[5] It was written by Joan Kaufman, Boris Birmaher, David Brent, Uma Rao, and Neal Ryan.
The KSADS-PL has six components:[5] The KSADS-E,[6] which is the epidemiological version of the KSADS, is a tool to interview parents about possible psychopathology in children from preschool onward.
This version of the K-SADS introduced screening questions, which, if negative, allowed skipping the remaining diagnostic probes.
Two large grants funded by the National Institute of Mental Health combined modules of the KSADS-PL and the WASH-U-KSADS.
With the release of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-5), a team of authors completed a major revision of the KSADS.
[7] The KSADS-COMPs maintained the structure of the KSADS-PL interview described above, assess about ~50 DSM-5 psychiatric diagnoses, and provides ICD-10 diagnostic codes.
The KMRS is an alternative the Mania Rating Scale designed by Young et al. (frequently referred to as the YMRS).
The YMRS was also designed for completion by nurses at the end of their eight-hour shift on an inpatient unit, observing adult patients.
The KMRS has several advantages in comparison: It covers all the symptoms used in current versions of ICD and DSM, it was designed for use with children and teenagers, and it was written and validated as an interview.
Studies have found excellent internal consistency and inter-rater reliability, as well as exceptionally high correlation with the YMRS.
The CDRS-R was also designed to be done as an interview, but the item content predates the current ICD and DSM and omits some important symptoms.
[10] The K-SADS was developed to promote earlier diagnosis of affective disorders and schizophrenia in children in a way that incorporates reports by both the child and parent and a “summary score” by the interviewer based on observations and teacher ratings.
[10] The first version of the K-SADS differed from other tests on children because it relied on answers to interview questions rather than observances during games and interactions.
[10][11] The K-SADS is used to measure previous and current symptoms of affective, anxiety, psychotic, and disruptive behavior disorders.
[12] The K-SADS-PL has been written and translated into over 30 different languages,[13] including Korean, Hebrew, Turkish, Icelandic,[14] and Persian.
[13] One limitation of the K-SADS is that it requires extensive training to give properly, including observation techniques, score calibration, and re-checks to test inter-rater reliability.