The inter-rater reliability of the Japanese version of the Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology, Clinician version

• Published in: Human psychopharmacology 2011-04, Vol.26 (3), p.267-269
• Main Authors: Yamamoto, Nobutomo, Kawakami, Sachiko, Sato, Koichi, Takimura, Tsuyoshi, Inagaki, Ataru, Inada, Toshiya
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Asian Continental Ancestry Group - ethnology; Asian Continental Ancestry Group - psychology; Depression; Depressive Disorder - diagnosis; Depressive Disorder - ethnology; Depressive Disorder - psychology; Female; Humans; inter-rater reliability; Inventories; Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology Clinician version (IDS-C); major depressive episode; Male; Middle Aged; Observer Variation; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales - standards; Reproducibility of Results; Severity of Illness Index
• ISSN: 0885-6222; 1099-1077; 1099-1077
• DOI: 10.1002/hup.1201

The Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology, clinician version (IDS‐C), was developed by Rush et al. to evaluate the severity of major depressive episodes. The aim of the present study was to establish the inter‐rater reliability of the Japanese version of the IDS‐C. A total of 16 subjects with DSM‐IV major depressive episode were evaluated. Two psychiatrists, who had completed a training session for evaluating the IDS‐C before starting this reliability study, attended systematic interview sessions with each subject to evaluate the IDS‐C independently, using the Japanese version of the structured interview guide for combined rating of the IDS‐C and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. The severity of the 30 IDS‐C items assessed by the two raters ranged from0 to 4 for 27 items and from 0 to 3 for 3 items. The analysis of variance intra‐class correlation inter‐rater reliability values for the individual scale items ranged from 0.874 to 1.000. The present results suggest that the Japanese version of the IDS‐C is a potentially useful rating instrument with high inter‐rater reliability for measuring the severity of depressive symptoms in the hands of psychiatrists with sufficient evaluation training. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.