Development and Implementation of a Function-Based Clinical Interview to Evaluate Childhood Behavior Problems

The most common reason that children are referred to mental health providers relates to behavior and emotional problems. Without intervention, children with maladaptive behaviors are at risk for poor school performance, interpersonal difficulties, and significant conduct problems later in life. Previous research on the assessment of these problems has focused primarily on caregiver self-report questionnaires, observational coding, and/or diagnostic classification. The behavior literature has far fewer examples of best-practice interview strategies to solicit meaningful clinical information from primary stakeholders. Since caregiver report is essential during initial interviews to better understand his or her child’s presenting issues and given the primary role of assessment is to integrate information into the design of an evidence-based intervention (Barlow et al., 2005), additional published guidance on the content of these clinical interactions is warranted. The following paper outlines an approach to gathering pertinent information from caregivers about their children’s behavior in a way that is germane to treatment planning. In addition, the authors include validity and reliability data to substantiate the interview’s continued use in the clinical setting.