Tarren-Sweeney, M. (2013). The Brief Assessment Checklists (BAC-C, BAC-A): Mental health screening measures for school-aged children and adolescents in foster, kinship, residential and adoptive care. Children and Youth Services Review, 35(5), 771–779. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2013.01.025
Sample:
Participants — 347 children (aged 4 to 11 years, 176 boys and 171 girls) residing in long-term foster (N=297) and kinship (N=50) care in Australia
Race/Ethnicity — Not reported
Summary:
The Brief Assessment Checklist for Children (BAC-C) is a 20-item caregiver-report psychiatric rating scale designed to: 1. screen for and monitor clinically-meaningful mental health difficulties experienced by children in various types of care; and 2. be safely administered and interpreted by health and social care professionals other than child and adolescent mental health clinicians. The BAC-C was also designed to be used as brief casework monitoring tools by foster care and adoption agencies, and for treatment monitoring in CAMHS. The BAC-C was derived from the Assessment Checklist for Children (ACC, 120 items). Internal consistency of BAC-C was 0.89. The BAC-C was highly accurate in screening for clinical range ACC scores (area under the curve (AUC) ranging from 0.96 to 0.99), as well as for CBCL clinical range scores (AUCs: BAC-C=0.89 to 0.92). It was moderately accurate in screening for children that caregivers reported had been referred to mental health services (AUCs: BAC-C=0.74). Initial BAC-C psychometric properties compare favorably with that of existing screening instruments, including the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and the Brief Problem Monitor (CBCL short form).
Harding, L., Murray, K., Shakespeare-Finch, J., & Frey, R. (2018). High stress experienced in the foster and kin carer role: Understanding the complexities of the carer and child in context. Children and Youth Services Review, 95, 316–326. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.11.004
Sample:
Participants — 158 foster and kin caregivers in Queensland, Australia
Race/Ethnicity — Not reported
Summary:
The current study examined placement, carer, and child characteristics related to perceived foster parent stress in a sample of foster and kin caregivers. Carers completed a self-report online survey that assessed parenting stress, and carer perceptions of the child in their care and the child protection system. Overall, foster carers reported high stress, with 20% in the clinical range on the Parenting Stress Index (PSI-4-SF). This stress was significantly higher for those providing care for children with carer-reported high emotional and behavioral problems, as measured by the BAC-C (which had a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.86 in this study). The carer's report of the child's emotional and behavioral problems (BAC-C) total score was found to be a significant predictor and accounted for 32% of the variance in parenting stress. Both foster carer stress and the child's emotional and behavioral challenges were significantly related to placement factors such as, the length of time the child had been in their current placement and the child protection court order under which the child had been placed.
Goemans, A., Tarren-Sweeney, M., van Geel, M., & Vedder, P. (2018). Psychosocial screening and monitoring for children in foster care: Psychometric properties of the Brief Assessment Checklists in a Dutch population study. Clinical Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 23(1), 9–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359104517706527
Sample:
Participants — 118 Dutch foster children, 4–11 years of age
Race/Ethnicity — Not reported
Summary:
This article reports psychometric properties of the BAC-C, estimated in a population study of Dutch foster children. The results suggest the BAC-C performs both screening and monitoring functions well. Its screening accuracy, internal reliability, and concurrent validity are comparable to those estimated for the SDQ within the same child sample. Future research is needed to assess the value of the Brief Assessment Checklists (BAC) compared to other measures and to validate cut-points for the BAC. This study further establishes the BAC-C as a valid and useful mental health screening and monitoring measure for use with children in foster care.
Tarren-Sweeney, M., Goemans, A., Hahne, A., & Gieve, M. (2019). Mental health screening for children in care using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and the Brief Assessment Checklists: Guidance from three national studies. Developmental Child Welfare, 1(2), 177–196. https://doi.org/10.1177/2516103219829756
Sample:
Participants — 347 4- to 11-year-olds (same sample as Tarren-Sweeney (2013) above). Dutch study: 118 children (4- to 11-year-olds) (same sample as Goemans et al. (2018) above). English sample: 499 clinic-referred children
Race/Ethnicity — Not reported
Summary:
This article compares mental health screening properties of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), Brief Assessment Checklist (BAC), and a "SDQ proxy" score (generated from a set of Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) items approximating the SDQ total difficulties scale) in relation to various clinical case reference criteria, across three national studies of children and adolescents residing in alternative care (Australia, the Netherlands, and England). The SDQ and BAC demonstrated moderate to high screening accuracy (sensitivity and specificity) across a range of clinical case criteria' the SDQ being slightly better at predicting general mental health problems and the BAC slightly better at predicting attachment- and trauma-related problems. Accurate first-stage screening is achieved using either the SDQ or the BAC alone, with recommended cut points of 10 (i.e., positive screen is 10 or higher) for the SDQ and 7 for the BAC. Greater accuracy is gained from using the SDQ and BAC in parallel, with positive screens defined by an SDQ score of 11 or higher or a BAC score of 8 or higher. Agencies and post-adoption support services should refer positive screens for comprehensive mental health assessment by clinical services.
