The most common reasonably quick measure for anxiety and depression in children and young people in the UK is becoming the (originally American) RCADS - Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale - it's the one used in the CAMHS transformation programme called CYP-IAPT here in England. Would you like a link to it? I like using it and it's easy to score, and often has some clinical use as well in prompting conversations.

On 30 Oct 2014, at 132, Karin Lindqvist wrote:

Dear all,

My name is Karin Lindqvist and I am a clinical psychologist working at the Erica Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden, dividing my time between clinical work and research. I think this email-list is a great initiative and I am very happy to be on it!

In a discussion regarding another topic, outcome measures were briefly discussed. When planning and discussing upcoming research projects, we find it difficult to find optimal outcome measures for children, for example regarding depression and/or anxiety. SDQ is widely used clinically as well as in research, but my impression is that it is not a very good measure of change, since it is a) not very sensitive to change and b) not symptom specific. We have, amongst others, considered CBCL (parent rated) and Beck Youth Inventories (self rated). At the SPR, one of the discussion points was the wish for more coherence in the child psychotherapy research field, with regards to for example outcome measures. I would therefore like to discuss and hear your thoughts on depression- and anxiety-specific outcome measures for children?

Best wishes,
Karin Lindqvist
Clinical Psychologist
The Erica Foundation, Stockholm, Sweden