Psychometric Evaluation of the Interactive Distress Screener – Youth

Nagle, Kimberley (2023) Psychometric Evaluation of the Interactive Distress Screener – Youth. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)


Abstract

The present study aimed to provide the first psychometric evaluation of a novel digital assessment of mental health distress in adolescents aged between 11 and 16 years: The
Interactive Distress Screener – Youth (IDS-Y). A need for such a tool prevails due to increasing rates of mental health concerns and accessibility barriers relating to existing screening tools which include the paucity of mental health professionals and financial costs. A community sample of participants (N = 61) responded to an online survey that included demographic questions, the IDS-Y and two self-report mental health screening measures: the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire – Youth (SDQ-Y) and the Brief-Problem Monitor – Youth (BPM-Y). The latent factor structure of the IDS-Y was determined using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on fifteen animated items depicting teenaged characters demonstrating target emotions and behaviours. EFA results support a two-factor structure with acceptable
reliability representing internalising problems (α = .79) and interpersonal problems (α = .76; r = .48) comprised of 11 items. The IDS-Y’s construct-related validity was inconsistent when compared to the SDQ-Y and BPM-Y subscales and total scores, possibly due to significant interpretation deviations between the construct that researchers intended to convey, and how the constructs were perceived by the adolescent participants.


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Item Type: Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours)
Item Status: Live Archive
Additional Information: Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address
Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: Current – Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Wellbeing (1 Jan 2022 -)
Supervisors: Kirsty Zieschank
Qualification: Bachelor of Science (Honours)
Date Deposited: 18 Jun 2025 03:01
Last Modified: 18 Jun 2025 03:10
Uncontrolled Keywords: IDS-Y, psychometric evaluation, adolescent self-report, digital screening, exploratory factor analysis
Fields of Research (2008): 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified
Fields of Research (2020): 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified
URI: https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52609

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