1351.0.55.011 - Research Paper: Testing the Reliability of a Measure of Aboriginal Children's Mental Health, Mar 2006  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 02/03/2006  First Issue
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This report details an analysis of the Western Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey as they pertain to the measurement of mental health in Aboriginal children under the age of 18 years. In the paper we do not focus on the mental health outcomes of Aboriginal children in Western Australia (those interested in such issues should read the survey publication Zubrick, et al. 2004). Rather, we focus on testing the validity of applying the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) to this population.
We begin with a consideration of contextual issues that govern the measurement of health and mental health in particular. We then describe the basic data collection methods and present descriptions of the mental health variables that comprise the measures. The principal findings of the paper follow including a set of analyses of the psychometric characteristics of the measures based on structural equation modelling and multi-level modelling of carer and community clustering. We finish by summarising the limitations of the findings and provide concluding comments.