PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Billick, SB
AU  - Burgert, W
AU  - Friberg, G
AU  - Downer, AV
AU  - Bruni-Solhkhah, SM
TI  - A clinical study of competency to consent to treatment in pediatrics
DP  - 2001 Sep 01
TA  - Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online
PG  - 298--302
VI  - 29
IP  - 3
4099  - http://jaapl.org/content/29/3/298.short
4100  - http://jaapl.org/content/29/3/298.full
SO  - J Am Acad Psychiatry Law2001 Sep 01; 29
AB  - A 19-item competency questionnaire for pediatric patients (CQ-Peds) was used to evaluate competency to consent to treatment in pediatric outpatients and inpatients at two university hospitals. Sixty-nine consecutive English-speaking pediatric outpatients were studied at Hospital A, and 23 consecutive English-speaking pediatric inpatients were studied at Hospital B. Demographic data were statistically analyzed using the chi-square test, and there were no significant differences between the competent and incompetent groups (using CQ-Peds scores and cutoffs). CQ-Peds scores correlated highly with age (r = .947, p < .003; Outpatient Hospital A). Using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the Pediatric Symptom Checklist (PSC) as a screen for psychopathology, the presence of psychiatric disturbance, per se, did not correlate with low CQ-Peds scores, nor was there a statistical difference between children from Spanish-speaking households and those from English-speaking households (Inpatient Hospital B). Overall, the children scored well on the CQ-Peds and demonstrated a good appreciation for their illnesses and treatment. The CQ-Peds score correlated highly with the that on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Revised Edition (WISC-R) vocabulary, comprehension, and similarities subtests and also with the Wide-Range Achievement Test-III (WRAT-III) reading assessment score (Inpatient Hospital B).