The 16-Item quick inventory of depressive symptomatology (QIDS), clinician rating (QIDS-C), and self-report (QIDS-SR): a psychometric evaluation in patients with chronic major depression

• Published in: Biological psychiatry (1969) 2003-09, Vol.54 (5), p.573-583
• Main Authors: Rush, A.John, Trivedi, Madhukar H, Ibrahim, Hicham M, Carmody, Thomas J, Arnow, Bruce, Klein, Daniel N, Markowitz, John C, Ninan, Philip T, Kornstein, Susan, Manber, Rachel, Thase, Michael E, Kocsis, James H, Keller, Martin B
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Aged; Biological and medical sciences; Chronic Disease; Chronic major depression; concurrent validity; Depression; Depressive Disorder, Major - diagnosis; Depressive Disorder, Major - psychology; Depressive Disorder, Major - therapy; Female; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Mood disorders; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales - standards; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; psychometric properties; Psychometrics; Psychometrics. Diagnostic aid systems; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology; Self-Assessment; self-reports; Severity of Illness Index; symptom severity; Techniques and methods; Treatment Outcome
• ISSN: 0006-3223; 1873-2402
• DOI: 10.1016/S0006-3223(02)01866-8

The 16-item Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (QIDS), a new measure of depressive symptom severity derived from the 30-item Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (IDS), is available in both self-report (QIDS-SR 16) and clinician-rated (QIDS-C 16) formats. This report evaluates and compares the psychometric properties of the QIDS-SR 16 in relation to the IDS-SR 30 and the 24-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D 24) in 596 adult outpatients treated for chronic nonpsychotic, major depressive disorder. Internal consistency was high for the QIDS-SR 16 (Cronbach’s α = .86), the IDS-SR 30 (Cronbach’s α = .92), and the HAM-D 24 (Cronbach’s α = .88). QIDS-SR 16 total scores were highly correlated with IDS-SR 30 (.96) and HAM-D 24 (.86) total scores. Item–total correlations revealed that several similar items were highly correlated with both QIDS-SR 16 and IDS-SR 30 total scores. Roughly 1.3 times the QIDS-SR 16 total score is predictive of the HAM-D 17 (17-item version of the HAM-D) total score. The QIDS-SR 16 was as sensitive to symptom change as the IDS-SR 30 and HAM-D 24, indicating high concurrent validity for all three scales. The QIDS-SR 16 has highly acceptable psychometric properties, which supports the usefulness of this brief rating of depressive symptom severity in both clinical and research settings.