An evaluation of the psychometric properties of the social communication questionnaire in young people with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Abstract

BackgroundObsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often co-occur and have overlapping symptom profiles. Detection and diagnosis of ASD in youth with OCD can therefore be challenging but is crucial to inform care planning.AimThe current study aimed to provide a psychometric evaluation of the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ), a widely used parent-report measure for assessing ASD traits, in youth with OCD.MethodIn total, 484 young people with an ICD-10 diagnosis of OCD completed a battery of measures as part of a specialist clinical assessment.ResultsExploratory factor analyses (EFA) suggested a multidimensional factor solution for the SCQ, although an adequate factor solution was not identified due to cross-loading and/or weak loading items. The SCQ had good internal consistency (KR20 = 0.85), and good convergent validity with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) Prosocial Behaviour subscale (r = -0.52) and Peer Problems subscale (r = 0.48). The SCQ differentiated those with versus without a clinical diagnosis of ASD with reasonable accuracy (area under the curve = .76).DiscussionThe current findings support the use of the SCQ as a measure of ASD traits in youth with OCD, suggesting that this quick and easy-to-administer measure could aid detection of ASD in this population.