Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment for Early Childhood Mental Disorders ( PAPA )

The infancy and early childhood period, defined as the play age or preschool period, is one of the most important and critical periods in terms of mental health development. This period is important because research on children with psychopathology has shown that interventions made before starting school may be more effective than later treatments and can produce long-term gains. When both the child-period outcomes and the economic outcomes of these early interventions are taken into account, it can be said that they are extremely important and necessary, constituting a gain for the child, a gain for the family, and a very significant gain for society.

The Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment (Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment – PAPA ), which is an interview aimed at the diagnosis of psychiatric symptoms and disorders in preschool children aged 2-5 years, was developed in 1999 by Egger, Ascher, and Angold.

The PAPA covers diagnostic items from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders that are valid for young children, items from the DC: 0-5™ Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood, Research Diagnostic Criteria – Preschool Age diagnostic criteria, and some behaviors and symptoms experienced by children and their caregivers that are not included in any of the diagnostic systems. The interview also evaluates functional impairments arising from symptoms, family environment and relationships, family psychosocial problems, and life events, thereby addressing not only disorders or problematic areas but all domains that play a role in the mental well-being of young children.

The PAPA, which has been updated according to the changing diagnostic criteria systems since its development, has been used in many studies in the field of preschool child mental health and is accepted as the gold standard method in the diagnosis of mental disorders in the preschool period.