The reliability and validity of a screening questionnaire for 13 DSM-IV Axis I disorders (the psychiatric diagnostic screening questionnaire) in psychiatric outpatients

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and va lidity of a new multidimensional screening instrument for 13 DSM-IV Axis I disorders. Method: The Psychiatric Diagnostic Screening Questionnaire (PDSQ) is a 90-i tem self-administered questionnaire that screens for 13 DSM-IV disorders in 5 areas (eating, mood, anxiety, substance use, and somatoform disorders). A consecutive series of 500 psychiatric outpatients completed the PDSQ imme diately before their intake evaluation. Seventy-four patients completed the scale a second time less than a week after the initial administration, and 51 patients completed a booklet of questionnaires that included establishe d measures of the same symptom domains assessed by the PDSQ. Results: The PDSQ subscales achieved moderate-to-high levels of internal co nsistency (mean Cronbach's alpha coefficient = 0.82) and test-retest. relia bility (mean correlation coefficient = 0.84). Subscale scores were signific antly associated with blind clinical diagnoses, and individual PDSQ items c orrelated much more highly with their own subscale than with other subscale s. The PDSQ subscales were much more highly correlated with established mea sures of the same symptom domain (mean correlation coefficient = 0.72) than with measures of other types of psychopathology (mean correlation = 0.17). Conclusion: The PDSQ is a reliable and valid measure of multiple DSM-IV dis orders that is brief enough to be incorporated into routine clinical outpat ient practice without disruption, yet lengthy enough to be a psychometrical ly sound instrument.