Inter-rater reliability and acceptance of the structured diagnostic interview for regulatory problems in infancy.

Lukka Popp,Sabine Seehagen,Margarete Bolten,Silvia Schneider,Sabrina Fuths,Mirja Gross-Hemmi,Dieter Wolke

doi:10.1186/s13034-016-0107-6

Abstract

BackgroundRegulatory problems such as excessive crying, sleeping–and feeding difficulties in infancy are some of the earliest precursors of later mental health difficulties emerging throughout the lifespan. In the present study, the inter-rater reliability and acceptance of a structured computer-assisted diagnostic interview for regulatory problems (Baby-DIPS) was investigated.MethodsUsing a community sample, 132 mothers of infants aged between 3 and 18 months (mean age = 10 months) were interviewed with the Baby-DIPS regarding current and former (combined = lifetime) regulatory problems. Severity of the symptoms was also rated. The interviews were conducted face-to-face at a psychology department at the university (51.5 %), the mother’s home (23.5 %), or via telephone (25.0 %). Inter-rater reliability was assessed with Cohen’s kappa (k). A sample of 48 mothers and their interviewers filled in acceptance questionnaires after the interview.ResultsGood to excellent inter-rater reliability on the levels of current and lifetime regulatory problems (k = 0.77–0.98) were found. High inter-rater agreement was also found for ratings of severity (ICC = 0.86–0.97). Participants and interviewers’ overall acceptance ratings of the computer-assisted interview were favourable. Acceptance scores did not differ between interviews that revealed one or more clinically relevant regulatory problem(s) compared to those that revealed no regulatory problems.ConclusionsThe Baby-DIPS was found to be a reliable instrument for the assessment of current and lifetime problems in crying and sleeping behaviours. The computer-assisted version of the Baby-DIPS was well accepted by interviewers and mothers. The Baby-DIPS appears to be well-suited for research and clinical use to identify infant regulatory problems.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13034-016-0107-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Highlights

Regulatory problems such as excessive crying, sleeping–and feeding difficulties in infancy are some of the earliest precursors of later mental health difficulties emerging throughout the lifespan
We further investigated if the mothers’ acceptance of the Baby diagnostisches interview für psychische störun‐ gen (DIPS) differed depending on the presence or absence of regulatory problem (RP) in their infants
Good to excellent inter-rater concordance on the Baby-DIPS diagnoses was found with kappa values of current (k = 0.77–0.85) and lifetime diagnoses (k = 0.83– 0.98)

Summary

Introduction

Regulatory problems such as excessive crying, sleeping–and feeding difficulties in infancy are some of the earliest precursors of later mental health difficulties emerging throughout the lifespan. Major developmental tasks in the first months of life include adapting to the postnatal environment (e.g., to calm down when irritated), ingesting food and gaining weight and developing a sleep-wake-regulation. To master these tasks, infants rely on parental support. Recent studies have shown that approximately 12–25 % of infants in the first year of life are identified with sleeping problems [4], 16 % with excessive crying [5] and 1.5–3 % with feeding problems [6, 7]. This last group of infants is classified as suffering from a regulation disorder [5, 9]

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