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The Pediatric Symptom Checklist-17 (PSC-17) is a 17-item screening questionnaire that is completed by parents and designed to help pediatricians in outpatient practice identify school-age children with difficulties in psychosocial functioning. The PSC-17 is a briefer version of the 35-item Pediatric Symptom Checklist (PSC).
You can create a free account on PsyPack to access fillable PDFs, manuals and educational resources for the PSC-17
The PSC-17 is a shortened version of the PSC-35 and consists of 17 items.
Each item is rated as “NEVER,” “SOMETIMES,” or “OFTEN” present and scored 0, 1, and 2 respectively.
The total score is calculated by adding together the score for each of the 17 items. Positive PSC-17 score > 15
Attention, externalizing and internalizing subscale scores are calculated by adding the score for each corresponding symbol:
Positive PSC-17 score ≥ 15 Attention, positive score ≥ 7 Externalizing, positive score ≥ 7 Internalizing, positive score ≥ 5
A positive score on the PSC-17 is not a diagnosis and should not be used to label a child. It is a signal for further examination of the child and family.
Higher Scores can indicate an increased likelihood of a behavioral health disorder being present.
A positive score on the PSC-17 or any of the subscales suggests the need for further evaluation by a qualified health or mental health professional.
PsyPack can automatically score the PSC-17 assessment and prepare corresponding tables and graphs.
Further, PsyPack automatically plots a graph to help you easily track progress over time.
Psychosocial Functioning
The purpose of the evaluation is to:
Parent/Caregiver-administered
Clinical
Questionnaire
4 to 15 years
Less than 5 minutes
Since the questionnaire relies on client's observations, all responses should be verified by the clinician, and a definitive diagnosis is made on clinical grounds taking into account how well the client understood the questionnaire, as well as other relevant information from the client.
The PSC-17 is not meant to be used as a diagnostic tool.
A positive score on the PSC-17 is not a diagnosis and should not be used to label a child. It is a signal for further examination of the child and family.
A positive score on the PSC-17 or any of the subscales suggests the need for further evaluation by a qualified health or mental health professional.
Gardner, William et al. “The PSC-17: A brief pediatric symptom checklist with psychosocial problem subscales. A report from PROS and ASPN.” Ambulatory Child Health 5 (1999): 225-236.