Reliability and validity of the SPAID-G checklist for detecting psychiatric disorders in adults with intellectual disability.
SPAID-G is a fast, reliable way to flag psychiatric disorders in Italian adults with ID.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Iosa et al. (2012) tested a new 20-item checklist called SPAID-G. It screens for psychiatric disorders in adults with intellectual disability.
The team worked with Italian adults. They checked if the tool gave the same results when different people used it. They also compared it with other well-known tests.
What they found
SPAID-G showed good internal consistency. Different raters agreed on the scores. The checklist also matched well with other tools, linking more than 60 percent of the time.
In short, the Italian checklist works. It is reliable and valid for spotting mental-health needs in adults with ID.
How this fits with other research
Balboni et al. (2022) did a similar job. They validated the Italian DABS for youth with ID. Both studies show Italian tools can stand next to English ones.
Titlestad et al. (2019) tested the French BPI-S. Like Marco, they found good internal consistency and inter-rater reliability. Together, the papers build trust in translated checklists.
Marie-Tan et al. (2021) warn that false positives rise when adults have other psychiatric issues. Marco did not report this problem, but the warning still matters. Use SPAID-G scores as a first flag, not a final label.
Why it matters
You now have a quick, free screen for mental-health red flags in Italian adults with ID. Give the 20 items to caregivers or direct staff. If the score is high, plan a full clinical follow-up. Pair it with adaptive or behavior tools like DABS or BPI-S to see the whole picture.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
SPAID (Psychiatric Instrument for the Intellectually Disabled Adult) is the first Italian tool-package for carrying out psychiatric diagnosis in adults with Intellectual Disabilities (ID). It includes the "G" form, for general diagnostic orientation, and specific checklists for all groups of syndromes stated by the available classification systems. SPAID was established to provide an easy and quick tool for daily practice of the personnel working with ID. The present study was aimed at evaluating psychometric and psychodiagnostic characteristics of the SPAID-G and at supplying new data on the prevalence rate of psychiatric disorders in a multicentric Italian sample of people with ID living in different settings. The SPAID-G was randomly applied to 304 participants with ID attending residential facilities or assessment services across Italy. A part of the sample was also consecutively assessed through the use of DASH, PDD-MRS and by the clinical application of the DSM-IV TR criteria. The correlation between SPAID-G scores and those provided by other evaluation tools was over 60%. Additionally, the internal consistency and inter-rater reliability resulted to be good. Psychopathological symptoms were detected in approximately 40% of the sample. Respectively, autistic spectrum disorders, impulse control disorders, mood disorders, and dramatic personality disorders were the diagnostic orientations providing the most prevalent over-threshold scores. SPAID-G seems to be a valid diagnostic tool, quick and easy to use in psychiatric disorders assessment within the Italian population with ID.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2012 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2011.08.020