The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire was a collaborative project with Dr. Helen Minnis, Yorkhill Hospital for Sick Children and Dr. Aled Evans, Southern General Hospital, Glasgow and Dr. Kate Robinson of Marigold Multimedia Ltd.

The illustrations shown here are some examples from the project.

The project received a Yorkhill Hospital Award in 1997, and was on the shortlist for Sciart awards in 1998.

Subsequently the multimedia version of the SDQ underwent a clinical trial.

For further details of this see Truman, J.; Robinson, K.,Evans A.L., Smith, D.; Cunningham, L.;Millward, R.; Minnis, H.: 'The Strengths and Difficulties Questionniare: A pilot study of a new computer version of the self-report scale', European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 12: 9-14.

Further information on the Questionnaire can be found at www.sdqinfo.com

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The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire was developed by Dr. Robert Goodman at the Maudsley Hospital, London and is widely used within the child psychiatric profession to determine the emotional wellbeing of children.

As well as the illustrations, a voice element was introduced into the multimedia version of the questionnaire, so that the questions could be read out loud. On testing the prototype with children at primary and secondary schools, we had a universally positive response to the animated computer version

We hoped that by introducing colour and cartoon characters into the questionnaire, and transferring the information onto computer that this would make it more appealing to the child. We also believe that stimulating the child's imagination helps to elicit fuller and more accurate information.