(Am J Public Health 1987; 77:674-678.)

No abstract

The traditional quality of life (Q of L) model with objective indicators of life situations and satisfactions with these situations was expanded to include a third domain-adaptation-of self-esteem, affect states, and daily behavior. Interviews with 220 individuals who had two or more discharges from mental hospitals and who were living in the community provided data for this discussion of the threepart model. In the model, objective life situations were not associated with satisfaction and adaptation but satisfaction and adaptation were highly correlated. The threepart model will be useful in explaining the Q of L of community-based mentally ill and in evaluating community-based programs that purport to change their Q of L

No abstract

Retest stability of DSM-III-R diagnoses was assessed using the DISC-2.1C with a sample of Anglo, African, and Hispanic American adolescent patients 12 to 17 years of age. Based on the kappa statistic, retest stability was fair for any disorder (kappa = .50), for any anxiety disorder (kappa = .44), for any affective disorder (kappa = .53), for any disruptive behavior disorder (kappa = .58), and for substance use disorders (kappa = .46). Although there was a trend for reliability to be somewhat higher for African Americans (kappa = .58) than for Anglos (kappa = .42) or Hispanics (kappa = .49), these differences were not statistically significant. In general, 15- to 17-year-olds had somewhat better reliability (kappa = .58) than did 12- to 14-year-olds (kappa = .44). Males had somewhat higher reliability (kappa = .63) than females (kappa = .43). These findings are congruent with those reported recently using the DISC-R (Schwab-Stone et al., 1993) and suggest that the DISC appears to be at least as reliable as other available child diagnostic instruments. In view of the fair-to-moderate levels of reliability of these instruments in general, future research should focus on the joint effects of instrument, subject, interviewer, and nomenclature on operating characteristics of diagnostic interview schedules, focusing in particular on factors affecting accurate recall and reporting of symptoms and episodes.