Health Outcomes Inc SBIR Phase II Award, September 2020

ABSTRACT: Since 1982, through four versions, the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC) has served as a gold-standard assessment for diagnosing behavioral, DSM disorders in children aged 6 to 17. As a computer- assisted lay interview (LI) and more recently in a self-report (SR) format, the DISC-IV has been reliable, comparatively inexpensive to administer, and was cited in over 805 peer-reviewed publications. The DISC has been revised for the DSM-5 and now covers 37 diagnoses in 56 paired modules (28 for Youth, and 28 for Parents/guardians). As a highly structured, branched interview, the DISC is too complex to administer on paper. The computerized C-DISC-IV been obsolete for 4 years. To make the DISC available again with cutting-edge technological features, we need to build on our Phase 1 work. This will enable widespread DISC- 5 use in (1) routine primary care pediatrics, (2) routine behavioral healthcare, (3) juvenile justice, (4) K-12 school health programs, (5) general research, and (6) epidemiology research. There is growing evidence that identifying and treating psychopathology early -- during childhood -- may prevent or greatly lessen the severity of life-long mental illness and increase emotional and social wellbeing during adult life, lower health care costs, increase function, and, for children in juvenile justice, decrease the likelihood of future incarceration. Our successful Phase I project responded to a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) RFP for an electronic administration and reporting system for the core DISC-5 modules. TeleSage successfully fulfilled and surpassed its Phase I specific aims and criteria for success. We converted 28 core modules of the DISC-5 (14 youth and 14 parent) into two products, the core NetDISC-5-LI-Y and the NetDISC-LI-5-P. These have been thoroughly tested and are now being used by researchers. The CDC is interested in a Phase II project to complete development of the NetDISC-5 products to represent the full range of DSM-5 diagnoses, as well as to take advantage of the new functionality of cloud and browser-based computing, such as the real-time, high- quality text-to-speech functionality that we will use to develop computerized self-report versions of the DISC. The NetDISC-5 features will greatly increase the DISC’s potential impact in research and clinical practice. In this proposed two-year Phase II project, TeleSage will continue to work closely with Dr. Prudence Fisher, author of the DISC-5. In Quarter 1, the remaining 28 modules of the DISC-5 (14 Youth modules and14 Parent modules) will be converted and programmed to complete the NetDISC-5-LI Y and P. In Quarter 2, all 56 modules of the NetDISC-5-LI-Y and P will be converted to make the self-report (SR) youth and parent instruments. During the middle 6 Quarters, the software will be tested via 800 paired LI and SR assessments. In Quarter 8, we will analyze data on reliability, as well as youth, parent, and clinician satisfaction. We will also release all four complete commercial products: NetDISC-5-Y-LI, NetDISC-5-P-LI, NetDISC-5-Y-SR, and NetDISC-5-P-SR. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The gold standard Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC)-IV was a highly structured diagnostic PC- based interview that was available in lay interview (LI) and audio enhanced self-report (SR) formats in both youth (Y) and parent (P) versions. This project proposes to create four cutting-edge, HIPAA compliant, cloud- based DISC-5 products. The NetDISC-5-LI-P, NetDISC-5-LI-Y, NetDISC-5-SR-P, and NetDISC-5-SR-Y) will be designed to promote accurate behavioral health diagnosis in(1) routine primary care pediatrics, (2) routine behavioral healthcare, (3) juvenile justice, (4) K-12 student health