Semi-structured Interviews

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semi structured interview research paper

  • Danielle Magaldi 3 &
  • Matthew Berler 4  

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Open-ended interview ; Qualitative interview ; Systematic exploratory interview ; Thematic interview

The semi-structured interview is an exploratory interview used most often in the social sciences for qualitative research purposes or to gather clinical data. While it generally follows a guide or protocol that is devised prior to the interview and is focused on a core topic to provide a general structure, the semi-structured interview also allows for discovery, with space to follow topical trajectories as the conversation unfolds.

Introduction

Qualitative interviews exist on a continuum, ranging from free-ranging, exploratory discussions to highly structured interviews. On one end is unstructured interviewing, deployed by approaches such as ethnography, grounded theory, and phenomenology. This style of interview involves a changing protocol that evolves based on participants’ responses and will differ from one participant to the next. On the other end of the continuum...

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City University of New York, Lehman College, New York City, NY, USA

Danielle Magaldi

Pace University, New York City, NY, USA

Matthew Berler

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Correspondence to Danielle Magaldi .

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Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

Virgil Zeigler-Hill

Todd K. Shackelford

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Department of Educational Sciences, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy

Patrizia Velotti

Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

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Magaldi, D., Berler, M. (2020). Semi-structured Interviews. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24612-3_857

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A Handbook of Research Methods for Clinical and Health Psychology

6 Semi-structured interviewing

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This chapter presents a guide to conducting effective semi-structured interviews. It discusses the nature of semi-structured interviews and why they should be used, as well as preparation, the logistics of conducting the interview, and reflexivity.

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  • Volume 7, Issue 2
  • Semistructured interviewing in primary care research: a balance of relationship and rigour
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  • http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2660-3358 Melissa DeJonckheere 1 and
  • Lisa M Vaughn 2 , 3
  • 1 Department of Family Medicine , University of Michigan , Ann Arbor , Michigan , USA
  • 2 Department of Pediatrics , University of Cincinnati College of Medicine , Cincinnati , Ohio , USA
  • 3 Division of Emergency Medicine , Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center , Cincinnati , Ohio , USA
  • Correspondence to Dr Melissa DeJonckheere; mdejonck{at}med.umich.edu

Semistructured in-depth interviews are commonly used in qualitative research and are the most frequent qualitative data source in health services research. This method typically consists of a dialogue between researcher and participant, guided by a flexible interview protocol and supplemented by follow-up questions, probes and comments. The method allows the researcher to collect open-ended data, to explore participant thoughts, feelings and beliefs about a particular topic and to delve deeply into personal and sometimes sensitive issues. The purpose of this article was to identify and describe the essential skills to designing and conducting semistructured interviews in family medicine and primary care research settings. We reviewed the literature on semistructured interviewing to identify key skills and components for using this method in family medicine and primary care research settings. Overall, semistructured interviewing requires both a relational focus and practice in the skills of facilitation. Skills include: (1) determining the purpose and scope of the study; (2) identifying participants; (3) considering ethical issues; (4) planning logistical aspects; (5) developing the interview guide; (6) establishing trust and rapport; (7) conducting the interview; (8) memoing and reflection; (9) analysing the data; (10) demonstrating the trustworthiness of the research; and (11) presenting findings in a paper or report. Semistructured interviews provide an effective and feasible research method for family physicians to conduct in primary care research settings. Researchers using semistructured interviews for data collection should take on a relational focus and consider the skills of interviewing to ensure quality. Semistructured interviewing can be a powerful tool for family physicians, primary care providers and other health services researchers to use to understand the thoughts, beliefs and experiences of individuals. Despite the utility, semistructured interviews can be intimidating and challenging for researchers not familiar with qualitative approaches. In order to elucidate this method, we provide practical guidance for researchers, including novice researchers and those with few resources, to use semistructured interviewing as a data collection strategy. We provide recommendations for the essential steps to follow in order to best implement semistructured interviews in family medicine and primary care research settings.

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https://doi.org/10.1136/fmch-2018-000057

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Introduction

Semistructured interviews can be used by family medicine researchers in clinical settings or academic settings even with few resources. In contrast to large-scale epidemiological studies, or even surveys, a family medicine researcher can conduct a highly meaningful project with interviews with as few as 8–12 participants. For example, Chang and her colleagues, all family physicians, conducted semistructured interviews with 10 providers to understand their perspectives on weight gain in pregnant patients. 1 The interviewers asked questions about providers’ overall perceptions on weight gain, their clinical approach to weight gain during pregnancy and challenges when managing weight gain among pregnant patients. Additional examples conducted by or with family physicians or in primary care settings are summarised in table 1 . 1–6

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Examples of research articles using semistructured interviews in primary care research

From our perspective as seasoned qualitative researchers, conducting effective semistructured interviews requires: (1) a relational focus, including active engagement and curiosity, and (2) practice in the skills of interviewing. First, a relational focus emphasises the unique relationship between interviewer and interviewee. To obtain quality data, interviews should not be conducted with a transactional question-answer approach but rather should be unfolding, iterative interactions between the interviewer and interviewee. Second, interview skills can be learnt. Some of us will naturally be more comfortable and skilful at conducting interviews but all aspects of interviews are learnable and through practice and feedback will improve. Throughout this article, we highlight strategies to balance relationship and rigour when conducting semistructured interviews in primary care and the healthcare setting.

Qualitative research interviews are ‘attempts to understand the world from the subjects’ point of view, to unfold the meaning of peoples’ experiences, to uncover their lived world prior to scientific explanations’ (p 1). 7 Qualitative research interviews unfold as an interviewer asks questions of the interviewee in order to gather subjective information about a particular topic or experience. Though the definitions and purposes of qualitative research interviews vary slightly in the literature, there is common emphasis on the experiences of interviewees and the ways in which the interviewee perceives the world (see table 2 for summary of definitions from seminal texts).

Definitions of qualitative interviews

The most common type of interview used in qualitative research and the healthcare context is semistructured interview. 8 Figure 1 highlights the key features of this data collection method, which is guided by a list of topics or questions with follow-up questions, probes and comments. Typically, the sequencing and wording of the questions are modified by the interviewer to best fit the interviewee and interview context. Semistructured interviews can be conducted in multiple ways (ie, face to face, telephone, text/email, individual, group, brief, in-depth), each of which have advantages and disadvantages. We will focus on the most common form of semistructured interviews within qualitative research—individual, face-to-face, in-depth interviews.

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Key characteristics of semistructured interviews.

Purpose of semistructured interviews

The overall purpose of using semistructured interviews for data collection is to gather information from key informants who have personal experiences, attitudes, perceptions and beliefs related to the topic of interest. Researchers can use semistructured interviews to collect new, exploratory data related to a research topic, triangulate other data sources or validate findings through member checking (respondent feedback about research results). 9 If using a mixed methods approach, semistructured interviews can also be used in a qualitative phase to explore new concepts to generate hypotheses or explain results from a quantitative phase that tests hypotheses. Semistructured interviews are an effective method for data collection when the researcher wants: (1) to collect qualitative, open-ended data; (2) to explore participant thoughts, feelings and beliefs about a particular topic; and (3) to delve deeply into personal and sometimes sensitive issues.

Designing and conducting semistructured interviews

In the following section, we provide recommendations for the steps required to carefully design and conduct semistructured interviews with emphasis on applications in family medicine and primary care research (see table 3 ).

Steps to designing and conducting semistructured interviews

Steps for designing and conducting semistructured interviews

Step 1: determining the purpose and scope of the study.

The purpose of the study is the primary objective of your project and may be based on an anecdotal experience, a review of the literature or previous research finding. The purpose is developed in response to an identified gap or problem that needs to be addressed.

Research questions are the driving force of a study because they are associated with every other aspect of the design. They should be succinct and clearly indicate that you are using a qualitative approach. Qualitative research questions typically start with ‘What’, ‘How’ or ‘Why’ and focus on the exploration of a single concept based on participant perspectives. 10

Step 2: identifying participants

After deciding on the purpose of the study and research question(s), the next step is to determine who will provide the best information to answer the research question. Good interviewees are those who are available, willing to be interviewed and have lived experiences and knowledge about the topic of interest. 11 12 Working with gatekeepers or informants to get access to potential participants can be extremely helpful as they are trusted sources that control access to the target sample.

Sampling strategies are influenced by the research question and the purpose of the study. Unlike quantitative studies, statistical representativeness is not the goal of qualitative research. There is no calculation of statistical power and the goal is not a large sample size. Instead, qualitative approaches seek an in-depth and detailed understanding and typically use purposeful sampling. See the study of Hatch for a summary of various types of purposeful sampling that can be used for interview studies. 12

‘How many participants are needed?’ The most common answer is, ‘it depends’—it depends on the purpose of the study, what kind of study is planned and what questions the study is trying to answer. 12–14 One common standard in qualitative sample sizes is reaching thematic saturation, which refers to the point at which no new thematic information is gathered from participants. Malterud and colleagues discuss the concept of information power , or a qualitative equivalent to statistical power, to determine how many interviews should be collected in a study. They suggest that the size of a sample should depend on the aim, homogeneity of the sample, theory, interview quality and analytic strategy. 14

Step 3: considering ethical issues

An ethical attitude should be present from the very beginning of the research project even before you decide who to interview. 15 This ethical attitude should incorporate respect, sensitivity and tact towards participants throughout the research process. Because semistructured interviewing often requires the participant to reveal sensitive and personal information directly to the interviewer, it is important to consider the power imbalance between the researcher and the participant. In healthcare settings, the interviewer or researcher may be a part of the patient’s healthcare team or have contact with the healthcare team. The researchers should ensure the interviewee that their participation and answers will not influence the care they receive or their relationship with their providers. Other issues to consider include: reducing the risk of harm; protecting the interviewee’s information; adequately informing interviewees about the study purpose and format; and reducing the risk of exploitation. 10

Step 4: planning logistical aspects

Careful planning particularly around the technical aspects of interviews can be the difference between a great interview and a not so great interview. During the preparation phase, the researcher will need to plan and make decisions about the best ways to contact potential interviewees, obtain informed consent, arrange interview times and locations convenient for both participant and researcher, and test recording equipment. Although many experienced researchers have found themselves conducting interviews in less than ideal locations, the interview location should avoid (or at least minimise) interruptions and be appropriate for the interview (quiet, private and able to get a clear recording). 16 For some research projects, the participants’ homes may make sense as the best interview location. 16

Initial contacts can be made through telephone or email and followed up with more details so the individual can make an informed decision about whether they wish to be interviewed. Potential participants should know what to expect in terms of length of time, purpose of the study, why they have been selected and who will be there. In addition, participants should be informed that they can refuse to answer questions or can withdraw from the study at any time, including during the interview itself.

Audio recording the interview is recommended so that the interviewer can concentrate on the interview and build rapport rather than being distracted with extensive note taking 16 (see table 4 for audio-recording tips). Participants should be informed that audio recording is used for data collection and that they can refuse to be audio recorded should they prefer.

Suggestions for successful audio recording of interviews

Most researchers will want to have interviews transcribed verbatim from the audio recording. This allows you to refer to the exact words of participants during the analysis. Although it is possible to conduct analyses from the audio recordings themselves or from notes, it is not ideal. However, transcription can be extremely time consuming and, if not done yourself, can be costly.

In the planning phase of research, you will want to consider whether qualitative research software (eg, NVivo, ATLAS.ti, MAXQDA, Dedoose, and so on) will be used to assist with organising, managing and analysis. While these tools are helpful in the management of qualitative data, it is important to consider your research budget, the cost of the software and the learning curve associated with using a new system.

Step 5: developing the interview guide

Semistructured interviews include a short list of ‘guiding’ questions that are supplemented by follow-up and probing questions that are dependent on the interviewee’s responses. 8 17 All questions should be open ended, neutral, clear and avoid leading language. In addition, questions should use familiar language and avoid jargon.

Most interviews will start with an easy, context-setting question before moving to more difficult or in-depth questions. 17 Table 5 gives details of the types of guiding questions including ‘grand tour’ questions, 18 core questions and planned and unplanned follow-up questions.

Questions and prompts in semistructured interviewing

To illustrate, online supplementary appendix A presents a sample interview guide from our study of weight gain during pregnancy among young women. We start with the prompt, ‘Tell me about how your pregnancy has been so far’ to initiate conversation about their thoughts and feelings during pregnancy. The subsequent questions will elicit responses to help answer our research question about young women’s perspectives related to weight gain during pregnancy.

Supplemental material

After developing the guiding questions, it is important to pilot test the interview. Having a good sense of the guide helps you to pace the interview (and not run out of time), use a conversational tone and make necessary adjustments to the questions.

Like all qualitative research, interviewing is iterative in nature—data collection and analysis occur simultaneously, which may result in changes to the guiding questions as the study progresses. Questions that are not effective may be replaced with other questions and additional probes can be added to explore new topics that are introduced by participants in previous interviews. 10

Step 6: establishing trust and rapport

Interviews are a special form of relationship, where the interviewer and interviewee converse about important and often personal topics. The interviewer must build rapport quickly by listening attentively and respectfully to the information shared by the interviewee. 19 As the interview progresses, the interviewer must continue to demonstrate respect, encourage the interviewee to share their perspectives and acknowledge the sensitive nature of the conversation. 20

To establish rapport, it is important to be authentic and open to the interviewee’s point of view. It is possible that the participants you recruit for your study will have preconceived notions about research, which may include mistrust. As a result, it is important to describe why you are conducting the research and how their participation is meaningful. In an interview relationship, the interviewee is the expert and should be treated as such—you are relying on the interviewee to enhance your understanding and add to your research. Small behaviours that can enhance rapport include: dressing professionally but not overly formal; avoiding jargon or slang; and using a normal conversational tone. Because interviewees will be discussing their experience, having some awareness of contextual or cultural factors that may influence their perspectives may be helpful as background knowledge.

Step 7: conducting the interview

Location and set-up.

The interview should have already been scheduled at a convenient time and location for the interviewee. The location should be private, ideally with a closed door, rather than a public place. It is helpful if there is a room where you can speak privately without interruption, and where it is quiet enough to hear and audio record the interview. Within the interview space, Josselson 15 suggests an arrangement with a comfortable distance between the interviewer and interviewee with a low table in between for the recorder and any materials (consent forms, questionnaires, water, and so on).

Beginning the interview

Many interviewers start with chatting to break the ice and attempt to establish commonalities, rapport and trust. Most interviews will need to begin with a brief explanation of the research study, consent/assent procedures, rationale for talking to that particular interviewee and description of the interview format and agenda. 11 It can also be helpful if the interviewer shares a little about who they are and why they are interested in the topic. The recording equipment should have already been tested thoroughly but interviewers may want to double-check that the audio equipment is working and remind participants about the reason for recording.

Interviewer stance

During the interview, the interviewer should adopt a friendly and non-judgemental attitude. You will want to maintain a warm and conversational tone, rather than a rote, question-answer approach. It is important to recognise the potential power differential as a researcher. Conveying a sense of being in the interview together and that you as the interviewer are a person just like the interviewee can help ease any discomfort. 15

Active listening

During a face-to-face interview, there is an opportunity to observe social and non-verbal cues of the interviewee. These cues may come in the form of voice, body language, gestures and intonation, and can supplement the interviewee’s verbal response and can give clues to the interviewer about the process of the interview. 21 Listening is the key to successful interviewing. 22 Listening should be ‘attentive, empathic, nonjudgmental, listening in order to invite, and engender talk’ 15 15 (p 66). Silence, nods, smiles and utterances can also encourage further elaboration from the interviewee.

Continuing the interview

As the interview progresses, the interviewer can repeat the words used by the interviewee, use planned and unplanned follow-up questions that invite further clarification, exploration or elaboration. As DiCicco-Bloom and Crabtree 10 explain: ‘Throughout the interview, the goal of the interviewer is to encourage the interviewee to share as much information as possible, unselfconsciously and in his or her own words’ (p 317). Some interviewees are more forthcoming and will offer many details of their experiences without much probing required. Others will require prompting and follow-up to elicit sufficient detail.

As a result, follow-up questions are equally important to the core questions in a semistructured interview. Prompts encourage people to continue talking and they can elicit more details needed to understand the topic. Examples of verbal probes are repeating the participant’s words, summarising the main idea or expressing interest with verbal agreement. 8 11 See table 6 for probing techniques and example probes we have used in our own interviewing.

Probing techniques for semistructured interviews (modified from Bernard 30 )

Step 8: memoing and reflection

After an interview, it is essential for the interviewer to begin to reflect on both the process and the content of the interview. During the actual interview, it can be difficult to take notes or begin reflecting. Even if you think you will remember a particular moment, you likely will not be able to recall each moment with sufficient detail. Therefore, interviewers should always record memos —notes about what you are learning from the data. 23 24 There are different approaches to recording memos: you can reflect on several specific ideas, or create a running list of thoughts. Memos are also useful for improving the quality of subsequent interviews.

Step 9: analysing the data

The data analysis strategy should also be developed during planning stages because analysis occurs concurrently with data collection. 25 The researcher will take notes, modify the data collection procedures and write reflective memos throughout the data collection process. This begins the process of data analysis.

The data analysis strategy used in your study will depend on your research question and qualitative design—see the study of Creswell for an overview of major qualitative approaches. 26 The general process for analysing and interpreting most interviews involves reviewing the data (in the form of transcripts, audio recordings or detailed notes), applying descriptive codes to the data and condensing and categorising codes to look for patterns. 24 27 These patterns can exist within a single interview or across multiple interviews depending on the research question and design. Qualitative computer software programs can be used to help organise and manage interview data.

Step 10: demonstrating the trustworthiness of the research

Similar to validity and reliability, qualitative research can be assessed on trustworthiness. 9 28 There are several criteria used to establish trustworthiness: credibility (whether the findings accurately and fairly represent the data), transferability (whether the findings can be applied to other settings and contexts), confirmability (whether the findings are biased by the researcher) and dependability (whether the findings are consistent and sustainable over time).

Step 11: presenting findings in a paper or report

When presenting the results of interview analysis, researchers will often report themes or narratives that describe the broad range of experiences evidenced in the data. This involves providing an in-depth description of participant perspectives and being sure to include multiple perspectives. 12 In interview research, the participant words are your data. Presenting findings in a report requires the integration of quotes into a more traditional written format.

Conclusions

Though semistructured interviews are often an effective way to collect open-ended data, there are some disadvantages as well. One common problem with interviewing is that not all interviewees make great participants. 12 29 Some individuals are hard to engage in conversation or may be reluctant to share about sensitive or personal topics. Difficulty interviewing some participants can affect experienced and novice interviewers. Some common problems include not doing a good job of probing or asking for follow-up questions, failure to actively listen, not having a well-developed interview guide with open-ended questions and asking questions in an insensitive way. Outside of pitfalls during the actual interview, other problems with semistructured interviewing may be underestimating the resources required to recruit participants, interview, transcribe and analyse the data.

Despite their limitations, semistructured interviews can be a productive way to collect open-ended data from participants. In our research, we have interviewed children and adolescents about their stress experiences and coping behaviours, young women about their thoughts and behaviours during pregnancy, practitioners about the care they provide to patients and countless other key informants about health-related topics. Because the intent is to understand participant experiences, the possible research topics are endless.

Due to the close relationships family physicians have with their patients, the unique settings in which they work, and in their advocacy, semistructured interviews are an attractive approach for family medicine researchers, even if working in a setting with limited research resources. When seeking to balance both the relational focus of interviewing and the necessary rigour of research, we recommend: prioritising listening over talking; using clear language and avoiding jargon; and deeply engaging in the interview process by actively listening, expressing empathy, demonstrating openness to the participant’s worldview and thanking the participant for helping you to understand their experience.

Further Reading

Edwards R, & Holland J. (2013). What is qualitative interviewing?: A&C Black.

Josselson R. Interviewing for qualitative inquiry: A relational approach. Guilford Press, 2013.

Kvale S. InterViews: An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing. SAGE, London, 1996.

Pope C, & Mays N. (Eds). (2006). Qualitative research in health care.

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Contributors Both authors contributed equally to this work.

Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Competing interests None declared.

Patient consent for publication Not required.

Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.

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Semi-structured Interview: A Methodological Reflection on the Development of a Qualitative Research Instrument in Educational Studies

  • Saepudin Mashuri , Muhammad Sarib Abdul Rasak , +1 author Hijrah Syam
  • Published 2022

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  • Types of Interviews in Research | Guide & Examples

Types of Interviews in Research | Guide & Examples

Published on March 10, 2022 by Tegan George . Revised on June 22, 2023.

An interview is a qualitative research method that relies on asking questions in order to collect data . Interviews involve two or more people, one of whom is the interviewer asking the questions.

There are several types of interviews, often differentiated by their level of structure.

  • Structured interviews have predetermined questions asked in a predetermined order.
  • Unstructured interviews are more free-flowing.
  • Semi-structured interviews fall in between.

Interviews are commonly used in market research, social science, and ethnographic research .

Table of contents

What is a structured interview, what is a semi-structured interview, what is an unstructured interview, what is a focus group, examples of interview questions, advantages and disadvantages of interviews, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about types of interviews.

Structured interviews have predetermined questions in a set order. They are often closed-ended, featuring dichotomous (yes/no) or multiple-choice questions. While open-ended structured interviews exist, they are much less common. The types of questions asked make structured interviews a predominantly quantitative tool.

Asking set questions in a set order can help you see patterns among responses, and it allows you to easily compare responses between participants while keeping other factors constant. This can mitigate   research biases and lead to higher reliability and validity. However, structured interviews can be overly formal, as well as limited in scope and flexibility.

  • You feel very comfortable with your topic. This will help you formulate your questions most effectively.
  • You have limited time or resources. Structured interviews are a bit more straightforward to analyze because of their closed-ended nature, and can be a doable undertaking for an individual.
  • Your research question depends on holding environmental conditions between participants constant.

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semi structured interview research paper

Semi-structured interviews are a blend of structured and unstructured interviews. While the interviewer has a general plan for what they want to ask, the questions do not have to follow a particular phrasing or order.

Semi-structured interviews are often open-ended, allowing for flexibility, but follow a predetermined thematic framework, giving a sense of order. For this reason, they are often considered “the best of both worlds.”

However, if the questions differ substantially between participants, it can be challenging to look for patterns, lessening the generalizability and validity of your results.

  • You have prior interview experience. It’s easier than you think to accidentally ask a leading question when coming up with questions on the fly. Overall, spontaneous questions are much more difficult than they may seem.
  • Your research question is exploratory in nature. The answers you receive can help guide your future research.

An unstructured interview is the most flexible type of interview. The questions and the order in which they are asked are not set. Instead, the interview can proceed more spontaneously, based on the participant’s previous answers.

Unstructured interviews are by definition open-ended. This flexibility can help you gather detailed information on your topic, while still allowing you to observe patterns between participants.

However, so much flexibility means that they can be very challenging to conduct properly. You must be very careful not to ask leading questions, as biased responses can lead to lower reliability or even invalidate your research.

  • You have a solid background in your research topic and have conducted interviews before.
  • Your research question is exploratory in nature, and you are seeking descriptive data that will deepen and contextualize your initial hypotheses.
  • Your research necessitates forming a deeper connection with your participants, encouraging them to feel comfortable revealing their true opinions and emotions.

A focus group brings together a group of participants to answer questions on a topic of interest in a moderated setting. Focus groups are qualitative in nature and often study the group’s dynamic and body language in addition to their answers. Responses can guide future research on consumer products and services, human behavior, or controversial topics.

Focus groups can provide more nuanced and unfiltered feedback than individual interviews and are easier to organize than experiments or large surveys . However, their small size leads to low external validity and the temptation as a researcher to “cherry-pick” responses that fit your hypotheses.

  • Your research focuses on the dynamics of group discussion or real-time responses to your topic.
  • Your questions are complex and rooted in feelings, opinions, and perceptions that cannot be answered with a “yes” or “no.”
  • Your topic is exploratory in nature, and you are seeking information that will help you uncover new questions or future research ideas.

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Depending on the type of interview you are conducting, your questions will differ in style, phrasing, and intention. Structured interview questions are set and precise, while the other types of interviews allow for more open-endedness and flexibility.

Here are some examples.

  • Semi-structured
  • Unstructured
  • Focus group
  • Do you like dogs? Yes/No
  • Do you associate dogs with feeling: happy; somewhat happy; neutral; somewhat unhappy; unhappy
  • If yes, name one attribute of dogs that you like.
  • If no, name one attribute of dogs that you don’t like.
  • What feelings do dogs bring out in you?
  • When you think more deeply about this, what experiences would you say your feelings are rooted in?

Interviews are a great research tool. They allow you to gather rich information and draw more detailed conclusions than other research methods, taking into consideration nonverbal cues, off-the-cuff reactions, and emotional responses.

However, they can also be time-consuming and deceptively challenging to conduct properly. Smaller sample sizes can cause their validity and reliability to suffer, and there is an inherent risk of interviewer effect arising from accidentally leading questions.

Here are some advantages and disadvantages of each type of interview that can help you decide if you’d like to utilize this research method.

Advantages and disadvantages of interviews
Type of interview Advantages Disadvantages
Structured interview
Semi-structured interview , , , and
Unstructured interview , , , and
Focus group , , and , since there are multiple people present

If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

  • Student’s  t -distribution
  • Normal distribution
  • Null and Alternative Hypotheses
  • Chi square tests
  • Confidence interval
  • Quartiles & Quantiles
  • Cluster sampling
  • Stratified sampling
  • Data cleansing
  • Reproducibility vs Replicability
  • Peer review
  • Prospective cohort study

Research bias

  • Implicit bias
  • Cognitive bias
  • Placebo effect
  • Hawthorne effect
  • Hindsight bias
  • Affect heuristic
  • Social desirability bias

The four most common types of interviews are:

  • Structured interviews : The questions are predetermined in both topic and order. 
  • Semi-structured interviews : A few questions are predetermined, but other questions aren’t planned.
  • Unstructured interviews : None of the questions are predetermined.
  • Focus group interviews : The questions are presented to a group instead of one individual.

The interviewer effect is a type of bias that emerges when a characteristic of an interviewer (race, age, gender identity, etc.) influences the responses given by the interviewee.

There is a risk of an interviewer effect in all types of interviews , but it can be mitigated by writing really high-quality interview questions.

Social desirability bias is the tendency for interview participants to give responses that will be viewed favorably by the interviewer or other participants. It occurs in all types of interviews and surveys , but is most common in semi-structured interviews , unstructured interviews , and focus groups .

Social desirability bias can be mitigated by ensuring participants feel at ease and comfortable sharing their views. Make sure to pay attention to your own body language and any physical or verbal cues, such as nodding or widening your eyes.

This type of bias can also occur in observations if the participants know they’re being observed. They might alter their behavior accordingly.

A focus group is a research method that brings together a small group of people to answer questions in a moderated setting. The group is chosen due to predefined demographic traits, and the questions are designed to shed light on a topic of interest. It is one of 4 types of interviews .

Quantitative research deals with numbers and statistics, while qualitative research deals with words and meanings.

Quantitative methods allow you to systematically measure variables and test hypotheses . Qualitative methods allow you to explore concepts and experiences in more detail.

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  • Published: 20 June 2024

Assessment of affective dysregulation in children: development and evaluation of a semi-structured interview for parents and for children

  • Anne-Katrin Treier 1 , 2 ,
  • Sara Zaplana Labarga 1 , 2 ,
  • Claudia Ginsberg 1 , 2 ,
  • Lea Teresa Kohl 1 , 2 ,
  • Anja Görtz-Dorten 1 , 2 ,
  • Ulrike Ravens-Sieberer 3 ,
  • Anne Kaman 3 ,
  • Tobias Banaschewski 4 ,
  • Pascal-M. Aggensteiner 4 ,
  • Charlotte Hanisch 5 ,
  • Michael Kölch 6 , 7 ,
  • Andrea Daunke 7 ,
  • Veit Roessner 8 ,
  • Gregor Kohls 8 &
  • Manfred Döpfner 1 , 2 &

the ADOPT consortium

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health volume  18 , Article number:  75 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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Children with affective dysregulation (AD) show an excessive reactivity to emotionally positive or negative stimuli, typically manifesting in chronic irritability, severe temper tantrums, and sudden mood swings. AD shows a large overlap with externalizing and internalizing disorders. Given its transdiagnostic nature, AD cannot be reliably and validly captured only by diagnostic categories such as disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD). Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate two semi-structured clinical interviews—one for parents and one for children.

Both interviews were developed based on existing measures that capture particular aspects of AD. We analyzed internal consistencies and interrater agreement to evaluate their reliability. Furthermore, we analyzed factor loadings in an exploratory factor analysis, differences in interview scores between children with and without co-occurring internalizing and externalizing disorders, and associations with other measures of AD and of AD-related constructs. The evaluation was performed in a screened community sample of children aged 8–12 years ( n  = 445). Interrater reliability was additionally analyzed in an outpatient sample of children aged 8–12 years ( n  = 27).

Overall, internal consistency was acceptable to good. In both samples, we found moderate to excellent interrater reliability on a dimensional level. Interrater agreement for the dichotomous diagnosis DMDD was substantial to perfect. In the exploratory factor analysis, almost all factor loadings were acceptable. Children with a diagnosis of disruptive disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or any disorder (disruptive disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and depressive disorder) showed higher scores on the DADYS interviews than children without these disorders. The correlation analyses revealed the strongest associations with other measures of AD and measures of AD-specific functional impairment. Moreover, we found moderate to very large associations with internalizing and externalizing symptoms and moderate to large associations with emotion regulation strategies and health-related quality of life.

Conclusions

The analyses of internal consistency and interrater agreement support the reliability of both clinical interviews. Furthermore, exploratory factor analysis, discriminant analyses, and correlation analyses support the interviews’ factorial, discriminant, concurrent, convergent, and divergent validity. The interviews might thus contribute to the reliable and valid identification of children with AD and the assessment of treatment responses.

Trial registration

ADOPT Online: German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS) DRKS00014963. Registered 27 June 2018.

Introduction

Children with affective dysregulation (AD) typically show chronic irritability, severe temper tantrums, and sudden mood swings [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. Emotion recognition and regulation develop from birth through interaction with a sensitive caregiver and lead to primary regulation strategies at the age of seven, which become more self-directed with increasing age [ 4 ]. Dysfunctions of emotion recognition and/or emotion regulation are suggested underlying mechanisms of AD, an assumption that is supported by findings of an elevated use of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies in children with AD [ 5 ]. In contrast to the concept of irritability—which solely comprises the proneness to anger [ 6 ]—AD additionally encompasses emotional reactivity such as anxiety, sadness, or positive emotions (e.g., exuberance; [ 3 ]).

However, there are various different operationalizations of AD. The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5; [ 7 ]) introduced the diagnosis of disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD) as a categorical diagnosis for children with irritability and severe temper tantrums. In community samples, between 0.8% and 9% of all children and adolescents fulfill the diagnostic criteria for DMDD [ 8 , 9 ], with lower rates in clinical ratings and higher rates in parent ratings. Furthermore, symptoms of AD in early childhood can be categorized under the disorder of dysregulated anger and aggression of early childhood based on the second revision of the Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood (DC:0–5; [ 10 ]) from the age of 24 months onwards [ 11 ]. In the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11; [ 12 ]), AD is considered a diagnostic specifier of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). According to the ICD-11, ODD can be defined with and without chronic irritability, due to the large overlap of diagnostic criteria between ODD and AD. Nevertheless, AD symptoms do not only occur in patients with ODD. On the contrary, children and adolescents with AD often show other externalizing disorders, especially attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) but also conduct disorder (CD), as well as internalizing disorders, especially depressive and anxiety disorders [ 3 , 8 , 13 ].

Due to the overlap with this broad spectrum of other disorders, AD is also conceptualized as a transdiagnostic and dimensional rather than a distinct, categorical phenomenon [ 2 , 14 ]. While the categorical classification of a disorder is useful in terms of guiding empirical research and decision-making such as treatment indication and selection, for the substantial number of patients with co-occurring disorders, such decisions might be more complicated [ 15 ]. In view of the large overlap of AD with both externalizing and internalizing disorders, a transdiagnostic and dimensional approach might therefore be more appropriate [ 14 ]. A stronger dimensional approach is also supported by the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) initiative of the National Institute of Mental Health [ 16 ]. Within this initiative, AD fits well in the concept of frustrative non-reward in the negative emotionality domain [ 17 ].

In summary, we adopt a broader, dimensional, and transdiagnostic concept of AD, and perceive AD as excessive reactivity to emotionally positive or negative stimuli [ 2 , 3 ]. Accordingly, AD comprises a proneness to a variety of emotional reactions, ranging from anger to anxiety or sadness, but also includes positive emotions such as exuberance.

Since the concept of AD is rather new, currently available instruments only assess particular aspects of AD: There are several questionnaires, which focus on irritability (Affective Reactivity Index, ARI; [ 18 ]), anger (Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System Anger Scale, PROMIS; [ 19 ]), emotion regulation (Emotion Regulation Checklist, ERC; [ 20 ]), or DMDD (Diagnostic System for Mental Disorders in children and adolescents according to ICD-10 and DSM-5, DISYPS-III; [ 21 ]) Additionally, to assess the so-called dysregulation profile, there are two broadband questionnaires: the Child Behavior Checklist–Dysregulation Profile (CBCL-DP; [ 22 ]) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire–Dysregulation Profile (SDQ-DP; [ 23 , 24 ]), with the dysregulation profile being defined as the co-existence of anxious/depressive, attention, and aggressive problems [ 22 ]. In both of these questionnaires, the profile is formed by combining specific subscales/items [ 22 , 23 , 24 ]. Finally, there are several clinical interviews, which focus on irritability (Clinician Affective Reactivity Index, CL-ARI; [ 25 ]) and DMDD (DMDD module of the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School Aged Children Present and Lifetime Version, K-SADS-PL; [ 26 ], DMDD module of the Extended Strengths and Weaknesses Assessment of Normal Behavior, E-SWAN; [ 27 ]). Overall, however, comprehensive analyses of both the reliability and validity of instruments assessing AD are lacking (see the systematic review of measures assessing DMDD by [ 28 ]).

To date, the only comprehensive tool focusing on the broad conceptualization of AD is the German-language Diagnostic Tool for Affective Dysregulation in Children (DADYS; [ 3 , 14 , 29 , 30 ]). The DADYS covers symptoms of irritability, impulsivity, temper outbursts, anger, mood swings, sadness, and exuberance. Besides a screening questionnaire (DADYS-Screen; [ 3 , 30 ]), the DADYS comprises a parent, a teacher, and a child questionnaire (DADYS-PQ, DADYS-TQ, DADYS-CQ; [ 14 , 29 ]), as well as semi-structured parent and child interviews (DADYS-PI, DADYS-CI; [ 29 ]). While the DADYS-Screen and the DADYS-PQ have already been comprehensively evaluated [ 3 , 14 , 30 ], the reliability and validity of the DADYS interviews have not yet been assessed.

Accordingly, the present study aimed to evaluate the DADYS interviews. The study was conducted in the context of the multicenter study ADOPT (Affective Dysregulation–Optimizing Prevention and Treatment), which integrates internationally established, highly experienced, and interdisciplinary research groups [ 2 ]. First, we analyzed the factor structure of the interviews by means of exploratory factor analyses. Second, we analyzed internal consistency and interrater reliability of the scales developed on the basis of factor analyses. Third, we aimed at demonstrating the validity of the DADYS interviews by analyzing their discriminative power to differentiate categorically between children with and without co-occurring internalizing and externalizing disorders (discriminant validity) as well as the dimensional associations with other measures of AD (concurrent validity) and with measures assessing emotion regulation strategies, externalizing and internalizing symptoms, and health-related quality of life (convergent and divergent validity).

Participants

For the evaluation of the DADYS interviews, two samples were used: A screened community sample ( n  = 445) was formed from a larger community sample ( n  = 9,759) which was recruited through residents’ registration offices in four German cities. Children aged 8 to 12 years were screened using the parent-rated DADYS-Screen [ 3 , 30 ]. The age range of 8 to 12 years was chosen due to the ADOPT study’s focus on AD in childhood and because we wanted to administer the DADYS in both the clinical child interview and the child questionnaire. After screening for AD, children were classified as high AD (highest 10% raw scores; AD) or low AD (lowest 10% raw scores, NoAD). We chose this cut-off of 10% as an approximation of the prevalence rates of up to 9% reported in epidemiological studies [ 9 ]. The families of all children with AD and a random sample of the families of children without AD were invited to participate in a comprehensive assessment and were screened for additional inclusion criteria in one of the five study centers (child and adolescent psychiatric units or outpatient units). All families with AD fulfilling the additional criteria were invited to participate in the subsequent treatment study receiving either an AD-specific treatment or treatment as usual, while families without AD were subsequently monitored as a comparison group (ADOPT study, [ 2 ]). Additional inclusion/exclusion criteria were no participation in behavioral therapy focusing on AD, no autism spectrum disorder, and an intelligence quotient (IQ, based on clinical judgment) above 80. The assessment was completed online using the REDCap electronic data capture tool or offline in paper-and-pencil format. If parents provided permission, the DADYS interview was audio- or videotaped. For the assessment of interrater reliability, audio- or videotaped parent interviews ( n  = 246) were additionally rated by a blinded rater who was blind to the group status and the time of measurement.

An outpatient sample ( n  = 27) was recruited in the outpatient unit of the study center in Cologne for the analysis of interrater reliability of both the parent and the child interview in a clinical sample. All participating children had at least one diagnosis according to DSM-5. If parents and children provided permission, the DADYS interview was audio- or videotaped ( n  = 27). Participating families were at different stages of their psychotherapeutic treatment.

The unblinded interviewers at all study centers had a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in psychology or education. All unblinded interviewers received standardized and extensive training on conducting the DADYS interviews, including practice videos for each item, sitting in on interviews, and conducting interviews under supervision. Blinded ratings and all ratings of the outpatient sample were conducted at both study sites in Cologne. Blinded raters for interrater agreement received the same extensive training, with the exception that they did not sit in on interviews or conduct interviews themselves. All unblinded interviewers and blinded raters were encouraged to consult their supervisor if they experienced any difficulties regarding the assessment with the DADYS interviews.

DADYS parent and child interviews

The DADYS parent (DADYS-PI) and the parallel child interview (DADYS-CI) are semi-structured interviews which aim to calculate a dimensional score for AD. The DADYS-PI additionally allows for the categorical assessment of a DMDD diagnosis. To operationalize the broad conceptualization, we developed an item pool based on existing measures with different foci (ARI, [ 18 ], ERC, [ 20 ], DISYPS-III, [ 21 ], Conners’ Rating Scale, [ 31 ]). Items of the DISYPS-III and the ARI were combined due to item overlap. The original item pool comprised 35 items. For item selection, a Delphi rating of experts, and focus groups with experts and parents were implemented [ 30 ]. In the first step, items with very similar content, as rated by clinical experts in the field of AD (MD, AGD, URS), were deleted. In the second step, items were further reduced by conducting a focus group with clinical experts (clinicians and psychotherapists), a focus group with parents (outpatient clinic), and a focus group with children (outpatient clinic). The item set used in the sample for evaluating the interview consisted of 13 items assessing symptoms and five items assessing functional impairment for the DADYS-PI (see Table S1 in the supplement) as well as 10 items assessing symptoms and five items assessing functional impairment for the DADYS-CI.

In the two interviews, parents and children were asked to describe in detail the respective emotional or behavioral response defined in each item (e.g., exhibits strong mood swings, is able to delay gratification, is overly exuberant, is quick to anger) and to describe specific situations in which the response might be observed as well as the frequency of the response. Each item was rated by the clinician on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (age-appropriate/not present) to 3 (very strongly present). For each score, a brief description of the symptom severity was provided to aid clinical judgment. Items on functional impairment were only assessed if AD symptoms were present. For the assessment of the DMDD diagnosis in the DADYS-PI, the age of symptom onset, duration of symptoms, pervasiveness, and exclusion criteria were additionally assessed. Lastly, the severity of AD was rated globally with one item in the DADYS-PI.

Measures for the validity assessment

Affective dysregulation. For the assessment of AD, two measures were used in addition to the DADYS interviews: (a) the DADYS parent questionnaire (DADYS-PQ) and child questionnaire (DADYS-CQ; [ 14 , 29 ]) as well as (b) the Dysregulation Profile of the Child Behavior Checklist in its German version (CBCL-DP; [ 22 , 32 ]). DADYS-PQ/-CQ. The DADYS questionnaires were also developed based on existing measures assessing aspects of AD (ARI, [ 18 ], PROMIS, [ 19 ], ERC, [ 20 ], DISYPS-III, [ 21 ], Conners’ Rating Scale, [ 31 ]), with an overlap with the original item pool of the DADYS interview. Items for the DADYS-Screen were selected and evaluated using a mixed-methods approach, including a Delphi rating of experts, focus groups with parents and experts, and psychometric analyses. Each item was rated on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (age-appropriate/not present) to 3 (very strongly present). For each questionnaire, the mean item score was calculated for the total symptoms scale (DADYS-PQ: 27 items; DADYS-CQ: 26 items) and for the functional impairment scale (DADYS-PQ: 5 items; DADYS-CQ: 5 items). In the current screened community sample, the internal consistency of each scale was sufficient to excellent (0.77 ≤ α ≤ 0.94). CBCL-DP. Parents rated the items of the subscales attention problems (10 items), aggressive behavior (18 items), and anxious/depressed (13 items) on a 3-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (not true) to 2 (very true or often true). We calculated the CBCL-DP scale by summing the mean item score for each subscale (range 0–2), which resulted in a range from 0 to 6 [ 33 ]. In the current screened community sample, the CBCL-DP scale showed excellent internal consistency (α = 0.94).

Emotion regulation. The Questionnaire for the Regulation of Frustration in Children was used to assess emotion regulation strategies (FRUST; [ 34 , 35 ]). The questionnaire comprises the two subscales adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, and is rated by parent (adaptive strategies: 10 items, maladaptive strategies: 4 items) and child (adaptive strategies: 33 items, maladaptive strategies: 7 items). The adaptive subscale includes strategies such as problem-solving or social support and the maladaptive subscale includes strategies such as rumination or avoidance. The items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (hardly ever) to 4 (almost always). We calculated a mean item score for each subscale. The internal consistency of the two subscales in the current screened community sample was sufficient to excellent (0.78 ≤ α ≤ 0.94).

Externalizing/internalizing symptoms. To assess the children’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms, we used the DISYPS-III [ 21 ]. Specifically, we employed the therapist-rated diagnostic screening checklists for internalizing symptoms (ILF-SCREEN-Internal, 19 items) and externalizing symptoms (ILF-SCREEN-External, 9 items), based on a parent interview. Additionally, we used the parent- and child-rated symptom checklists for ADHD (20 items) and disruptive disorders—including ODD, CD, DMDD, and callous-unemotional traits—(28 items). All items were rated on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (age-typical) to 3 (very strong). A mean item score across all items was calculated for each checklist, with the exception of the checklist for disruptive disorders, for which we calculated subscale scores for ODD (8 items), and CD (6 items). Since the items of the DMDD scale were part of the DADYS-PQ, we did not calculate this scale separately for the present study. In the current screened community sample, internal consistency was good to excellent for clinician-rated internalizing and externalizing symptoms as well as for parent- and child-rated ADHD and ODD symptoms (0.82 ≤ α ≤ 0.95), except for the parent- and child-rated CD scale (0.59 ≤ α ≤ 0.60) due to the diverse range of behaviors assessed in this scale.

Furthermore, due to the especially frequent co-occurrence of AD with both externalizing and affective disorders, we assessed diagnoses of ADHD, disruptive disorders (ODD and/or CD), and depressive disorder, coded as 0 (no) and 1 (yes), based on the DISYPS parent interviews. If the parents reported symptoms of these disorders on the screening checklist, we verified the respective diagnosis using the comprehensive checklist from the DISYPS-III.

Quality of life. KIDSCREEN. To assess health-related quality of life, we used the KIDSCREEN questionnaire [ 58 ], which measures subjective health and well-being in children and adolescents. Children completed the KIDSCREEN-10 Index (10 items) and parents completed the short version KIDSCREEN-27 (27 items). For both the child and parent version, items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never/not at all) to 5 (always/very strong). The mean item score was calculated. Internal consistency in the current screened community sample was good to excellent (0.81 ≤ α ≤ 0.91).

Statistical analyses

All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS Version 29 [ 36 ]. To reduce bias in the results, scales were only computed if at least 90% of the respective scale items were available [ 37 ].

Sample characteristics. Differences in sample characteristics between the AD and the NoAD subsample were examined using χ² tests for categorical variables, t -tests for interval-scaled variables, and Kruskal-Wallis tests for ordinal-scaled variables. As measures of effect size, we used Cramer’s V for χ² tests (0.10 ≤ ϕ c  < 0.30 small, 0.30 ≤ ϕ c  < 0.50 moderate, 0.50 ≤ ϕ c large), Cohen`s d [ 38 ] for t -tests (0.20 ≤  d  < 0.50 small, 0.50 ≤  d  < 0.80 moderate, 0.80 ≤  d large), and Pearson correlations for Kruskal-Wallis tests (0.10 ≤  r  <.30 small, 0.30 ≤  r  <.50 moderate, 0.50 ≤ r large; [ 38 ]).

Exploratory factor analysis. For item reduction and scale development as well as the analysis of factor loadings (factorial validity), we performed an exploratory factor analysis for both the DADYS-PI and the DADYS-CI in the screened community sample. For each interview, we performed a principal component analysis (PCA) and a principal factor analysis (PFA). Only symptom items were included in the factor analysis since the functional impairment scale of the DISYPS-III was derived as a whole [ 21 ]. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy resulted in superb values (KMO DADYS−PI = 0.94; KMO DADYS−CI = 0.92). The scree test [ 39 ], the MAP test [ 40 ], and the parallel analysis [ 41 ] were used to determine the number of factors. Factor loadings of a  ≥ 0.30 in the PCA and the PFA were considered robust [ 42 ].

Scale characteristics. To evaluate internal consistency, Cronbach’s alpha was calculated for the total symptom scale and the functional impairment scale for both interviews in the screened community sample, with values of a  > 0.70 considered acceptable [ 43 ]. Furthermore, the corrected item-total correlation was calculated for each item, with values of r  >.30 considered acceptable [ 44 ].

Interrater reliability. Interrater reliability for continuous AD symptoms was evaluated using intraclass correlations (ICC; [ 45 ]). Since the characteristics of the data differed between the screened community sample and the outpatient sample, we applied different models to calculate the ICC in the two samples. To compare unblinded interviewer ratings and blinded ratings in the screened community sample, we calculated the ICC one-way random-effects, absolute agreement model for single-rater ICC(1,1), as the multicenter design of the study did not allow for the same unblinded interviewers for all patients [ 46 ]. To compare the ratings in the outpatient sample, we calculated the ICC two-way random effects, absolute agreement, and single-rater ICC(2,1), as we used the same group of raters for all patients [ 46 ]. Single-rater models were applied in both samples as they more appropriately reflect routine clinical care, where one clinician usually conducts ratings [ 46 ]. For the interpretation of ICC values, we followed Koo and Li (ICC < 0.50 poor, 0.50 ≤ ICC ≤ 0.74 moderate, 0.75 ≤ ICC ≤ 0.89 good, ICC > 0.90 excellent; [ 46 ]). Interrater reliability for the dichotomous DMDD diagnosis based on the DADYS-PI was evaluated using Cohen’s kappa [ 47 ] in both samples. For the interpretation of ICC values, we followed Landis and Koch (κ < 0.20 slight, 0.21 ≤ κ ≤ 0.40 fair, 0.41 ≤ κ ≤ 0.60 moderate, 0.61 ≤ κ ≤ 0.80 substantial, κ > 0.80 almost perfect; [ 48 ]).

Discriminant validity. To analyze discriminant validity, we evaluated the differences between the DADYS interview scores of children with and without a diagnosis of disruptive disorders (ODD or CD), ADHD, depressive disorder, or an overarching diagnosis of any of these disorders using t -tests. Cohen`s d [ 38 ] was applied as a measure of effect size, using the interpretation mentioned above.

Concurrent, convergent, and divergent Validity. To analyze concurrent, convergent, and divergent validity, we calculated Pearson correlations between the DADYS interviews and comprehensive, parent- and child-rated measures of AD, parent- and child-rated measures of emotion regulation strategies, parent-, child-, and clinician-rated measures of externalizing and internalizing symptoms, and parent- and child-rated measures of health-related quality of life. Pearson correlation coefficients were interpreted as outlined above. Additionally, correlations accounting for at least 50% of the variance ( r  >.70) were classified as very large. Furthermore, we calculated paired t -tests for the comparison of mean differences between the two DADYS interviews and between the DADYS interviews and the DADYS questionnaire. Cohen`s d [ 38 ] was applied as a measure of effect size, with the aforementioned interpretation.

Sample characteristics

The total screened community sample had a mean age of 10.70 years ( SD  = 1.32) and a mean socioeconomic status of 6.26 ( SD = 1.20; range 1–7; value is based on the average national income obtained with the highest education and occupational qualification in the family; [ 49 ]) and 55.3% were boys. Approximately 32% of the children in the total screened community sample were diagnosed with ODD, CD, ADHD, or depressive disorder (see Table  1 ). When comparing the AD with the NoAD subsample of the screened community sample, we found a higher percentage of boys (small effect), lower age (small effect), and more co-occurring disorders (large effect) in the AD sample. The outpatient sample had a mean age of 10.41 years ( SD  = 1.45) and a mean socioeconomic status of 4.83 ( SD  = 1.76; range 1–7) and 81.5% were boys. Almost all children in the outpatient sample (90.9%) were diagnosed with ODD, CD, ADHD, or depressive disorder.

Exploratory factor analysis

The scree test [ 39 ], the MAP test [ 40 ], and the parallel analysis [ 41 ] pointed to a one-factor solution for both interviews. Therefore, we specified the number of factors to one factor, and all symptom items were combined in the total (AD) symptom scale. The AD factor explained 44.94% of the variance in the DADYS-PI and 47.53% of the variance in the DADYS-CI.

For the DADYS-PI, factor loadings ranged from 0.39 to 0.87 ( M  = 0.65, SD  = 0.17) in the PCA and from 0.35 to 0.88 ( M  = 0.62, SD  = 0.18) in the PFA (see Table  2 ). For the DADYS-CI, factor loadings ranged from 0.30 to 0.86 ( M  = 0.67, SD  = 0.18) in the PCA and from 0.25 to 0.85 ( M  = 0.63, SD  = 0.20) in the PFA. The lowest factor loadings in each analysis were found for the item “exuberance”. Since this item fell below our predefined robustness criterion of a  = 0.30 [ 42 ] in only one of four analyses, and as we considered it important for the broader concept of AD, we decided to retain this item. All other items were considered robust and likewise retained.

Scale characteristics

All items of the DADYS-PI and the DADYS-CI demonstrated the full scale range from 0 to 3. Item mean scores on the total symptom scale ranged from 0.33 (item “exuberance”) to 1.23 (item “quick to anger”) on the DADYS-PI and from 0.21 (item “exuberance”) to 1.00 (item “self-regulation”) on the DADYS-CI (see Table  2 ). Item mean scores on the functional impairment scale ranged from 0.45 (item “impaired relationships with adults”) to 1.79 (item “impaired relationships with family members”) on the DADYS-PI and from 0.19 (item “impaired academic performance”) to 0.81 (item “strain”) on the DADYS-CI.

Internal consistency for the total symptom scale was good in both interviews (DADYS-PI: α = 0.89; DADYS-CI: α = 0.87), whereas internal consistency for the functional impairment scale was sufficient in the DADYS-CI (α = 0.72) but insufficient in the DADYS-PI (α = 0.57). For the total symptom scale, item-total correlations were acceptable for all items in the DADYS-PI (0.34 ≤  r  ≤ .82) and for all items in the DADYS-CI (0.38 ≤  r  ≤ .77; see Table  2 ), with the exception of the item “exuberance” ( r  = .24). For the functional impairment scale, item-total correlations were acceptable for all items in the DADYS-PI (0.33 ≤  r  ≤ .40), with the exception of the item “impaired relationships with family members” ( r  = .22), and for all items in the DADYS-CI (0.39 ≤  r  ≤ .58).

Interrater reliability

The total symptom scale demonstrated good to excellent interrater reliability (screened community sample: DADYS-PI ICC[1,1] = 0.94; outpatient sample: DADYS-PI ICC[2,1] = 0.94, DADYS-CI ICC[2,1] = 0.87; see Table  2 ). The functional impairment scale demonstrated moderate to good interrater reliability (screened community sample: DADYS-PI ICC[1,1] = 0.63; outpatient sample: DADYS-PI ICC[2,1] = 0.85, DADYS-CI ICC[2,1] = 0.72).

We found a substantial interrater agreement for the DMDD diagnosis based on the DADYS-PI in the screened community sample (κ = 0.73) and a perfect interrater agreement in the outpatient sample (κ = 1.00).

Discriminant validity

Children with a disruptive disorder, ADHD, or any disorder (disruptive disorder, ADHD, or depressive disorder) scored higher than children without these disorders both on the DADYS-PI and the DADYS-CI (all large effects, see Table  3 ). As only 10 patients in the total sample showed a depressive disorder, we did not calculate the planned analyses for this disorder.

Concurrent, convergent, and divergent validity

The correlation between the DADYS-PI and the DADYS-CI was very large regarding the total symptom scales ( r  = .77) but moderate regarding the functional impairment scale ( r  = .31). Similarly, we found small mean differences between the DADYS-PI and the DADYS-CI for the total symptom scale (full DADYS-PI scale: d  = 0.36; DADYS-PI cross-informant scale: d  = 0.38) and moderate differences for the functional impairment scale ( d  = 0.72). Furthermore, the correlation between the total symptom scale and the functional impairment scale was moderate for the DADYS-PI ( r  = .42) and very large for the DADYS-CI ( r  = .74).

Associations between the DADYS interviews and other measures are presented in Table S2 in the Supplement. Regarding the association between the DADYS interviews (total symptom scale) and other measures of AD, we found large to very large correlations with parent- and child-rated DADYS questionnaires (total symptom scale) and with the parent-rated CBCL Dysregulation Profile (DADYS-PI: 0.64 ≤  r  < .87; DADYS-CI: 0.64 ≤  r  < .79; all p  < .01). For the respective AD-specific functional impairment scale, we found small to large correlations between the DADYS interviews and the DADYS questionnaire (DADYS-PI: 0.26 ≤  r  < .54; DADYS-CI: 0.49 ≤  r  < .67; all p  < .01). Furthermore, we found small to moderate mean differences between the DADYS interviews and the DADYS questionnaires for the total symptom scale (DADYS-PI/DADYS-PQ cross-informant scale: d  = 0.48; DADYS-CI/DADYS-CQ cross-informant scale: d  = 0.68), and small to no meaningful differences for the functional impairment scale (DADYS-PI/DADYS-PQ cross-informant scale: d  = 0.19; DADYS-CI/DADYS-CQ cross-informant scale: d  = 0.27).

Regarding the association between the DADYS interviews (total symptom scale) and parent- and child-rated emotion regulation strategies, the results revealed moderate to large positive correlations with maladaptive strategies (DADYS-PI: 0.41 ≤  r  < .69; DADYS-CI: 56 ≤  r  < .57; all p  < .01) and moderate to large negative correlations with adaptive strategies (DADYS-PI: − 0.67 ≤  r  < − .32; DADYS-CI: − 0.50 ≤  r  < − .44; all p  < .01).

Regarding the association between the DADYS interviews (total symptom scale) and externalizing symptoms, we found large to very large correlations with parent- and child-rated ODD symptoms (DADYS-PI: 0.58 ≤  r  < .84; DADYS-CI: 0.67 ≤  r  < .73; all p  < .01), moderate to large correlations with parent- and child-rated CD symptoms (DADYS-PI: 0.41 ≤  r  < .56; DADYS-CI: 0.42 ≤  r  < .52; all p  < .01), moderate to large correlations with parent- and child-rated ADHD symptoms (DADYS-PI: 0.47 ≤  r  < .65; DADYS-CI: 0.53 ≤  r  < .62; all p  < .01), and large to very large correlations with clinician-rated externalizing symptoms (DADYS-PI: r  = .78; DADYS-CI: r  = .68; all p  < .01). Regarding the association between the DADYS interviews (total symptom scale) and clinician-rated internalizing symptoms, correlations were moderate to large (DADYS-PI: r  = .62; DADYS-CI: r  = .48; all p  < .01).

Finally, regarding parent- and child-rated health-related quality of life, we found moderate to large negative correlations with the total symptom scale of the DADYS interviews (DADYS-PI: − 0.65 ≤  r  < −.43; DADYS-CI: − 0.58 ≤  r  < − .53; all p  < .01) and small to moderate negative correlations with the functional impairment scale of the DADYS interviews (DADYS-PI: − 0.35 ≤  r  < − .20; DADYS-CI: − 0.46 ≤  r  < − .43; all p  < .01).

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the semi-structured clinical DADYS interviews for parents and children in a screened community sample of children with and without AD symptoms as well as in an outpatient sample. The results suggest that both the DADYS-PI and the DADYS-CI are promising and overall reliable and valid interviews for assessing AD in children.

For all items assessing symptoms of AD, we found one factor that provided the best fit to the data, both in the DADYS-PI and the DADYS-CI. Thus, all symptom items were combined into the total (AD) symptom scale. Additionally, the functional impairment scale of the DISYPS-III [ 21 ] was added to assess AD-specific functional impairment. As the DADYS-PI further allows for the assessment of a categorical DMDD diagnosis, the DADYS encompasses both the broader conceptualization of AD, implying the proneness to a variety of emotional reactions [ 2 , 3 ], and the more specific DMDD diagnosis in accordance with the DSM-5 [ 7 ]. On a more methodological level, it also allows for both a dimensional assessment (AD symptoms, functional impairment) and a categorical assessment (DMDD) of AD. While a categorical approach might aid the decision-making process regarding the need for treatment, a dimensional approach brings several further advantages, such as a more comprehensive and individual assessment, a more precise assessment of treatment response, and less stigmatization [ 50 , 51 ]. Finally, the DADYS allows not only for the assessment of AD in both a child and a parent interview, but also in parent, child, and teacher questionnaires.

Thus, the DADYS is able to assess AD both dimensionally and categorically, while other existing instruments are only able to assess AD either dimensionally (ARI, [ 18 ], PROMIS, [ 19 ], ERC, [ 20 ], CL-ARI, [ 25 ], E-SWAN, [ 27 ]) or categorically (K-SADS-PL, [ 26 ]). Only one other instrument besides the DADYS includes an AD-specific functional impairment scale – the CL-ARI [ 25 ]. Moreover, the DADYS is the only comprehensive tool focusing on the broad conceptualization of AD in parent, child, teacher, and clinical ratings, while the other measures offer either parent/child rating (ARI, [ 18 ], PROMIS, [ 19 ], ERC, [ 20 ], CBCL-DP, [ 22 ], SDQ-DP, [ 23 , 24 ]) or clinician rating (CL-ARI,  [ 25 ], K-SADS-PL, [ 26 ], E-SWAN, [ 27 ]). Finally, comprehensive analyses of reliability and validity of other instruments assessing AD are still lacking [ 28 ]. Taken together, the DADYS offers a variety of advantages which have not yet been covered by any other instrument.

As indicators of reliability, we analyzed the internal consistency and the interrater reliability. Generally, we found acceptable to good internal consistencies for the DADYS interviews based on the samples analyzed, with the only exception being the functional impairment scale of the DADYS-PI. While Haller [ 25 ] reported an acceptable internal consistency for their irritability-related functional impairment scale (CL-ARI, α = 0.75), interestingly, Thöne, Gortz-Dorten [ 52 ] likewise found a lower internal consistency for the functional impairment scale used in the DADYS in a clinical interview assessing ADHD based on a parent interview (ILF-External, DISYPS-III, [ 21 ]). As an explanation for this finding, the latter authors argued that the items comprise rather heterogeneous aspects of functional impairment. Particularly in a nonclinical sample such as our screened community sample, if a child is angry, irritable, and moody within his/her own family, this might not be similarly the case in school, with peers, or with other adults. It should be noted that the impairment scale of the CL-ARI assesses functional impairment in three domains (i.e. family, school, and peers) while the impairment scale of the DADYS-PI contains, in addition to these three domains, functional impairment in contact with adults outside the family as well as the patient’s strain. Even though one item of the functional impairment scale of the DADYS-PI (“impaired relationships with family members”) showed an item-total correlation below r  = .30, excluding this item did not improve the Cronbach’s alpha. Moreover, when interpreting the limited internal consistencies of the functional impairment scales, it should be considered that the sample for these scales consisted only of children with reported AD symptoms, which might have led to an underestimation of reliability and validity. When comparing the good internal consistencies of the DADYS total symptom scales (α = 0.87–89) with other clinical measures of DMDD symptoms (CL-ARI, α = 0.78–0.87; [ 25 ], K-SADS-PL, α = 0.92, [ 53 ]) and with parent-rated measures of AD (DADYS-PQ, α = 0.72–0.96, [ 14 ], DADYS-Screen, α = 0.94, [ 30 ]), our data showed mostly comparable internal consistencies.

Regarding interrater reliability, we applied different ICC models for the samples according to the characteristics of the respective data. In both samples, we found moderate to excellent interrater reliability for the total symptom scale and the functional impairment scale in the DADYS interviews. To the best of our knowledge, no study has examined the dimensional interrater reliability of AD symptoms in other clinical interviews. Thus, we were unable to compare the good to excellent interrater reliability of the DADYS total symptom scales (ICC[1,1] = 0.94, ICC[2,1] = 0.87–0.94) with other AD scales. When comparing the moderate to good interrater reliability of the DADYS functional impairment scales (ICC[1,1] = 0.63, ICC[2,1] = 0.72–0.85) with clinical measures of functional impairment in externalizing symptoms, we found lower scores than the ILF-External (DISYPS-III, ICC[1,1] = 0.89-0.92, [ 52 ]), which may be explained by the fact that the ILF-External was evaluated using a clinical sample. Interrater agreement for the dichotomous DMDD diagnoses was substantial to perfect (κ = 0.73 − 1.00). Compared to other measures of DMDD diagnoses, our values were comparable to slightly higher (K-SADS-PL, κ = 0.63, [ 54 ], Conners’ Rating Scale, κ = 0.68, [ 55 ]).

Taken together, our results on the internal consistency and interrater agreement of the DADYS-PI and the DADYS-CI for the scales (i.e. dimensional assessment) and for the DMDD diagnosis (i.e. categorical assessment) further strengthen our argument that the DADYS can reliably assess AD from both a dimensional and categorical perspective.

As indicators of validity, we analyzed factorial, discriminant, concurrent, convergent, and divergent validity. Regarding factorial validity, almost half of the variance was explained by the total symptom factor. All factor loadings were acceptable (0.38 to 0.88), except for the item exuberance (0.25–0.39). Comparing the factor loadings of the total symptom scales of the DADYS interviews with clinical measures of DMDD (K-SADS-PL, 0.52 to 0.90, [ 53 ]) and parent-rated measures of AD (DADYS-Screen, 0.64-0.86, [ 30 ], DADYS-PQ, 0.30–1.02, [ 35 ]), our data showed mostly comparable factor loadings. In order to capture the broader concept of AD and to be consistent with the DADYS parent questionnaire, we decided to retain the item exuberance.

The present findings further support the concurrent validity of the DADYS interviews: The DADYS interview total symptom scale showed the strongest associations with parent- and child-rated questionnaires of AD with similar item contents, and the DADYS interview functional impairment scale showed the strongest associations with parent- and child-rated measures of AD-specific functional impairment with the same item content. The associations were particularly strong when using the same informant source – that is the parent interview with the parent questionnaires (AD symptoms: r  = .78–0.87, functional impairment with DADYS-PQ: r  = .54) and the child interview with the child questionnaires (AD symptoms: r  = .79, functional impairment: r  = .67). The effects are comparable to larger than the associations found between the CL-ARI [ 25 ] and clinician-, youth-, and parent-rated measures of irritability ( r  = .42–0.89) and are comparable to the associations between the parent-rated DADYS-Screen [ 3 ] and parent- and child-rated measures of AD symptoms ( r  = .67–0.83).

Our analysis of associations with measures of externalizing and internalizing symptoms supports the discriminant, convergent, and divergent validity of the DADYS interviews. First, we found strong discriminative effects of the DADYS interviews for disruptive disorder, ADHD, and any disorder (disruptive, ADHD, and depressive disorder), which were comparable to or larger than the moderate to large discriminative effects found for the DADYS-Screen [ 3 ]. Second, we found moderate to very large associations of AD symptoms in the DADYS interview with internalizing and externalizing symptoms. These effects were comparable to or larger than the non-significant to large correlation coefficients reported for internalizing symptoms in the CL-ARI [ 25 ] and the moderate to very large correlation coefficients found for internalizing and externalizing symptoms in the DADYS-Screen [ 4 ]. When comparing the coefficients within each rater, both DADYS interviews showed the strongest correlations with ODD symptoms, followed by ADHD symptoms, and lastly CD symptoms in all parent-rated measures ( z  = 2.75–12.31, p  = .000–0.006) and in most child-rated measures ( z  = 1.48–7.46, p  = .000–0.139). Furthermore, we found a stronger correlation of externalizing symptoms compared to internalizing symptoms in clinical measures ( z  = 5.19–5.26, p  < .001). These differential relationships are in line with previous research on associations of internalizing and externalizing symptoms both with DMDD symptoms [ 8 , 13 ] and with AD symptoms (DADYS-Screen, [ 3 ]). The associations with both internalizing and externalizing symptoms further emphasize the necessity of the transdiagnostic conceptualization of AD.

Finally, AD symptoms in the DADYS interviews showed small to large associations with emotion regulation strategies and health-related quality of life, which is in line with the associations found with the DADYS-Screen [ 3 ].

Besides the evaluation of both the DADYS-PI and the DADYS-CI, it is important to highlight the differences between the two interviews. While AD symptoms showed a very large correlation between the two DADYS interviews, the correlation for functional impairment was only moderate. Similarly, we found small mean differences for the total scale and moderate differences for the functional impairment scale. As mentioned above, for many associations with validation measures, we found stronger effects when using the same informant source (i.e., parents vs. children). Taken together, our findings suggest that even though there are associations between clinical, parent, and child ratings, there are also some discrepancies among them. Earlier research evaluated these discrepancies as bias or lack of validity, but they are nowadays interpreted as reflecting the unique perspectives of the different informants, with each providing specific and additional information [ 56 ]. Thus, an additional strength of both DADYS interviews lies in the possibility to include both parents and children as sources of information in clinical ratings. Furthermore, as a comprehensive assessment tool, the DADYS additionally allows for the inclusion of parent, children and teacher ratings using questionnaires.

Limitations of this study include the restricted age range of 8–12 years within the evaluation, which does not allow for generalizations to children outside of this age range. Furthermore, the screened community sample showed a rather high mean socioeconomic status, which may suggest a lower willingness of parents with low or medium socioeconomic status to participate in the study, potentially reducing the representativeness of the findings. However, the most important limitation of the present study seems to be that the sample did not comprise the full spectrum of AD, but rather consisted of children in the lowest and the highest percentile on the continuum. Interestingly, previous analyses of the psychometric quality of the parent-rated DADYS-Screen [ 3 ] have already investigated a potential increase in effects when examining these extreme groups and found only small deviations between correlations for the total sample and the extreme groups. Since a possible overestimation of the reliability and validity of the DADYS interviews cannot currently be ruled out, the presented analyses and results of the DADYS interviews should be interpreted as promising indications of the reliability and validity of the instrument, but replication in further studies with children and adolescents with different levels of AD are needed in order to ultimately establish reliability and validity. Additionally, it should be kept in mind that the internal consistency of the impairment scale of the DADYS-PI must be rated as insufficient and that both the correlation between the symptom scale and the impairment scale of the DADYS-PI and the correlation between the impairment scales of the parent and child interviews were only moderate. In particular, since psychometric studies of related instruments have also found indications of limited psychometric quality of impairment scales (e.g., [ 52 ]), caution is warranted when using the impairment scale of the DADYS-PI, and further research on the functional impairment assessed by parents is needed. For example, it might be worthwhile to investigate whether parental burden has a significant influence on the perceived and reported functional impairment of the child. Lastly, the analyses were based on a cross-sectional design, and it would also be interesting to gain insight into longitudinal associations of child AD with later internalizing and externalizing symptoms (predictive validity, see e.g., [ 57 ]). Strengths of this study include the elaborate process of developing the DADYS interviews, the ability of the DADYS to assess AD dimensionally and categorically using the child and the parent as informants, the large screened community sample including children both with and without AD, the additional inclusion of an outpatient sample for interrater reliability, and finally, the inclusion of diverse perspectives for validity analyses (child, parent, and clinical ratings).

This study contributes to the assessment and understanding of children with AD. We evaluated two newly developed semi-structured clinical DADYS interviews—one for parents and one for children. As such, the study is the first to evaluate a clinical interview assessing the broader transdiagnostic conceptualization of AD. Generally, our analyses of internal consistencies and interrater agreement support the reliability of both DADYS interviews. Furthermore, exploratory factor analyses, discriminant analyses, and correlation analyses support the factorial, discriminant, concurrent, convergent, and divergent validity of both DADYS interviews. Since the two DADYS interviews allow for both categorical and dimensional assessment and the inclusion of parents and children as informants, the measure might contribute to the identification of children with AD and the assessment of treatment response.

Availability of data and materials

Data are available upon reasonable request after the publication of the main results of the ADOPT study.

Abbreviations

  • Affective dysregulation

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Affective Reactivity Index

Child Behavior Checklist–Dysregulation Profile

Conduct disorder

Clinician Affective Reactivity Index

Diagnostic Tool for Affective Dysregulation in Children

DADYS clinical child interview

DADYS child questionnaire

DADYS clinical parent interview

DADYS parent questionnaire

DADYS screening questionnaire

DADYS teacher questionnaire

Diagnostic System for Mental Disorders in children and adolescents according to ICD-10 and DSM-5

Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 5th edition

Emotion Regulation Checklist

Extended Strengths and Weaknesses Assessment of Normal Behavior

Questionnaire for the Regulation of Frustration in Children

Intraclass correlations

ICC one-way random-effects, absolute agreement model for single rater

ICC two-way random effects, absolute agreement model for single rater

International Classification of Diseases 11th edition

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin

Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School Aged Children Present and Lifetime Version

Children in the lowest 10% raw scores on the DADYS-Screen

Oppositional defiant disorder

Principal component analysis

Principal factor analysis

Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System

Research Domain Criteria

Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire–Dysregulation Profile

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Acknowledgements

We thank all families participating in our study. Furthermore, we thank following members of the study teams: Maurice Breier, Nina Christmann, Veronika Dobler, Franziska Frenk, Monja Groh, Sarah Hohmann, Nathalie Holz, Anna Kaiser, Josepha Katzmann, Katrin Koppisch, Kristin Kuhnke, Lena Lincke, Anna Michelsen, Sabina Millenet, Christiane Otto, Anne Schreiner, Marie Steiner, Susanne Steinhauser and Matthias Winkler. This trial was supported by the Clinical Trials Centre Cologne (CTCC), Medical Faculty, University of Cologne, by performing the monitoring. For English-language proofreading, we thank Sarah Mannion.

Members of the ADOPT consortium are : Dorothee Bernheim, Stefanie Bienioschek, Maren Boecker, Daniel Brandeis, Kristina Butz, Jörg M. Fegert, Franziska Giller, Carolina Goldbeck, Martin Hellmich, Christine Igel, Michaela Junghänel, Anne Ritschel, Jennifer Schroth, Anne Schüller, Marion Steiner and Anne Uhlmann.

Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. The ADOPT Online study was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (FKZ 01GL1741D).

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School of Child and Adolescent Cognitive Behavior Therapy (AKiP), Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

Anne-Katrin Treier, Sara Zaplana Labarga, Claudia Ginsberg, Lea Teresa Kohl, Anja Görtz-Dorten & Manfred Döpfner

Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany

Ulrike Ravens-Sieberer & Anne Kaman

Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany

Tobias Banaschewski & Pascal-M. Aggensteiner

Faculty of Human Sciences, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

Charlotte Hanisch

Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychotherapy, University Hospital Ulm, Ulm, Germany

Michael Kölch

Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Neurology, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Rostock, Rostock, Germany

Michael Kölch & Andrea Daunke

Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, TUD Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany

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  • Dorothee Bernheim
  • , Stefanie Bienioschek
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  • , Kristina Butz
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Contributions

AT conceptualized the data analytic plan, analyzed and interpreted the data, and developed the first draft of the manuscript. Furthermore, she coordinated the ADOPT study. SZL was involved in the development of the DADYS interviews. SZL and CG were involved in the recruitment and data acquisition of the ADOPT study site in Cologne. PA was involved in the recruitment and data acquisition of the ADOPT study site in Mannheim. AD was involved in the recruitment and data acquisition of the ADOPT study site in Rostock. AGD and MD developed the DADYS tool including the DADYS interviews, and designed and coordinated the ADOPT study. MD was additionally involved in the development of the online intervention of the ADOPT Online study. TB, CH, MK, URS, and VR were site leaders for the ADOPT study. CH was the principal investigator of the ADOPT Online study including the development of the online intervention and the coordination of blinded ratings of the DADYS parent interviews. URS and AK were involved in the development of the DADYS tool. All authors critically revised the manuscript for important intellectual content, and all authors gave final approval of the latest version of the manuscript and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

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Correspondence to Anne-Katrin Treier .

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Ethics approval and consent to participate.

Approval for the ADOPT Online study was obtained from the ethics committee of the University of Cologne (18–033), the University Hospital of Dresden (EK 35409218), the University Hospital of Mannheim (2018-554 N-MA), and the University Hospital of Ulm (297/18). The procedures used in this study adhere to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki. The parents of all participating children and adolescents provided informed consent for participation.

Consent for publication

The parents of all participating children and adolescents provided informed consent for publication.

Competing interests

AGD receives royalties from publishing companies as an author of books and treatment manuals on child behavioral therapy and of assessment manuals, including the treatment manuals evaluated in this trial. She receives income as a consultant for Child Behavior Therapy at the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians. She also receives consulting income and research support from Medice and eyelevel GmbH. TB served in an advisory or consultancy role for eyelevel GmbH, Infectopharm, Medice, Neurim Pharmaceuticals, Oberberg GmbH, and Takeda. He received conference support or speaker’s fees from Janssen, Medice and Takeda. He received royalties from Hogrefe, Kohlhammer, CIP Medien, and Oxford University Press; the present work is unrelated to these relationships. CH receives royalties from a publishing company as the author of a treatment manual. MK receives royalties from publishing companies as an author of books. He served as PI or CI in clinical trials of Lundbeck, Pascoe, and Janssen-Cilag. He served as a scientific advisor for Janssen. The present work is unrelated to the above grants and relationships. VR has received lecture fees from Infectopharm and Medice. He has carried out clinical trials in cooperation with Servier and Shire Pharmaceuticals/Takeda. The present work is unrelated to the above grants and relationships. MD received royalties from publishing companies as an author of books and treatment manuals on child behavioral therapy and of assessment manuals published by Beltz, Elsevier, Enke, Guilford, Hogrefe, Huber, Kohlhammer, Schattauer, Springer, and Wiley. He received income as a consultant for Child Behavior Therapy at the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians. He also received consulting income and research support from Lilly, Medice, Takeda, and eyelevel GmbH. AT, SZL, CG, LTK, URS, AK, PA, AD, and GK declare no competing interests.

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The members of the ADOPT consortium group are listed in the Acknowledgement section.

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Treier, AK., Labarga, S.Z., Ginsberg, C. et al. Assessment of affective dysregulation in children: development and evaluation of a semi-structured interview for parents and for children. Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health 18 , 75 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13034-024-00762-8

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The semi-structured interview

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2006, Bulletin of Shinshu Honan Junior College, Vol. 23, pp. 1 – 22.

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This chapter shows how semi-structured interviews can contribute to the study of language attitudes. It pays particular attention to how understanding interviews as contextually and socially situated speech events, shaped by the spatial and temporal context in which they take place and the relationship between interviewer(s) and interviewee(s), is crucial for the analysis and interpretation of interview data. It addresses the strengths of using interviews to investigate attitudes (e.g. that they may bring to light new information, new topics, and new dimensions to established knowledge) as well as their limitations (e.g. that participants may say what they believe the interviewer wants to hear or agree with the interviewer’s questions, regardless of their content). Following a discussion of the key practical issues of planning and research design including constructing an interview protocol, choosing the language or variety to use in the interview, and presenting multiple languages or varieties in interview transcripts, it explains how the qualitative data resulting from semi-structured interviews can be analysed thematically. The chapter ends with an illustration of interview methodology on the basis of a case study of attitudes towards Cypriot Greek in London’s Greek Cypriot diaspora.

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The present paper analyses conversational strategies employed by the interviewer on a New Zealand radio programme from conversation analysis (CA) perspective. This study employs a documentary method of interpretation in order to seek answer(s) to the research question. Specifically, Sacks, Schegloff and Jefferson’s (1974) model of conversation analysis was adopted to explore turn-taking strategies used in the interview. The analysis reveals that the interviewer employed a variety of turn-taking strategies such as signaling the end of turn, holding a turn, asking a question, self-selection and “prosodic features” (ibid.) to achieve the purpose of the interview. The findings of this study suggest several potential CA-informed pedagogical implications for English language teaching classroom.

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By adopting a ‘social practice’ perspective of qualitative interviews, and thereby considering such tool of data collection as a joint accomplishment of both interviewee and interviewer, in this chapter the author examines language biography interviews as they are co-constructed by conversational partners. Drawing upon Conversation Analysis as a theoretical framework, it is looked at how participants locally negotiate the interactional frame of their encounter as institutional talk leading to the generation of research data. It is then discussed how interviewees display their “for the record” orientation by assessing their own talk, agreeing upon what may be later incorporated into scientific publications, as well by drawing upon the encounter as a resource to let their voice be heard.

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    Semi-. 50 structured interviews are the preferred data collection method when the researcher's goal is to better. 51 understand the participant's unique perspective rather than a generalized understanding of a. 52 phenomenon.6 Although there is certainly an appropriate place in qualitative research for other data.

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    Appendix 1: Semi-structured interview guide Date: Interviewer: Archival #: ... and your views of methods for identifying and display research gaps. The interviews will last approximately 20 to 40 minutes or as long as you would like to talk about your experience. With your permission, the interview

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    Semi-Structured Interview and its Methodological Perspectives The semi-structured interview is a method of research commonly used in social sciences. Hyman et al. (1954) describe interviewing as a method of enquiry that is universal in social sciences. Magaldi and Berler (2020) define the semi-structured interview as an exploratory interview.

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