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Using the Diagnostic Assessment of the Severely Handicapped‐II (DASH‐II) to measure the therapeutic effects of risperidone
Author(s) -
Valdovinos M. G.,
Zarcone J. R.,
Hellings J. A.,
Kim G.,
Schroeder S. R.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of intellectual disability research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.941
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1365-2788
pISSN - 0964-2633
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2788.2004.00583.x
Subject(s) - risperidone , dash , measure (data warehouse) , psychology , psychiatry , medicine , clinical psychology , pediatrics , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , computer science , operating system , database
Background Within the scope of a double‐blind, placebo‐controlled, crossover medication study, the Diagnostic Assessment of the Severely Handicapped‐II (DASH‐II) was evaluated as a measurement for determining the effectiveness of the medication risperidone in treating the problem behaviour of 21 people with intellectual disabilities (ID). Method Participants’ caregivers completed the DASH‐II during the placebo/baseline phase of the study and the maintenance phase of the study, and completed the Aberrant Behavior Checklist – Community (ABC‐C) weekly throughout the entire study. The results obtained using the DASH‐II were compared to those obtained using the ABC‐C, an instrument shown to be well correlated with the DASH‐II. Results Results suggest that while the DASH‐II and the ABC‐C were well correlated during the placebo/baseline phase of the current study, they were not well correlated at completion of the 6‐month maintenance phase of the medication trial. Conclusion The DASH‐II, while appropriate for assisting in the diagnosis of psychopathology in people with ID, does not appear to monitor changes in problem behaviour as a result of risperidone use as well as the ABC‐C. Differences in the frequency of problem behaviour that each measure evaluated and the applicability of using the DASH‐II to measure medication effects on problem behaviour are discussed.