical sample. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 38(2), 249 to 260.
Ebesutani, C., Chorpita, B. F., Higa-McMillan, C., Nakamura, B., Regan, J., & Lynch, R. E. (2011). A psychometric evaluation of the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale, Parent Version in a school sample. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 39(2), 173 to 185.
Chorpita, B. F., Yim, L., Moffitt, C., Umemoto, L. A., & Francis, S. E. (2000). Assessment of symptoms of DSM-IV anxiety and depression in children: A Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 38(8), 835 to 855.
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