C. Brown et al., ASSESSING DEPRESSION IN PRIMARY-CARE PRACTICE WITH THE BECK DEPRESSION INVENTORY AND THE HAMILTON RATING-SCALE FOR DEPRESSION, Psychological assessment, 7(1), 1995, pp. 59-65
Individuals suffering from depression seek help as frequently in the p
rimary care setting as in psychiatric facilities. As primary care phys
icians increasingly provide such treatments, they will need to assess
a patient's clinical status before, during, and after treatment. The a
uthors evaluated the concordance and factor structures of 2 widely use
d depression inventories, the Beck Depression Inventory and the Hamilt
on Rating Scale for Depression, in a sample of primary care patients p
articipating in a randomized, control trial of treatments for major de
pression. The 2 scales were significantly correlated and assessed simi
lar rates of improvement at multiple assessment points. Factor analyse
s indicated that despite their equivalent assessment of severity of de
pression, the 2 instruments emphasize different dimensions of depressi
on.