International reliability and communicability of a rating scale for depression

Abstract

SynopsisA rating scale for depression, intended for international studies of drug treatment, is presented. The reliability between raters differing in training and language was 0·86 (Swedish and English raters) and 0·92 (Swedish and Danish raters); the reliability between two Swedish raters was 0·97. There was a strong correlation between severity of depression as measured on this scale and on a nurses' rating scale (0·87). The correlation with patients' self-ratings of depression was weaker (0·63) but still significant.