The OSU Nisonger Center has been funded by the NIMH to develop a diagnostic interview for adolescents and young adults with intellectual disability. There are no valid or reliable diagnostic interviews for assessing mental health in individuals with ID. Oftentimes, proxies must be used to diagnose mental health problems in this population because the instruments available are cognitively inaccessible. This leads to the individual affected not having a say in his or her own mental health diagnostic decision making.
This interview is for both the young person with ID and his or her caregiver. We are looking for individuals with ID 14 to 24 years of age and their caregivers to be interviewed with the Diagnostic Interview for Adolescents and Adults with intellectual Disability (DIAAID) sounds like dyad. We are paying participants and their caregivers a stipend of $50.00 each ($100 per dyad). They can come to Nisonger Center on OSU’s campus or we will go to them at their homes, or meet them at a library to conduct these interviews. If they come to OSU’s campus we will also give them a parking voucher. Finally, we believe that should we find this interview is valid and reliable in this population, while allowing for self-report, they will be better served in clinical situations and will be able to provide the subjective viewpoint necessary for accurately diagnosing a mental health problem. This piece is currently lacking when clinicians must rely on others to provide the needed information.