Frequently Asked Questions

Who is the RCADS appropriate for? 

The RCADS has been validated for use with children in the 3rd to 8th grade (typically children aged 8 - 18). This means that children between these ages, or the caregivers of children between these ages, can fill out the RCADS. Should you choose to use the RCADS with children younger than this age, we suggest that you only use raw scores instead of the norms. Relatedly, to utilize the normed data to obtain t-scores, at this time users must input the child's gender. Unfortunately, we do not currently have norms for gender diverse individuals. Some may choose to use sex at birth for scoring. Depending upon your use case (e.g., outcome monitoring for improvement), we suggest that you consider using raw scores instead of the norms for this population. We are aware of this shortcoming and have recently received external funding which has given us the bandwidth to address this matter more fully, possibly through multi-laboratory collaboration to obtain the necessary data. We hope to begin addressing this matter shortly.

What are the terms of use for the RCADS? 

The RCADS and its derivative works (inclusive of translations) are intellectual property owned and copyrighted by Chorpita and Spence. They are available for use on this website, but such use does not imply a perpetual free license to any individual or institution. Should the current model of distributing the RCADS become unsustainable due to inequitable practices, third-party commercialization, or other abuse of a free-to-end-user resource, the RCADS may eventually require fees for use or be subject to other restrictions. Any use of these instruments implies that the user has read and agreed to these terms of use. Commercial distribution of the RCADS instruments or derivatives in any form by a third party is prohibited, and the UCLA Child FIRST web page is the only official distribution source. These instruments are available for research and educational purposes, and their professional use for any particular case is the responsibility of the user, at the user’s own risk. The developers and UCLA are not responsible for any third-party use of these instruments by individuals who have not read this guide and its terms of use.

Can I use the RCADS for research purposes? 

The instrument may be used for research purposes with permission from the Child FIRST lab RCADS team. This is also a good way to ensure you are not duplicating another researcher’s efforts or ideas. Use of the RCADS or its derivatives in published research should include acknowledgement of the development of the RCADS using appropriate scholarly citations, including the item development contributed by Spence (1997) and by Chorpita et al., (2000). 

The recommended citation for use of the RCADS in any published research is as follows: 

Chorpita, B. F., Yim, L. M., Moffitt, C. E., Umemoto L. A., & Francis, S. E. (2000). Assessment of symptoms of DSM-IV anxiety and depression in children: A Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 38, 835-855.

If you are conducting grant-supported research that involves the RCADS as a focal point, such that you might perform translation, create new normative data sets, examine new delivery platforms, or simply seek to scale up implementation of the measure, you are strongly encouraged to budget for subcontracted support with the Child FIRST laboratory at UCLA. These projects and initiatives typically create unsustainable demands (often unintentional) on the Child FIRST laboratory that are best avoided through equitable collaboration. 

Can I adapt, translate, or create a derivative of the RCADS? 

Adaptations and derivatives are not authorized without permission from the Child FIRST lab RCADS team. Regarding any adaptations, the instrument may not be altered to remove the copyright or other text in the margins regarding the source and terms. Creation of your own scoring tools is not allowed without permission, and permission will never be granted if those tools are to become publicly available outside of a defined institution. Also, although it should go without saying, “hacking” existing resources to unlock them so that you can make your own individual improvements or enhancements is destructive and unhelpful. It opens the possibility to infinite unauthorized scoring versions, which endangers users and is bad for children and families. 

Translations are allowed with permission, which is typically granted when (a) they use current “best practice” instrument translation procedures, (b) the translating research team agrees to provide a copy of the final translated instrument (in both word and PDF formats) for non-commercial distribution on the website, and (c) the translating team acknowledges that Chorpita and Spence will retain the copyright to any translated works. Any commercial use or resale of this instrument or its current and future derivative works is strictly prohibited. The RCADS and its family of measures is intended to be free for any interested user. This is only possible when people respect the terms of use and engage in respectful and equitable collaboration.

What support is available for the RCADS? 

Because there is currently no end-user fee for any of these instruments, all support is provided on a voluntary basis by its developers and others in the research community. For questions that cannot be answered in this FAQ, you may send an email to RCADS@psych.ucla.edu. Please be patient, as the RCADS instruments are used by tens of thousands of parties. Materials on the website will be updated as time allows, so please check the website regularly for the latest releases.

How can I score the RCADS? 

The RCADS and RCADS-P can be scored either manually or by using an automated scoring procedure. Please see our Scoring page for instructions.

What languages are available for the RCADS? 

For an up to date list of the languages in which the RCADS is available, please see our Versions page. 

Currently, norms and scoring programs for both the RCADS and RCADS-P are based on English versions, with the exception of the Icelandic versions. Use of norms and interpretation of T-scores should be done cautiously with other non-English versions, as research is still underway on these instruments. Users are encouraged to check our Scoring page for updates on additional scoring programs, and updates to norms will continue to be posted as new research emerges. 

Versions of the RCADS that are not on this website are unauthorized versions, some of which are pending review and will eventually appear, but some of which are simply not approved instruments. We discourage use of unauthorized instruments and are not able to respond to any inquiries about measures not found on this website.

What should I do if I get discrepant results for youth self-report vs. caregiver versions?

Two principles come into play here. 

First, generally in the context of discrepant reports, one would give consideration to the scores reflecting higher elevation on the syndrome. So whichever is higher youth or caregiver report informs what happens next.

Second, an instrument administration is one part of an assessment, and is not a diagnostic exercise on its own. It should be something that informs action (see above), due to the heightened probability of a condition given the score, but that condition should be investigated further before it is confirmed or disconfirmed.

This could look like administration of an interview, or follow up questions, or a different instrument, all for the purpose of reducing uncertainty about the current indication that an anxious or depressive condition has an elevated probability.