Technical Report: Measuring Child Mental Health, Psychological Distress, and Social and Emotional Wellbeing in the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children

Dingwall and Cairney explain the challenge of identifying measures fit for use with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population: An appropriate assessment must therefore meet two often conflicting prerequisites: it must be both scientifically and biomedically valid; and it must have relevance culturally for the target group.11 p. 22 The purpose of this Report is to assess the validity of measures relevant to mental health, psychological distress, and/or social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in LSIC. In doing so, this Report contributes to expanding the evidence base surrounding the validity of measures of mental health, psychological distress, and SEWB for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. This Report assesses the appropriateness of measures developed for other populations for use with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, and also assesses the appropriateness of a measure developed with and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth.