On the validity of the Bech-Rafaelsen Melancholia Scale (BRMS)

Background: The findings published to date on convergent validity of the BR MS are mainly concerned with the correlation with other observer-rating sca les for depression. In many studies on the evaluation of therapeutic interv entions self-rating scales are used in connection with observer-rating scal es. Therefore, findings on the relations among instruments of both groups a re necessary in order to justify the combination of a particular observer-r ating scale with a particular self-rating scale. In the ICD-10 three differ ent degrees of severity of depressive episodes are distinguished. No data o n the discriminant validity of the BRMS with respect to this new diagnostic classification are available till now. Methods: 45 depressed inpatients we re assessed with two observer-rating scales (BRMS and DEPRES of the AMDP sy stem) and two self-rating scales (BDI and DS). Results: The discriminant va lidity with reference to the three degrees of severity of depressive episod es as defined in ICD-10 is at r = 0.80 very high. The convergent validity o f the BRMS is high at r = 0.70, related to the DEPRES. The correlations bet ween the BRMS and the BDI as well as the DS were clearly lower, at 0.53 and 0.32 each. Conclusions: The only moderate convergent validity between self -rating and observer-rating scales is a strong argument for a multi-methodo logical approach in the context of therapy evaluation. (C) 1999 Elsevier Sc ience B.V. All rights reserved.