BACKGROUND The aim of this study is to investigate the psychometric properties and the perceived usefulness of the BARO (Dutch: BAsisRaadsOnderzoek; Protection Board Preliminary Examination of Juvenile Suspects). The BARO is a first-line screening instrument for the identification of psychiatric disorders, adverse environmental factors, and levels of (dys)function in adolescent offenders (age 12 to 18), to be used by social workers of the Child Protection Board (CPB) following a police arrest. METHOD CPB workers administered the BARO to 295 juvenile offenders (91% boys, 9% girls). A subgroup of 66 offenders (89% boys, 11% girls) underwent an elaborate diagnostic assessment by forensic psychologists and psychiatrists. Using these assessments the most relevant psychometric properties of the BARO were studied. The perceived usefulness was studied using questionnaires to be filled in by the CPB social workers. RESULTS The internal consistency of the instrument was sufficient to good, the concurrent validity of the CPB social workers applying the BARO and the forensic experts carrying out the comprehensive diagnostic assessment was strong, the discriminatory value of the instrument was moderate to strong, and the perceived usefulness of the instrument was evaluated as good to very good by the majority of the CPB workers. DISCUSSION The BARO has sufficient to good psychometric properties including moderate to strong discriminatory value and is considered a good screening instrument by the CPB social workers. In conclusion, the BARO seems to be a very promising first-line screening instrument to identify psychiatric and psychosocial problems in young offenders.

中文翻译：

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评估 BasisRaadsOnderzoek (BARO) 作为青少年罪犯的一线筛查工具的心理测量特性和感知有用性。

背景本研究的目的是调查 BARO（荷兰语：BAsisRaadsOnderzoek；保护委员会对少年嫌疑人的初步检查）的心理测量特性和感知有用性。BARO 是用于识别青少年罪犯（12 至 18 岁）的精神障碍、不利环境因素和（障碍）功能水平的一线筛查工具，供儿童保护委员会 (CPB) 的社会工作者使用) 警方逮捕后。方法 CPB 工作人员对 295 名少年犯（91% 的男孩，9% 的女孩）进行了 BARO。法医心理学家和精神病学家对 66 名罪犯（89% 男孩，11% 女孩）进行了详细的诊断评估。使用这些评估，研究了 BARO 最相关的心理测量特性。使用由 CPB 社会工作者填写的问卷来研究感知有用性。结果 量表内部一致性良好，CPB社工应用BARO与法医专家进行综合诊断评估的同时效度强，量表的判别值中到强，感知大多数 CPB 工作人员将该工具的实用性评价为“好”到“非常好”。讨论 BARO 具有足够到良好的心理测量特性，包括中到强的歧视值，被 CPB 社会工作者认为是一个很好的筛选工具。综上所述，