Assessing expressed emotion: Comparing Camberwell Family Interview and five-minute speech sample ratings for mothers of children with behaviour problems

Little is known of the concordance between ratings of expressed emotion (EE) derived from the Camberwell Family Interview (CFI) and Five-minute Speech Sample (FMSS) for parents of children with behaviour problems. Concordance between CFI and FMSS ratings of EE was assessed prior to intervention and compared to parent-rated behaviour after intervention, at follow-up, 12 months later. Female primary caretakers of 75 children (3-10 years) showing behavioural difficulties were interviewed using FMSS and CFI. Interviews were coded independently by criterion-standard raters. Using CFI, 57 families were classified high EE, and 18 low EE. Using FMSS, 65 families were classified high EE and 10 low EE. 55/75 pairs of ratings (73%) were the same (high, n = 51: low, n = 4) and 20 mothers (27%) were allocated different EE status (Kappa = 0.14, n.s.). The FMSS ratings at initial interview appeared more closely related to behaviour rating at follow-up than CFI. Further investigation is required to establish comparability of CFI and FMSS results for carers of children. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.